Arrogance
- Monday, August 14 2006 @ 07:41 AM CST
- Contributed by: filbert
- Views: 3,789
I can think of two reasons why, seemingly, most Westerners (Europeans, Americans) don't take the threat of radical fascist Islamism seriously. (We can't even call it what it is, but instead cloak it within the feckless phrase "war on terror.")
The first possible reason is that the challenge of the radical Islamists to western liberalism is, after all, a completely justified reaction to western imperialism. Who are we to impose our values of freedom, liberty, fairness, equal rights, and religious tolerance on people who so manifestly refuse and reject all of them? Western-style liberal freedom and democracy is, after all, simply not compatible with the Islamic mind. Because of our cultural imperialism and obscene lust for oil, the Islamists have ample justification to strike out against we, the imperialist West. We've brought it upon ourselves.
The other possible reason is that the Islamic fascists aren't really a threat to us, anyway. We're so secure, so powerful, so confident in our culture that all of their demonstrations and bombings and beheadings and airliner plots and little wars against the Zionist Entity are as the buzzing of a mosquito in our ears, to be shooed away at our leisure as we sip our martinis and contemplate our next idle desire. We follow the threats and the wars much like we follow a sports league, keeping scores and stats about how many people were killed on each side, debating calls of the referees and identifying our favorite teams and players. It's just a game.
The question I have is: which view is the most arrogant?
The first possible reason is that the challenge of the radical Islamists to western liberalism is, after all, a completely justified reaction to western imperialism. Who are we to impose our values of freedom, liberty, fairness, equal rights, and religious tolerance on people who so manifestly refuse and reject all of them? Western-style liberal freedom and democracy is, after all, simply not compatible with the Islamic mind. Because of our cultural imperialism and obscene lust for oil, the Islamists have ample justification to strike out against we, the imperialist West. We've brought it upon ourselves.
The other possible reason is that the Islamic fascists aren't really a threat to us, anyway. We're so secure, so powerful, so confident in our culture that all of their demonstrations and bombings and beheadings and airliner plots and little wars against the Zionist Entity are as the buzzing of a mosquito in our ears, to be shooed away at our leisure as we sip our martinis and contemplate our next idle desire. We follow the threats and the wars much like we follow a sports league, keeping scores and stats about how many people were killed on each side, debating calls of the referees and identifying our favorite teams and players. It's just a game.
The question I have is: which view is the most arrogant?