Letters to the Editor
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D'Souza Yes But No
D’Souza’s concept seems to be that the Cultural Left caused 9-11. To which I say: there is no way in Hell or Heaven that Bush – and all his Gang and all his supporters and all his enablers – can escape responsibility for the mess we are all in now. And if there is anybody who even now looks forward to the Angels of the Apocalypse pulling up to the curb any time before we have all had the opportunity to make suitable confession and do penance, well … any such person should not be operating heavy machinery.
But that being said, if We want to consider carefully the consequences that 40 years of revolutionary blitzes from the ‘cultural Left’ and its Theory have had on our society and our culture and our ability to be The People, the indispensable People without which the lesser machinery of the government’s counter-balancing Branches will simply rock off its foundations… well, I would very strongly approve that inquiry.
After all, if the past 40 years of 'emergencies' and 'outrages' have gravely weakened The People's ability to actually do the job of Peopling this Republic, then we are in aheepatrubble. Chief Justice Davis said almost 150 years ago that this nation cannot expect to always be governed by wise and benevolent leaders, and that therefore it must remain vigilant and prepared to deal with such an eventuality as the failure of one or another of the Branches to perform its role. They didn't have airplanes back then, so he many never have imagined the modern-type problem of having 2 of your 3 engines - or all 3 - start coughing at once. Nor did he envision a nation so big and complex that its people would give up on being The People. Has it come to that?
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Who wins?
If we act like good conservatives and raise an iron fist to bin Laden, then who has won? If we become more fundamentalist and less free, then hasn't bin Laden won? The antidote to the Islamic terrorism is more liberalism not less. Alas, the route we are taking is the opposite of what we need. And, in the end, going with the more fearful and secure stance, bin Laden wins in his fight against freedom and choice.
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The Right Wing Politics of Appeasement
It probably has already been pointed out, but it bears repeating. Even if Mr. D'Souza's specious argument is correct, what then? Do we somehow remove, rescind, or otherwise abstain from all these things that anger the terrorists so? Conveniently enough for Mr. D'Souza, the stuff we have to give up is stuff he's not that fond of, but does that really matter? Once we do purge our country of liberalism, what makes Mr. D'Souza think the terrorist will stop there? Indeed, why would they stop, having succeeded in changing our country? Isn't what Mr. D'souza suggesting appeasement, something the right has warned us about again and again? He is suggesting that we roll over for the terrorists, and hope that they won't get riled about the stuff he likes.
I don't know if Mr. D'Souza can even connect the dots on this. I suspect that he is the type of right-winger that so despises the left that he simply can't imagine anything worse. Whether he knows it or not, he is actually giving Al-Queda and a host of other fundamentalist, radical, Muslims (who, by the way, he conflates and conglomerates into one mass that does not exist except in his argument) credit for, in essence, agreeing with him. What he's trying to say is: “See? They can't be all bad; they hate liberalism too. Maybe we can work with these guys.” He is basically behaving like the the straw-man liberal the right always carps about; the one who thinks we can reason with the terrorists. It absolutely beggars the imagination.
I hope, for Mr. D'Souza's sake, he never gets the opportunity to discuss this theory of affinity with actual Al Queda operatives.
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Re:What hypocrisy for an Indian-American
Thank you thank you thank you!! i've been waiting for a post like this (being of Indian descent myself). When I read about this man, Locotus' remarks about Condoleeza Rice come to mind for some reason. The self-loathing of right-wing coloured people never ceases to amaze me.
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Cal v. Stanford
Going to Berkeley in the 60's I always thought there was something wrong down there on the farm.
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They hate our freedom...
... and by "they", I mean Islamists, the Christian right, most Republicans, and religious fundamentalists of every stripe and national origin.
D'Souza's point, if he has one at all, is that conservatives in the Middle East are no different from conservatives in the US.
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9/11
Why be so scared of Al Quaida? George W. Bush has appeased their demands and removed American troops from Saudi Arabia.
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Just my left-wing response
Mr. D'Souza's insights into the supposed causes of 9/11 amaze me. How is it that the conservative's war on Iraq has made the world any safer?
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How the left caused 9/11, by Dinesh D'Souza
If you accept D'Souza's reasoning (which I don't) regarding Carter and the Shah, then the same line of reasoning would apply to Bush II, i.e., he removed the lesser evil, Sadam Hussein, and gave us the horror we are experiencing today which includes feeding the hate of fundametalist Muslims for America.
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How the left caused 9/11, by Dinesh D'Souza
And here I thought it was the homosexuals who caused 9/11. Was that prior right-wing hypothesis bumped to make room for this one?