Daniel Greenfield at Rightside News wonders whether the real problem in the Middle East might just be the people that live there:
A people who do not believe in the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will not be free no matter how many times they go to the polls. You can place voting booths outside every home and run elections every week, and it will still do no good. Freedom may be the birthright of every man, woman and child on earth– but it cannot be theirs until they claim it. As long as they believe in the right of the majority to oppress the minority, in the value of order over liberty, and the supremacy of the mosque over any and all civil and legal rights– then they will never be free. Never. Their elections will either give rise to chaos or tyranny. That is how it is in the Middle East. That is how it will always be until they claim their birthright by closing the Koran and opening their minds.
Who knows? There’s apparently a gene (DRD4) that makes liberals the naturally goofy critters they are, and a variant which can turn people into sex-crazed clones of Charlie Sheen. Maybe there’s another that predisposes a large number of the Islamic devout in West Asia into regularly committing barbarities that would shame a Hun. Baltazar Gracian, the 17th century Jesuit guru, a guy who knew as much about worldly wisdom as anybody–he even penned a book about it–said,
“There are men of evil mind , who would make of everything a crime, and not because of passion, but just naturally. They condemn everybody, some for what they have done, and others for what they may do. It is the sign of a narrow mind, as cruel as it is vile, for they charge so immoderately, that of motes they fashion beams with which to put out the eyes.”
And in no place are minds as narrow as in the Middle East, where statements like these are regurgitated daily:
“Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury.”–Mamoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran
“When I see a Jew before me, I kill him. If every Arab did this, it would be the end of the Jews.”–Mustafa Tlas, Syrian Minister of Defense
“Thanks to Hitler, of blessed memory, who on behalf of the Palestinians, revenged in advance, against the most vile criminals on the face of the earth. Although we do have a complaint against him for his revenge on them was not enough.”–Ahmad Ragab, columnist for the Egyptian newspaper Al-Akhbar
In the end, a people decides its own destiny. The best for which we can hope is that they choose well.
Be Sure You’re Right, Then Go Ahead 
Indeed Bob, it’s something to think about. After all, these people are a hateful lot. They are pure evil and whatever gene it is that they have is downright ugly. Oh heck, everything about them is downright ugly.
D.
Hi, D. You just can’t tell what’s under those veils.
The Islamic definition of “democracy” is nothing like the Western definition. Many Moslems see shari’a as “democratic.”
Islam also has differing definitions for other terms as well. Please see THIS ESSAY, which I wrote in October 2005.
I do wonder if it is possible that Arabs suffer from a genetic psychosis.
In the Middle East, they either support the Mubaraks and the Saddams or they’re saddled with the Amadinejads and the Khomeinis. Like the apocryphal inscription on the tombstone of W.C. Fields, “All in all, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.”
Progressives and Moslems throw the word “democracy” out there to divert attention away from the agenda at hand. You tell people you’re fighting for democracy and immediately they drop their guard. They tend to trust which in the end can prove detrimental. We’re talking tainted realities here.
I don’t think it is genetic. This is a problem of the soul.
I won’t wax too religious on you, but the implication should be clear enough. If you systematically excise God from the equation then you excise what God has given us – free will – and abandon yourself to the ruler of this world. Ironically, these cultures have exercised free will – and have left God behind. But there are consequences, and one of them is the fundamental inability to be free!
Think about the principles that the United States is founded on. The hierarchy is God->man->government. The Judeo-Christian ethic says man has free will, God will “settle up” after this life is done.
In these countries the prevailing culture is one of intolerance to an extreme. The concept of individuality and the rights of the individual is so alien as to be heretical. Without them, our system of government is incompatible.
Said the incomparable scold Mrs. Mortimer in 1848 on the Three Evils of Arabia (The Countries of Europe Described, re-published in 2005 as the Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World):
Extremely well said. I actually wish that I had said it. I don’t mind making it about God. As bad as those in my community were struggling 50 years ago, it got worse as they “replaced” God with the Democratic Party. I pray everyday that people wake up.
http://www.thecypresstimes.com/article/Christian_News/Christian_Opinion/OPEN_LETTER_TO_THE_BLACK_CHURCH_COMMUNITY/34556
Hi, D. Mrs. Mortimer was an equitable scold. Of the Swedes, she said,
And she offered this judgment on the Egyptians:
great work Bob…lets us pray the Lord will save us from this ideology and this left wing nightmare!!!
Hi, Angel. Somebody’s got to tell the crowd at the Medicine Show that they’re buying snake oil. The MSM sure ain’t gonna do it.
Bob
I am not so sure that we understand much of the Arabian culture, which makes us as ignorant as some of them think of us. To them they are free.
I correspond regularly with two guys in Turkey; both seen me messages of God Bless you Ike when wishing me a good Xmas. Have you read ‘The Source’ by James Michener?
In addition we have quite a large Muslim population here. They are friendly people and many are good in business. We have mutual respect for each other; they mostly live in the Cape Town area where they have been established for three hundred years. BTW they don’t recognize Obama as a Muslim; ok, I can’t speak for all of them but those that I have spoken too and my two friends in Turkey are strongly anti-Obama and anti-terrorist.
I always come back to my recent Post. They have their countries and traditions; and I will stay out of it. The terrorist, the radical, the extremist and Obama are the risk to America right inside America. That is where we should concentrate; each and every country must protect his borders and not interfere on the other side.
I want to close with something that may not be popular but I believe that I should say it. China in 1989 did the right thing for China at Tiananmen. A Government must protect and legislate to protect the 99% of its law-abiding people. The agitator must follow peaceful means if he has a gripe or emigrate if he does not wish to obey the law. It is the duty of Government to protect the 99% and they must shoot to kill the violent ones.
But I have also been somewhat of an idealist on the one hand but strong on law and order for the 99%.
I liked the cartoon.
Howdy, Ike. Live & let live, I always say. But I said it a lot more often before 9-11.
We all have the evil of those who exterminated Jews and those who still wish to exterminate them within us. I don’t know where all of the hate abroad in the world today will take us. I fear that people just have grown accustomed to chaos and look for ways to make it a possibility. 21st century man loves to live on the edge. He is closer to finding out the source of the universe but not sure he wants to know; holds god-like nuclear powers at his fingertips and threatens to use them and all the while dumping foul stuff everywhere to get rid of the refuse left from creating goods for his enjoyment.
And by the way, the Russians are sending me tons of porn. Why am I so lucky?
Good evening SH, Don’t you love their spam and all those links? Next, it will be from the Greeks.
They annoy me.
D.
I get occasional spam in Cyrillic, SH, but I always delete anything that’s indecipherable (consequently, I may have inadvertently deleted a few comments from recent ‘graduates’ of our public schools).