Understanding Reality and War
One thing that puzzles a lot of my fellow conservative bloggers is the failure of secular leftists to understand that the Jihad threatens them as much as it threatens anyone. Why, for example, would feminists be in solidarity with a movement that considers women to be little more than property or why would gays be in solidarity with a movement that would kill them instead of simply denying them marriage rights?
If you consider the worldview of the intellectual left and their understanding of history it makes perfect sense. In the Marxist worldview all violence is a class struggle between the masses and the bourgeois. America is the ultimate in capitalism and thus any attack on them is the attack of their historic "victims" against their oppressors. The attackers (victims in their view) are by definition the good guys. The fact that they would oppress even those who are in solidarity with them is irrelevant as they are supposedly advancing the march of history.
Trouble is that this is political tunnel vision. They are incapable of seeing that this jihad has absolutely nothing to do with the class struggle but is in fact religious and philosophical struggle that completely transcends economic class. This inescapable fact is so out of sync with their worldview that they dismiss it out of hand. By their understanding it has to be a class-struggle because no other kind of struggle exists.
We need to find a way to open their eyes to the fact that history is a matrix of several struggles and far more complicated than Marx thought it was. I don't know how to do it.
If you consider the worldview of the intellectual left and their understanding of history it makes perfect sense. In the Marxist worldview all violence is a class struggle between the masses and the bourgeois. America is the ultimate in capitalism and thus any attack on them is the attack of their historic "victims" against their oppressors. The attackers (victims in their view) are by definition the good guys. The fact that they would oppress even those who are in solidarity with them is irrelevant as they are supposedly advancing the march of history.
Trouble is that this is political tunnel vision. They are incapable of seeing that this jihad has absolutely nothing to do with the class struggle but is in fact religious and philosophical struggle that completely transcends economic class. This inescapable fact is so out of sync with their worldview that they dismiss it out of hand. By their understanding it has to be a class-struggle because no other kind of struggle exists.
We need to find a way to open their eyes to the fact that history is a matrix of several struggles and far more complicated than Marx thought it was. I don't know how to do it.
posted by shoprat at 11:08 AM
9 Comments:
The muslims will never do anything to upset the left, because at this current point in time, they are their "Useful Idiots".
http://thepugilstick.blogspot.com/2006/12/islamic-hypocrisy.html
This frustrates me too Shoprat. They can't see reality. Sometimes I feel so helpless. It's like waiting for an alcoholic to hit bottom before they hurt enough to seek help. In the meantime, we're connected to them and we're hurt too.
I fail to see you calling for an end to the Iraq war puts the left in solidarity with the Jihadists. Look, if there are any eyes that need opening it is the eyes of neo-cons who fail to understand that this entire misadventure is just creating more jihadists, not solving anything. Currently polls show staisfacion with Bush's Iraq policy stands at %27. I would have to say that you are in that group, and not with the %73 who want an end to this war, which has done nothing to enhance our security at home, our standing abroad, or our interests in the region. It is you who suffer from tunnel vision by failing to acknowlegde that this entire course of action has been a monumental failure that will damage this country more than Veit Nam ever did. I wonder whom you will blame: The Democrats for finally getting us out of this war or the Republicans who got us into it and then through incompetance and a lack of guts to do what was required to win it for losing.
One simple question Tim
Do you identify with groups like A.N.S.W.E.R. ( http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ANS_homepage ) which was the group I had in mind when I wrote my posting?
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend..."
Where do you think the Leftys stand?
I don't know how to do it either, Shoprat. All we can do is try the best we know how, but you cannot make the willfully blind see. Their attitude doesn't puzzle me as much as it frustrates me because it is an attitude that is suicidal to the extreme, and it isn't only suicidal for the liberals; they endanger all of us.
I have not heard of them before and do not identify with them anymore than these fringe rightwingers who proclaim that it is the end of the world now that Democrats are in power.
I really think that's why the Republicans got their asses handed to them. First, they start a war based on a lie. Second, their incompetant management of said war has gotten us in a position where we can't win this thing and has lowered our standing in the international community, not to mention inflaming hatred for us in the Mid-East. If we fail (maybe I should say when we finally admit that we HAVE failed) in Iraq, there will only be one party in general (Republicans)and one man in particular (Bush) to blame. Face it:Nothing suceeds like sucess, and if we were winning this thing they would still be in office.
This war has lasted longer than our involvement in WW2 and we, as the world's only superpower, are unable to subdue a bunch of terrorists? It's just ridiculous, the excuses and lies coming out of Bush and Cheney's mouths.
One other thing:You act like most Muslims are Jihadists. That's like saying most Christians are like Fred Phelps. You are admonishing a whole religion for the actions of a minute few. Do you really think most Muslims want us dead? It would be more constructive to work with them than to continue threats, which we have no intention of acting on.
Bush based this war on a lie? Read what Democrats were saying while Bill Clinton was still in office.
LISTEN TO THEM NOW AND SEE WHAT THEY SAID THEN
"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."
-President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
-President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."
-Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."
-Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998
"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." Letter to President Clinton, signed by:
-Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
-Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D! , CA), Dec. 16, 1998
"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."
-Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999
http://www.doctor-horsefeathers.com/archives/000296.php
That Saddam was created WMDs was conventional wisdom to both parties since the first Gulf War. Had Gore won in 2000, I believe he would have probably done the same thing because everyone, regardless of party, believed Saddam to be a threat. At worst, Bush believed bad intelligence.
Furthermore, we repudiate Fred Phelps and others, but I hear very few Muslims condemning the Jihadists. (There are a few, but they are few and far between.)
Well said!!! And you are absolutely right. I so don't get how women can be for regimes where we are treated worse than cattle.
Post a Comment
<< Home