F. Marc de Piolenc forwards: >Among the Bourgeoisophobes >Why the Europeans and Arabs, each in their own way, hate America and >Israel. > >http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/102gwtnf.asp
While it drops off into a bit of jingoism near the end, the first three quarters of this essay is spot on and expresses well the ideas I've held about Muslim terrorists for a long time. Also, it eloquently puts the lie to the notion that those terrorists attacked the WTC because they "hate freedom". It may be true that they hate freedom in some narrow sense, but it misses the point: what they really hate is the godless, arrogant, materialistic, undeserved (etc. from the article) appearance communicated by the exports of our culture. It is this hatred of the perception of our culture that is misinterpreted (by shallow and jingoistic analysts on *our* side) as "they just hate our freedom." Which leads me to a couple of other comments. The additional security restrictions imposed on Americans since 9/11 clearly play right into their hands. No doubt it's very satisfying to bin Laden that he's put the infidel Americans to huge additional inconvenience and substantially decreased their liberties. (Again, though, it isn't primarily liberty itself that he hates, but the cultural exports that flow from the "western" version of it.) Also, it isn't only the Americans and Israelis that are so regarded - other western nations are ultimately targets as well -- but the Americans and Israelis are seen as by far the most egregious examples. Or, in other words, "we'll bring down Britain, Germany and the rest after we dispose of the Americans and Israelis." (Though perhaps France will escape being a target - the French seem to be born with an innate bourgeoisophobia, manifesting itself in such silliness as their government's continual attempts to prevent their language from being "corrupted" by English imports.) Another point well made here is the notion that American left-wing intellectuals and politicians, as well as right-wing fundamentalists and their politicians, all fall into this same boat. The left-wingers - from Chomskyites to Kennedy/Clinton/Gore liberals - think they need to protect us from our crass obsession with the pursuit of wealth and our "selfishness", while the right-wingers - from Falwell and Pat Robertson to more mainstream Republicans - think we've been consumed by licentiousness and immorality and that they need to force us to go back to church. To those of us who admire all types of liberty, it shows why we need to keep sticking fingers into the eyes of both sides, or monkeywrenching, as Tim puts it. At the same time, none of this justifies many of the arrogant and inflammatory actions taken by our government which serve as irritants to the bourgeoisophobes and ultimately give them justification for their hatred and their retaliation. For example, why do we give billions of dollars every year to Israel? We get little or no benefit from it, while it antagonizes the hell out of many Arabs. - GH (preaching to the choir again) _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
