Terror, Culture, and Books

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The culture clash between radical Isalm and the West has roiled even the rarefied and dignified, not to say snobby, world of book criticism and awards. Are books that take a hard view on the threat of radical Islam to Western liberal culture being insightful or are they racist? Is it timely analysis and wisdom, or is it Islamophobia?

I suppose all is fair in love, war, and debate. Even in the literary world.

( article )

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Terror, Culture, and Books

♠
The culture clash between radical Isalm and the West has roiled even the rarefied and dignified, not to say snobby, world of book criticism and awards. Are books that take a hard view on the threat of radical Islam to Western liberal culture being insightful or are they racist? Is it timely analysis and wisdom, or is it Islamophobia?

I suppose all is fair in love, war, and debate. Even in the literary world.

( article )

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Dick Cavett

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Dick Cavett has a blog at the Times. I don't know if that will draw a lot of young people to lay down their cash for TimesSelect, but some of we older types appreciate the man's literary intelligence and gentle wit, and he is still going strong. I'll lay down his own handle on the God question:

I’m not an atheist exactly, but remain what you might call “suggestible.” (Is there a category of almost-atheist? A person who does not have the courage of his nonconvictions? I guess Woody Allen has, as so often, had the ultimate comic word on the subject. “You cannot prove the nonexistence of God; you just have to take it on faith.”)

(Source: Dick Cavett for The New York Times)

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Dick Cavett

♠
Dick Cavett has a blog at the Times. I don't know if that will draw a lot of young people to lay down their cash for TimesSelect, but some of we older types appreciate the man's literary intelligence and gentle wit, and he is still going strong. I'll lay down his own handle on the God question:

I’m not an atheist exactly, but remain what you might call “suggestible.” (Is there a category of almost-atheist? A person who does not have the courage of his nonconvictions? I guess Woody Allen has, as so often, had the ultimate comic word on the subject. “You cannot prove the nonexistence of God; you just have to take it on faith.”)

(Source: Dick Cavett for The New York Times)

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Iran Rattles Its Own Saber

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President Bush has sent out some serious fire power to the Persian Gulf in the form of an aircraft carrier strike group, and there has been much talk about striking at Iran. Iran has decided that it would be good to issue some strong statements of its own:

Iran's supreme leader warned today that any U.S. attack on his country would trigger Iranian retaliation against U.S. interests "around the world."

... Khamenei continued, "Some say that the U.S. president is not the type who acts based on calculations or thinks about the consequences of his action. But even these people can be brought to their senses." He said U.S. policymakers know that Iran "would not let an invasion go without a response."

The Administration asserts that it is dumbstruck why Iran thinks we have any intentions of invading the country. I guess there is a lot of paranoia going around these days.

(Source: William Branigin for The Washington Post)

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Iran Rattles Its Own Saber

♠
President Bush has sent out some serious fire power to the Persian Gulf in the form of an aircraft carrier strike group, and there has been much talk about striking at Iran. Iran has decided that it would be good to issue some strong statements of its own:

Iran's supreme leader warned today that any U.S. attack on his country would trigger Iranian retaliation against U.S. interests "around the world."

... Khamenei continued, "Some say that the U.S. president is not the type who acts based on calculations or thinks about the consequences of his action. But even these people can be brought to their senses." He said U.S. policymakers know that Iran "would not let an invasion go without a response."

The Administration asserts that it is dumbstruck why Iran thinks we have any intentions of invading the country. I guess there is a lot of paranoia going around these days.

(Source: William Branigin for The Washington Post)

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Blame America First

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Third, why should we think Islamic objections to our culture could justify the violence of the extremists? Jihadists may not like Western drug use, homosexuality, rap music or abortion any more than we do female circumcision, polygamy, sharia law and gender apartheid, which are as common in the Middle East as our purported offenses are in the West. But would anyone thereby justify Americans suicide-bombing Muslim civilians?

-- Victor Davis Hanson at RealClearPolitics.com

This gets my vote for the best and most concise answer to Dinesh D'Souza. Mr. Hanson takes on the whole spectrum of those who have been fond of blaming America for 9/11, from conservatives to liberals, from Christians to secular humanists. I like his diagnosis, too, for this curious phenomenon.

America has enjoyed such a predominant and privileged position that too many Americans expect to see their country realize their greatest ideals, "too many Americans embrace only their fantasy of a perfect United States, rather than the good America we actually have."

( Hanson column )

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Blame America First

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Third, why should we think Islamic objections to our culture could justify the violence of the extremists? Jihadists may not like Western drug use, homosexuality, rap music or abortion any more than we do female circumcision, polygamy, sharia law and gender apartheid, which are as common in the Middle East as our purported offenses are in the West. But would anyone thereby justify Americans suicide-bombing Muslim civilians?

-- Victor Davis Hanson at RealClearPolitics.com

This gets my vote for the best and most concise answer to Dinesh D'Souza. Mr. Hanson takes on the whole spectrum of those who have been fond of blaming America for 9/11, from conservatives to liberals, from Christians to secular humanists. I like his diagnosis, too, for this curious phenomenon.

America has enjoyed such a predominant and privileged position that too many Americans expect to see their country realize their greatest ideals, "too many Americans embrace only their fantasy of a perfect United States, rather than the good America we actually have."

( Hanson column )

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