We are fighting a pestilential theology and a longing for paradise:
...the dogma of multiculturalism has left a secular Europe very slow to address the looming problem of religious extremism among its immigrants. The people who speak most sensibly about the threat that Islam poses to Europe are actually fascists.Sam Harris/LATimes 18.09.06
To say that this does not bode well for liberalism is an understatement: It does not bode well for the future of civilization....religion, "The End of Faith" major religions global civilization priests, journalists, scientists, politicians, soldiers, rabbis, actors, aid workers, students belief and nonbelief all creeds and political persuasions religion liberals and conservatives religion human conflict future of liberalism liberal bone fides Bush administration war in Iraq science liberals liberalism realities devout Muslims West paradise faith national security liberals religious demagogues Christian right acquiescence liberals terrorism cult of death Muslim world Islamic doctrines martyrdom and jihad war on terror
pestilential theology and a longing for paradise
Muslims death in defense of the faith good cartoonists the prophet Muslim faith apostasy religious extremism studies Muslims educations religious ideas society economic intellectual resources
nuclear bomb 72 virgins in paradise evidence liberals Muslim terrorism economic despair lack of education and American militarism liberal denial subculture of conspiracy theorists atrocities of 9/11 government poll Americans government
9/11 terrorist attacks United States Middle East 16%
twin towers jets agents Bush administration eruption of masochistic unreason liberalism decline of Western civilization phantasmagoria debilitating dogma liberalism Western power malevolent powerless people of the Earth reason and tolerance economic opportunities engineers and architects journalists fantasy Muslims Islam Muslims sociopathic behavior benighted religious solidarity greatest problem civilization obfuscated by liberals mendacity incompetence Bush administration mishandling Iraq liberals conservative war on terror liberals hate administration fail dangerous depraved enemies Muslim condemnations Bush administration Islamic fascism Islamists fascists schisms Islamists propaganda alleged liberals analyses U.S. and Israeli liberals basic moral distinctions fact Muslims murder noncombatants we and the Israelis avoid Muslims routinely use human shields collateral damage we and the Israelis cause political discourse Muslim world
especially with respect to Jews
is explicitly and unabashedly genocidal distinctions
no question Israelis moral high ground
conflict Hamas Hezbollah liberals United States Europe speak truth otherwise age of unchecked nuclear proliferation nuclear terrorism no future martyrs good neighbors us liberals millions Muslim world scarier Cheney unable protect civilization genuine enemies Americans believe people hard-headed fight religious lunatics Muslim world religious lunatics people with the greatest moral clarity Middle East members of the Christian right infatuation biblical prophecy troubling ideology enemies Religious dogmatism dangerous game liberals Iron Age madness increasingly irrelevant reasonable and tolerant of diversity liberals dangers religious literalism failure of liberalismWestern Europe dogma of multiculturalism secular Europe slow looming problem of religious extremism immigrants people speak most sensibly threat Islam Europe fascists bode well liberalism understatement:
It does not bode well for the future of civilization.
-
So we're clear on this:
As far as I can tell from what I've read the "twin towers" came down as a result of fast-buck construction and massive architectural trauma.
But there are anomalies, coincidences, and a lot of little people's lives have been thrown away since 2001. Whoever was willing to sacrifice all those American kids in Iraq - not to mention the Iraqis - obviously wouldn't have a problem with other deadly conspiratoid scenes.
Not all of it's dismissable as paranoia; and in a time like this the word "conspiracy" has no useful meaning left.
Everybody's conspiring, man.
Sam Harris would appear to be a "sleeper", called into action to cowboy the herd back toward docile acceptance of the way forward. He earned his bona fides in popularizing semi-new-age attitudes toward spirituality, back when it was still relatively easy to talk about spiritual things publicly without committing to a hard-line position. Credentialed, waiting.
Now there's a lot of temptation to crawl under the couch and pull some cushions over your head.
People want it to be okay, they want it to be what the big voices are telling us.
There's an enemy out there that wants to cut our heads off and make our women wear long shapeless clothes.
But it doesn't really look like that's the case. Too many lies, too many examples of covert foreign influence and behind-the-scenes control.
So Harris gets the nod and swings into action.
Chavez' dramatic exorcism of the UN podium the other day probably played some part in the decision to have Harris run a flanking move on an awakening American public.
Notice the worsening climate gets no mention at all.
That would be because:
a. it's a hoax just like the climate deniers on the Exxon payroll have been sayingPolitics, even at the disgusting level Harris is operating on, is a relief from the possibility of a melting world.
b. it's planned for, and at this stage unnecessary to confuse the world-view of the simple folk
c. the decision-makers are as freaked out about it, and as unable to come directly to grips with it, as most of the rest of us.
