“Perfect Dignity”

From the Anchoress:

It is easy to forget, particularly if you did not live in New York in the months following 9/11, that Rudy Giuliani went to the wakes or funerals of nearly every lost cop and firefighter in the city, sometimes going from one funeral to the next in a single day. He even walked a bride down the aisle, after she’d lost her firefighter father and brother. He was tremendous and authentic, and he showed courage, commitment and leadership.

I know some folks on the right are forgetting about Rudy because he’s not much in the news, and some are writing him off because he’s not a good enough Christian for them, and some are fixated in the fact that he has dared to goof around in drag (which I thought was very funny, and which demonstrates to me that he has not been focusing on the White House his whole career).

Some may have forgotten how strong, smart and commanding Rudy Giuliani is, but I haven’t forgotten. I look at Thompson and I like some of what I see, but also dislike some of what I see. I think Fred does a good job of articulating the general tenor of much of the GOP, but I don’t know how well he can actually govern. Cantankerousness may be fun, but a president needs to be more than an embodiment of a mood.

The Anchoress is right, of course. On more than one occasion she has reminded us that a president serves a nation entire, not just those of a political base. See the video on her post.

A president of the United States of America, this great land and ‘light unto the nations’ must be a serious man with abilities that extend beyond that of brilliant political campaigning and a suave and debonair media demeanor.

A  president of the United States of America must indeed be of great stature, handsome or beautiful, by virtue of their actions and beliefs and not by virtue of their physical appearance or wardrobe.

A president of the United States of America must be strong, so strong as to weather the tides of loneliness and aloness, if that is the result of standing by the courage of his convictions.

A president of the United States of America must guide this nation without regard for appearances or immediate gratification or adulation. He must guide this nation based on the principles of freedom and the preservation of freedom.

A president of the United States of America must believe with every fibre of his being that ‘All men are created equal,’ not just those born here and that all people, everywhere, are best served if they are free.

The legacy of a president of the United States of America is not a list of achievements or accomplishments, but rather the health of the office he leaves. If the temporary occupant of the White House carries on the work begun by Washington or Jefferson and their successors, then the legacy is a good one. If the legacy tramples on the ideals of this ‘great experiment,’ then we are all poorer for the experience.

Great presidents are not born of the ideologies of one political party or the other. Great presidents are those who share the same values as the people they represent.

Lost In Space And Time

While many current events continue to be laundered in the spin cycle,  none has been so reworked as the myths and fables of Palestinian failures and deceit (see Neo-neocons excellent A Mind Is A Difficult Thing To Change: (Part 7A: Jenin, Jenin).

Notwithstanding grave pronouncements that the anti Islamic sentiments that are becoming more common in Europe are comparable to the anti Semitism of pre WWII. Europe, the fact remains that any such comparisons remain absurd in the extreme and serve only to exacerbate what is already a cultural and societal disaster.

The Jews had been integrated into the European fabric for centuries, contributing to the social, academic, cultural, economic, political educational landscape. Despite the constant low grade antisemitism, Jews thrived and worked hard to make their mark in the Europe that was their home.

In fact, unlike the persecuted Jews of the Nazi era, many Muslims today seek out the badge of victimhood, and wear it with pride. There is an entire industry devoted to promoting the idea that Muslims are victims of a grand conspiracy, oppressed simply because of their allegiance to their cultural and religious identity. Books, pamphlets, video and web enterprises by the hundreds exist solely for the notion. Despite the generous cradle to grave social aid given to immigrants and the political support given to immigrant communities designed to give them even more aid and comfort, there are many Muslim voices that carefully craft the public perceptions of Muslims designed to perpetuate the subjugation of Muslims and to acknowledge the righteousness of their ‘right’ to fight ‘injustice.’ Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

Governments and communities go out of their way to accomodate Muslim populations. Religion, customs and culture are afforded the utmost respect and consideration. Muslim groups, Houses of Worship and social services have been geared to serve the Muslim community. Public holidays in Western countries are sensitive to Muslims, so much so that many communities go out of their way to include Muslims or deemphasize other religious beliefs and manifestations. This is hardly comparable to what the Jews were forced to endure. To even imply there is some kind of correlation to the prewar Europe is absurd and flies in the face of reality.

Many Muslims point to persecutions of Muslims, be it in Iraq, Chechnya, Guantanamo Bay or the Occupied Territories of Gaza and the West Bank. They point out that Muslims are suffering horribly.

Naturally, there has to be a suspension of reality to pursue that delusion.

In fact, the vast majority of Muslims are oppressed by other Muslims and in fact, suffer horrific fates at the hands of their co-religionists. They also suffer at the hands of those they have oppressed- and have chosen to retaliate. That truth is a constant. The slaughter at Sabra and Shatilla by the Christian Phalange, the resistance of Christians in East Timor and Nigeria and the outrage of Hindus at Muslim atrocities in India, have all been the result of a deliberate Muslim agenda to impose their political and religious will, by force, on others.

In fact, even the military persecution of Muslims by westerners came about as a direct result of actions taken by radical Muslims. The actions of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Saddam in Iraq and the Palestinians, have been directed at destabilizing and terrorizing innocents. There is no bias against Muslims in the west. As has been noted many times before, Muslims in the west have more freedom than their co religionists in the Arab world. The west came to the aid of Muslims in Bosnia, without preconditioons, a truth many Muslims still refuse to acknowledge.

There is, however, a bias in the west against terror and totalitarianism, both of which are tolerated and encouraged by many Muslims all over the world.

Notwithstanding that bias against terror and radicalism, Western leaders are careful to remain respectful of the faith of Islam. Contrast that with the filth that emanates from ‘Islamic leaders and scholars,’ as they disparage Judaism, Christianity and the Hindu religion. While Muslims insist that there is a concerted western anti-Muslim agenda, that is belied every day. Not one western democracy believed that a new Iraqi government, for example, need shun Islam as an integral part of it’s identity and constitution.

There is not one single example of a Muslim regime, anywhere, at any time, that was so mindful and accommodating of another faith (see this and this).

For Muslims to clam they are being persecuted in the same way that Jews were in per war Europe is absurd. Jews did not seek to address injustices (real, in their case) by committing acts of terror. There was no concerted effort by Jews to vilify innocents or commit acts of vandalism and desecration against Houses of Worship, cemeteries or schools. They did not riot or destroy private or public property.

As we noted,

After the Paris riots, publishing of the infamous Mohammad cartoons and the Bhutto assassination, entire populations went on a wild rampage. Hordes of out of control people caused massive destruction to private and public property.

The destruction of property is not a display of anger, disagreement, mourning or courage. It is an unequivocal display of political, moral and social immaturity. It is also a public acknowledgment of the complete lack of a mature and healthy value system…

The issues European Muslims must address are not events in the Middle East, Israel, America or Jews. The issues they must address are in the mirror.

The capitulation by western journalists and others after Danish cartoon episode will prove to be the proverbial ’slippery slope’ of accommodation gone wild. Notwithstanding the claim by outraged Muslims that the cartoons were a form of ‘racism,’ the truth is far different. There is no reason that Islam need be designated a ’sacred cow’ over any other religion. There is no reason that Muslims be afforded a superior status. The caricature of Islam is no different than the caricature of any other religion. In fact, it is no different than satirizing any other religion or set of beliefs held sacred by some. Why should Islam be treated differently than feminism, animal rights, environmentalism, liberalism or conservatism?

It is true that Muslims perceive themselves as persecuted and ‘outside’ the mainstream. It is certainly true that many Muslims are victims of racism. In that, they are certainly not unique. However, rather than try and overcome stereotypes and work towards a better life (as did the Irish, Italians, Jews, Greeks, Asians and every other minority in free societies), Muslims are turning en masse to radical Islam as they search for an identity. That is a far easier endeavor than actually working towards a better life.

Whereas Jews hated their victim status and did everything they could to become a part of society in which they lived, many Muslims believe that being ‘oppressed’ and being defined by their religion as opposed to their behavior, bestows upon them a certain dignity. Wearing religious garb, for example, negates the hate and violence and turns that hate into something sacred, they believe. They do not see actions and behaviors as relevant to definitional to their identity. In the end, they are doing what is antithetical to one of they great foundation stones of democratic societies. They are refusing to integrate into a world in which they are equal. For many, equality is unacceptable. They desperately want to believe that by their very existence alone, they are superior.They owe the communities in which they live nothing.

As Jews, Italians, Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and other religious and immigrant groups built hospitals to become a part of and to serve the communities they lived in, no such effort can be found in the Muslim communities. They myopically focus on themselves and then wonder why they are not being integrated into the community at large. They do not understand that become a part of a society requires active participation and and passive demands.

All the while, western liberalism and a perverted notion of ‘multiculturalism,’ only serves to reinforce much of the negative behavior. Liberalism is helping to perpetuate the cycle that keep the disjointed and negative behaviors as ‘acceptable.’ Ambition and success, the engine that has proved to be the most powerful motivator in improving the lives of people, is given short shrift and denigrated by much of liberal ideology. Rather than focus on what is possible and within reach, many Muslims with the help and blessings of some, will place the blame of Muslim disenfranchisement in Europe and America on events in far away places and far away conflicts. They have to- they have not been the victims at the hands of free democracies, no matter how much they wish to be, or pretend they are. They want to be the persecuted Jews of our times, because somehow, that too bestows a special status- and maybe, just maybe, they will come out of it as successful as the Jews. They do not see how very unlike the Jews they really are and how different their values are from other groups. Other immigrant groups were repulsed by the notion of victimhood. They were to prove just how strong they were by lifting themselves from the bottom rung of that social totem pole.

It is ironic that Muslims, who claim such great strength, are proving to be so weak. The need to bask in victim status and to threaten those who do not pay homage and those who refuse to celebrate that status, can only lead to one ending:

Another generation lost.

Dr Sanity had an excellent post, The Idiots Guide To Victimhood- Getting it and Keeping It. The piece is an excellent primer on the ‘what makes victimhood tick’ side of the equation. In fact, her post is an excellent insight into the fundamentals of what is the insidious momentum that is victimhood. In addition to providing an excellent source of cogent background material, the piece provides some far more sophisticated nuance.

While you’re in a reading frame of mind, read The Future Lens, in case you missed it.The ideas contained in that post are closely related to today’s discussion.