Taking cultural editing notes from terrorists
The New York City Police Department issued a disconcerting report recently called, “Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat.” In a nutshell, investigators and researchers concluded that the most serious threat the nation faces come from small groups of disaffected men who become radicalized.
The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan noted the report in her latest column, and seems to blame our culture and American values for inviting attacks.
The view we show of life to ourselves, and to whatever lost young men are watching, is not broad and inspiriting. It is limited and dispiriting. It is every man for himself.
We make it too easy for those who want to hate us to hate us. We make ourselves look bad in our media, which helps future jihadists think that they must, by hating us, be good.
It's not only bewildering, it's also part of a blame-Americans-first attitude that conservatives keep embracing.
She sounds just like Osama Bin Laden. Why does she hate America?
"More and more Muslims now hate us all across the world, and it really has not a lot to do with anything other than our morals.
“The things that they were saying about us were true. Our morals are just out the window. We’re a society on the verge of moral collapse. And our promiscuity is off the charts." racist Glenn Beck
Oh, I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the way we've been installing our own handpicked dictators in countries across the planet, or the hypoctitcal way we stomp on everyone for the same human rights violations we perpetrate.
Besides, our 'promiscuity' is NOT off the charts. A survey I read recently says the average American is having sex just minutes a week,... of course, getting laid would work wonders for Glenn there,...
The media understands that appearances are more important than actions.
If we could only make ourselves look good on TV, then the world will love us.
It's all about putting lipstick on a pig.
she'll look great taking a Murdock paycheck.
I couldn't read the whole thing. She started off smug, then dove straight into ignorance.
As I watched this nothing sort of scene, I thought: That's where it comes from. That's what keeps it alive.
Yeah Peggy, it has nothing to do with rounding people up to make quotas and engaging in torture and murder. It is the victim's fault.
Look, I'm a liberal and I don't believe that the conservatives engage in the 'blame America first', syndrome any more than we do. How many times have liberals claimed that using depleted uranium weapons is evil when the United Nations and European Union investigations failed to find any elevated risk of illness from this substance? How many times have we said that the war we fought in the Balkans was evil when we fought it to save muslims from genocide? Etc. An unbiased worldview requires some self examination.
Ron Haubrich @ 7:
Could you send me the links on your claims because it is my understanding that depleted uranium has been found to cause all sorts of illness and defects.
Like Ms Noonan I'm a shameless whore so here's my own blog post on this:
(titled Cult of the Unremarkable Islamists! )
We are well into summer, and you know what that means: Major League Soccer, barbecues, brush-clearing and of course, TERRAH!
“…the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have begun focusing on what they say is a greater threat -- small, anonymous groups of disaffected men who radicalize one another and turn to violence.”
Apparently the FBI is totally on the case, having identified these would-be terrorists with the totally awesome and highly scientific descriptors ‘BOGs’, for "bunch of guys," or ‘GOGs’, for "group of guys”---and thanks to the FBI’s mad skillz “the cells may offer greater opportunities for detection and infiltration than the lone-wolf threat because they are more numerous and most members are amateurs.”
So have no fear citizens! The ‘G-men’ have got the ‘B-men’s number!
Well almost, anyway...
Though the FBI has now detected this new and significant threat to our mothers and their apple-pies, it seems that “they are difficult to detect because most lack formal structure or prominent leaders and have little or no contact with Al Qaeda or other known terrorist organizations.”
Because if they'd only have the decency to call themselves Al Qaeda in Oklahoma or something it would really help!! But if that weren’t alarming enough consider this:
"There is no useful profile to assist law enforcement or intelligence to predict who will follow this trajectory of radicalization. Rather, the individuals who take this course begin as 'unremarkable' from various walks of life," the NYPD said in a report released Wednesday.
So have fear, citizens! The ‘G-men’ haven’t got the ‘B-men’s' number!!!
And it gets worse! Apparently a “BOG” can “plan multiple attacks, use varied weapons and tactics, and draw on a wider range of resources than an individual could, officials say.”
Holy Mary Mother of God!
Never would I have imagined that a group of people could draw upon a wider range of resources than an individual could! Do you realize what this MEANS?!!
Why they might organize themselves, establish hierarchies, assign responsibilities, meet regularly, coordinate activities, canvas for support, seek out alliances, develop strategies and who knows, one day they might create a geo-political entity based on common interests, establish a collective identity and possibly even dominate the world!
Thank-God we have officials who are prepared to say things!
Law enforcement officials say BOGs present unique challenges."If we don't bump into them directly or have someone involved in some form of interaction with them, we'll have a difficult time finding them," said Arthur M. Cummings II, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counter-terrorism.
Well there’s only one thing for it then! A mass deployment of FBI agents to round up every single group of disaffected men! It’s the only way to save America!
I’ve written at length and seriously about many of the previous US terror plots and warnings (Idiots Thwart Other Idiots , DHS and the Three F's , Politics, Plots and Paranoia ) and found them to be lacking in credibility and undeserving of the dramatic coverage they were given.
But the article excerpted here (there’s plenty more to it) is the most ludicrous twaddle I have ever seen, in its own contradictions, hyperbole and the absolutely moronic utterances of the featured officials.
It’s been said that “it takes a thief to catch a thief”. It might follow then that it would take delusional incompetents to catch delusional incompetents. In which case, have no fear citizens; the FBI is clearly up to the task!
But just in case, stay terrified (or 'terrorfied'),--it's your duty as an American!
Every man for himself? Who did she used to write speeches for ...?
Ron Haubrich @ 7:
Please send me a link to these medical studies. The scientific community seems to think that this stuff is highly toxic. I've known people here in Texas that were poisoned by the stuff at the Hercules plant, where the stuff was being machined for warheads.
Have you tried ingesting depleted uranium to see if it is safe?
I think she's right. No more reading columns from women in the Wall St. Journal for me. She should be improving our culture by staying home baking cookies.
Ron Haubrich @ 7:
I agree with most of your statement. But I wonder at the purpose of using depleted uranium if it's so innocuous. Another thing I'd like to comment on is the falseness of the phrase 'blame America first'. In reality there is no 'blame America first'. America should be held to a higher standard of how we react to and treat the world. We have been portrayed as a beacon of light to the rest of the world, you know the 'light on the hill', with our democratic republic form of government. Some of us believe that America can and should improve and not stagnate and decay. We believe in egalitarian values and the old things like 'all men are created equal', and 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country', and so the current ' get what you can for yourself and to hell with everybody else' type attitude is anathema to our beliefs. There is no nuance in the political discourse in this country any more. Hopefully it will return and we can mend our differences.
Are terrorists flying jets into skyscrapers in Brazil? Or Switzerland? Or Japan? Or Germany? Or Finland? Or Denmark? No? Gee - I wonder why...
Maybe because NONE OF THOSE COUNTRIES are swaggering greedy murderous empires. Japan and Germany tried it out 70 years ago, and they found out that stealing stuff is more expensive than buying it. The USA is about to learn a similar lesson.
Adopting a unipolar geopolitic (GW Bush/Cheney) is an invitation to immolation. Adopting a multipolar geopolitic (Bill Clinton) of regional hegemons is the political structure of the future.
And terrorists have always been pests and always will be. From ETA to the IRA from the Shining Path to Neo-Nazi pinheads - there will always be a certain set of people who see violence as a first resort in solving policy issues. Where I come from we call them "Dicks". Other places have more or less kinder terms for them.
Run while you can.
Weaseldog @ 11:
Hey, I was gonna recommend that.
DU is excreted through the kidneys and urinary system. A simple test for it in urine can tell if you've been exposed. And, yeah it's toxic as all get out. Do a Google search.
That last one is pretty much the core GOP principle in a nutshell.
Terrorism has been with us for many thousands of years. Bush says he is going to end it before his presidency is over. Peggy Noonan says that all we have to do is put lipstick on a pig and we win.
Conservatives argue that because we hold the moral high ground, we can do anything we want, like drop phosgene on children and burn them alive.
If the Pope set children on fire, would he be able to keep his moral authority? I doubt it. But Bush seems to be able to maintain the moral high ground while killing over a million people for oil.
Is ongoing support for this war, something we can justify before God? Will he appreciate the Sean Hannity form of moralizing? Will God be glad that we slaughter other people in order to steal their stuff?
This is just the conservatives trying to control the message. Not saying anything bad about America really means don't say anything bad about them.
Maybe I'm taking the quote out of context, but I think she's on to something with regard to the media making the U.S. look bad. Maybe you should try to ban people like O'Reilly and Hannity from televion, by implying some kind of code of conduct for 'journalists' and other 'tv personalities'. 'Cause I must say.. watching clips of these clowns on youtube from across the pond, they tend to make my sensitive, pacifistic self damn near homicidal, so I can only imagine what they do to borderline jihadists.
AbbeyHoffmansGhost @ 13:
DU is used for it's armor piercing properties, also it's armoring properties. It is very dense and it's molecular level properties are unlike other armors.
In it's solid state it is pretty innocuous, when it is incinerated or otherwise pulverized, well, then not so much.
What would Zeus do? @ 16:
That's what they SAY their core principle is. Remember, it's every man for himself as long as they (whitey / the man) are taken care of. When there's an airline or S&L crisis, they suddenly become socialists.
Aon213 @ 19:
Which is precisely the reason we watch the BBC.
They are correct to blame Americans. It's just that they are blaming the wrong Americans. The problem lies, as it always does, with conservatives. Other nations hate us largely because we meddle in the interior affairs of their nations. The CIA has tried to rig elections and interfere in the politics of other nations for a long, long time - mostly with less success than they would like to admit.
They hate us when we force our way of living on them. They hate us when we try nation-building (Iraq).
They hate us also because we wind up switching allegiances with nations at the flip of a switch. One minute we're backing Saddam (1980s) and the next minute, we're attacking him.
We are not trustworthy in their eyes. Of course, to understand all of this means stepping outside of your own petty concerns and looking at the big picture. In the narrow-minded conservative view, the world is just a marketplace to exploit. The concerns, beliefs and preferences of individual citizens mean nothing.
For God sakes, get these conservative assholes out of the government!
(( end of rant))
BobX @ 20:
Yeah, like when it's used in weapons...
But it is also chemically reactive. DU bullets left in the ground will leach over billions of years, turning pastures into toxic fields. Being a heavy metal, plants will take DU compounds up into their leaves, where grazing animals will consume it. Mammals will secrete it in their milk, poisoning their young.
In Iraq these means that our war there will kill people and animals there, well forever. Want some DU in your Feta Cheese?
Hey Peggy, ask your therapist to explain "projection " to you.
This is the "Kinder, gentler nation" that YOU helped to create.
Killing them over there so that they will love us.
lisadawn82 @ 8:
No kidding. And no one I know says the war in the Balkans was evil. In fact, most of us wondered what took us so long. "Self examination", Ron? You might be more informed if you read more and examined yourself less.
Well, I'm not really sure that she read the report: It is a study ONLY of Islamic-based terrorism, so there is a core religious element to the entire thing, rendering her generalizations vacuous.
As for depleted uranium: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium.
As a typical reich-winger, she blames the media. Jebus, these reich-wing losers haver zero originality.
If Peggy Noonan want to find someone who makes "us" look bad, all she has to do is look in the mirror.
Once again, Peggy breaks the bonds on intelligence to touch the face of stupidity.
"We make it too easy for those who want to hate us to hate us."
Actually, true. We invade other countries for no legitimate reason, we torture, break international law, do not respect others (illegal prisons), have unfair trade practices, support dictatorships and in general behave like jerks.
Of course, what she meant was that the media shouldn't report those things, not that they shouldn't have been done in the first place... just sad.
Weaseldog @ 24:
Which is why I said "otherwise pulverized" that includes oxidation.
As DU breaks down it creates protactinium-234, which radiates beta particles to some 4.5 billion years.
Ron Haubrich @ 7:
Uh, Ron, read the post. Peggy Noonan IS blaming America. And as I recall, we didn't fight a war in the Balkans, there was a very evil war going on that we finally helped to stop. It was the conservatives, not the liberals, that opposed our intervention in the former Yugoslavia.
One need look no farther than PNAC (Project for a New American Century) to figure out why "they" hate us.
From Wikipedia:
"According to its critics, the PNAC promotes "American hegemony" and "Full-spectrum dominance" in its own publications featured on its website.[26][27][28][29]
Ebrahim Afsah, in "Creed, Cabal, or Conspiracy – The Origins of the Current Neo-Conservative Revolution in US Strategic Thinking", published in the German Law Journal, cites Jochen Bölsche's view that the goal of the PNAC is world dominance or global hegemony by the United States.[30][31] According to Bölsche, Rebuilding America's Defenses "was developed by Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Libby, and is devoted to matters of 'maintaining US pre-eminence, thwarting rival powers and shaping the global security system according to US interests.'"[30][31]"
The signers of their mission statement is telling:
Elliott Abrams Gary Bauer William J. Bennett Jeb Bush
Dick Cheney Eliot A. Cohen Midge Decter Paula Dobriansky Steve Forbes
Aaron Friedberg Francis Fukuyama Frank Gaffney Fred C. Ikle
Donald Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad I. Lewis Libby Norman Podhoretz
Dan Quayle Peter W. Rodman Stephen P. Rosen Henry S. Rowen
Donald Rumsfeld Vin Weber George Weigel Paul Wolfowitz
Project for a New Ameican Century
I can't find it right now but among other things they once had posted on their site a most amazing statement, "Every so often we need to invade a small nation to intimidate the world..."
myiq2xu @ 25:
Yup. Peggy has created a wonderful career for herself playing the benign face of take-no-prisoners conservatism. Her weekly column is a marvel of clueless hypocrisy.
She never stops shaking her head in shock and disbelief at the loss of civility and the debasement of civil discourse which she has done more than anyone to help bring about. She'll never, never get it.
more of the Falwell logic from the righties
George @ 30:
And there you go.
Summed up in absolute perfection with 14 words.
Brilliant.
Trying to make sense out of Peggy Noonan's gushy, swoony nonsense: big mistake. It's not supposed to make sense. It's supposed to get the dummies to emote, in this case about terror, to motivate them to fight the culture wars.
Still, I think she would look great in a burkah.
Every man (or woman) for themselves is the basis of Republican ideology. It is the very essence of the economic philosophy of Reaganomics, and the front man, Ronnie, she so admired and shilled so shamelessly for. Mythical welfare queens, lazy American workers, and countless fictional "bad guys" conjured up from Reagan's delusional melding of his B- movie roles and corporate interests were used by Noonan and her cohorts to sell the public their "screw you, I got mine" mentality that has had a horrible effect on public policies and attitudes.
Let's clear this up once and for all: 'They' hate us because 1. we are in what they consider to be their holy lands (Saudi Arabia, where we still have large military bases), and 2. because of our one-sided, no-questions-asked support of Israel.
That's really it in a nutshell.
It seems to me invading the middle east on false pretenses, killing their people, and stealing their oil might have something to do with it.
What do conservatives hate America?
Check. In order to protect our freedoms we must excercise them in such a manner so as to not offend Osama bin Laden's delicate sensibilities.
Got it.
Noonan will look fabulous in a burkah.
Peggy is all over the place in that editorial.
She doesn't make her point very clear.
After reading it again, I'm pretty sure that I don't know what she is trying to say.
If these conservative lies were correct the terrorists would be attacking and calling for a jihad against The Netherlands, the most progressive and permissive peoples earth. But you don't see terrorists flying airplanes into windmills and blowing up subways in Amsterdam.
It's oil wars in their region, the political backing and miliary support of Isreal, and militarism why they hate us....and a dumb fuck so called christian chimp of a president calling for a "crusade" across the middle east and a lying warmongering vice president only makes matters worse.
Weaseldog @ 11:
Everything I've ever seen said it was extremely highly toxic also. Especially the fine micro dust created when it is driven through an artillery piece barrel or when it strikes a hard object. Where's the links to these alledged UN and EU studies that say it's good shit?? We're waiting!!
xiotes @ 24 "Project for the New American Century"
Turn the clock back to 1945 and replace the word "Amercican" with "German" and it sounds like something Hitler would have come up with.
What would Zeus do? @ 16:
Anastasia Beaverhausen @ 1:
I don't know what to believe on this one... seems half of the comments on here are trashing republican ideology, the others just talking about how this particular crazy woman is a different flavor of nuts. I don't get it. she does say one good thing, one thing I agree with... but not in the conext she's talking about:
"The other is the broader culture in which we all live, and which includes everything from schools to the neighborhood to the media. It's not a new thing to say but it's still true that the latter, which is more powerful than ever, is wholly devoted to the material. People are money winners or luxury item enjoyers. They just want stuff. It is soulless. The view we show of life to ourselves, and to whatever lost young men are watching, is not broad and inspiriting. It is limited and dispiriting. It is every man for himself."
that's spot on in our culture. people ARE very materialistic, just want more stuff, go to the wal-mart to get it cuz it's chinese and therefore cheaper, haul it all home in a huge ass SUV I never needed to begin with... but I don't think that breeds terrorism. I think it breeds stupidity and lethargy. and selfishness, and territorialism, and escapism. but breeding terrorism into america? I don't know where she draws this conclusion from.
Wise_Fool @ 47:
Thank you for making her point clearer, if that is what she means.
I think that;s prophetic.
Bush says they hate us for our freedoms. So he is getting rid of our freedoms to appease the terrorists and make OBL happy.
Peggy is saying that they hate us for our wealth. So clearly, we need to be stripped of our wealth in order to make the terrorists happy.
Once we are completely poverty stricken and oppressed, we'll be safe from terrorism.
[Deleted. Conspiracy theory]
Opposites contain their opposite. Always. Theocrats are theocrats, it doesn't really matter much what the outer symbols are, cross, burqa, and so on. Different prayers, same goal: repression.
People say this almost as if it's some ironic joke, pointing out how our homegrown right wingers sometimes sound similar to theirs, but it's in fact simply the truth. The hysterical concern about "morals" is the same on both sides, a quest for power using the trick of pressing repressive traditional hot button issues.
It's always aimed at something just barely over the horizon, e.g. for us homosexuality or feminism, something that's changed fairly recently so there are still plenty of people who can be stirred up about it. This is why for example ours aren't calling hysterically for bringing back head scarves or hats for women in public (something that was an absolute requirement not all that very long ago). Because they can't get a reaction with that.
In more traditional societies they can push buttons about just people dating or sex before marriage, interracial issues, and etc, because they know there are still people they can get fired up about these things.
It's charlatanism. It's done conciously. Just check recent reports about how Rove is an agnostic, yet played strongy to the "base of religious extremists. Nuff said.
So, to be free, we must not act free. To have civil rights we must give up our civil rights.
When did we become such pussies? Who are these people who are petrified that someone will attack us? Someone MIGHT attack us, so what are you going to do about it? Be puddles of fear and self incrimination, or stand the hell up and say we are America, God dammit. We are PROUD of the rights and privileges that were fought so hard to win!!!! Dammit, we will survive whatever any damned terrorist does to us. We WON'T survive if we give up our rights and our Constitution without a fight, because we are afraid!!!!!
Every spring and fall, tornadoes tear through midwest towns sometimes 20 in a single day, tearing up towns and communities, but the country survives. Can we not survive a terrorist attack with the same resolve and courage?????
[Deleted. Please respect the siteowner's policy regarding conspiracy theories]
"It is every man for himself" - Peggy Nooners
That is the major plank of the Repub party.
A WSJ columnist whining about America being perceived as "every man for himself"?
I'm literally speechless.
Wise_Fool @ 47:
She's saying more than the materialistic part. Earlier in the article, she states that these small terror cells form around middle-class people who can't get, or afford this stuff. It's class warfare, plain and simple, that is driving people to terrorism.
The last paragraphs of the article are actually all about the huge gap between rich and poor in this country, and how this is driving the terrorists to hate us and why they feel attacking us is a just cause. However, she so dances around and dresses it up with a lot of rhetoric. I don't know if not coming straight out and saying "it's class warfare, stupid" is intentional so that she doesn't catch flak for saying it, or if it's accidental in that she is so used to blinding herself to it that she doesn't know how to spell it out.
that's (her latest column) a little bit of wanking, no??? to compare the us to northern ireland??? i saw a tank just the other day . . . apart from that, do we share in the responsibility to what happened on 9/11??? that does seem like a duh question-- no we were just playing with our cars when billy came along and kicked everything around-- i feel like i am reading a republican rag here-- what kind of patriots are we???
these people dont hate us because we [had] freedoms , they despise us because we support israel and give them billions ,thats billions from our tax money every year , they hate us because we let the isralies attack any country they please with no sanctions , they hate us because israel used a bogus kidnapping of two israel troopers and then proceded to destroy lebbanons infrastructure their men women and children ,they hate us because we send condie rice to offer them money because of what they did to lebbanon and then go directly to telavive and give them more bunker busters to destroy more lebbanese and palistinians , hell i even hate us for being such supporters of war mongers, theirs nothing like the burning smell of lebbanese children in the rubble , more bunker busters for mossad please!
Funny. Maybe it's me but I just didn't think the NYPD had anyone on staff with the kind of expertise to write a report like that. Maybe one of Rudy's pals at work, eh? As for Peggy Noonan well, her career peaked when she was St Ronnie of Raygun's speech scribbler. Since then it's been a downhill slide while the pathetic wretch struggles to prove to the world that anything she says is still relevant.
Maybe little Peggy thinks the media shouldn't cover stories like the Minnesota bridge collapse or the Utah mine disaster because they make us look bad.
Uh if you actually step back and see where this is all heading. I am the insurgent, I am the terrorist, I am the Revolutionary, just because I believe in that part of the declaration of independence that we the people have the right to bring down this inept corrupt and tyrannical government and form a new one. Of course this is a nation of cowards. Democrat Republican blah blah blah.
Rusty Shackleford @ 54:
Good point, Rusty!!! LOL!
Hate to break it to you, Steve, but American culture and values *are* responsible for inviting attacks. If you valued truth above patriotism, you might see that.
Same goes for thecarpetbaggerreport.
From Noonan's article:
"A woman came out. She was 35 or 40, her short hair standing up, uncombed. It was late afternoon, but she was in an old robe, and you could tell it was the robe she lived in. She stood there and smirked as the soldiers went by. She'd come out to register her dislike for the Brits, and to show the children she approved of their protest.
As I watched this nothing sort of scene, I thought: That's where it comes from. That's what keeps it alive."
Nothing of a scene? This is exactly the same sort of scene that we see being played out in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its the same scene that has been played out throughout history whenever a foreign army invades another country. If she wants to know what the common thread is that "keeps it alive" one need only look at the invading country's foreign policy. That is and always has been the over all cause of terrorism. Hell, we saw the same thing during the war of 1812. The Americans did not welcome the invading British with welcome arms and they more than likely used other methods such as terrorism to fight them. Good God, how can people like Noonan be so stupid.
3410 @ 62:
I think everyone here is bashing this article only because it was written by Noonan. Is everyone having serious problems with reading comprehension today?! The concluding paragraphs of her article states that class warfare is driving terrorism, but we all have our "hate Noonan" blinders on that it seems like I'm the only one picking up on it.
Joe O. @ 63:
The woman that Peggy mentions, has been oppressed and impoverished. For that reason, Peggy feels disdain for her. Peggy feels that this woman doesn't know her place.
Peggy is partly right, but hypocritically so.
She argues that the world perceives us being being too materialistic, even as she plays blame the victim, disparaging this Irish woman for being poor and bitter.
She's peeing into the wind.
Blue Buddha @ 64:
...and that wasn't directed at you, 3410.
Blue Buddha @ 64:
Terrorism can be played by both sides. It isn't so much as caused by class warfare as it is a tool of class warfare. The wealthy use it to divide and conquer. The weak use it to strike back against the wealthy.
@ Blue Buddha,
Got that. There's no problem with *my* reading comprehension, buddy. ;)
so the "disconcerting report" mixed together with noonan's article = blame americans first attitude-- conservatives embrace this attitude??? should we top this with anything steve??? how high are you shoveling here???
Weaseldog @ 65:
Agreed. She is peeing in the wind. They may see us as being to materialistic but I also think the sight of a foreign tank from an invasion force rolling down a person's street is also a motivator. I mean, I could be the wealthiest person in the United States with many belongings but as soon as I see foreign troops walking down my street I can guarantee you that I would be the first one fighting them and I would have the same look on my face as that Irish woman.
There's plenty of reasons to "Hate Us" like our atrocious foriegn policies, our corporate sell-out of our principles and the existence of Hannity and Colms - but from the few paragraphs I read this lady has it wrong and seems to feel that America should be hated for our freedoms... Crazy bitch.
3410, if you valued truth above your own smugness, you'd notice that other, more "liberal" countries/cities aren't in the crosshairs. By what I perceive as your logic, Las Vegas should be in rubble by now. Ditto Amsterdam, Monaco, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Atlantic City. Katrina whacked New Orleans, not al-Qaeda.
Terrorism's vocabulary looks for the symbols of might and wealth. That's why the Towers and Pentagon and White House were targeted. Materialism and promiscuity wouldn't mean dick to the jihadists if the US government didn't take it upon itself to make the Third World safe for plundering by mega-corporations and Israel. The Coca-Cola colonialism is merely rubbing salt into a wound already open and festering.
Noonan's no different to the local nutters who write letters to the editor calling Katrina God's punishment for Mardi Gras. My cat has a better understanding of cause and effect, for cryin' out loud. Somebody needs to tape her eyeballs open and frog-march her through Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" before she writes more drivel like that.
Since when are us DFH's the High Priests of Conspicuous Consumption?
The GOP is the party of the rich and shameless, the party that doesn't care about the environment or workers' safety, but only about making profits.
The GOP is the party that reduced the inheritence tax, AKA the "Paris Hilton Tax Relief Act." The GOP is the party opposed to any government program to help the poor or minorities, but especially poor minorities. They want to repeal social security and call universal healthcare "socialism."
Oh, and the network that appeals to the lowest, basest aspects of human nature? FOX, the network owned by Rupert Murdoch, who, coincidentally, owns FOX News and the WSJ!
She should tell the media liars to stop doing so. Media liars such as Bill O, Rush, Ann Coulter etc., they do make the US look insane. They make the US look corrupt. The world public doesn't know about the progressive movement. It sees and experiences the US as dominator.
The most frightening aspect of 9/11, after getting over the shock of it, was the immediate clamp down on asking the question why? Why did they attack? To ask that question was deemed to be unpatriotic, it was framed as to be blaming the victims of the attack. And of course it wasn't, to know why would mean that you can understand how to not have it happen again.
Why the attack? Simple answer. Al Quaeda wanted occupiers (primarilly US) out of Saudi Arabia, Middle East, and Muslim holy sites.
The real question now is: why don't they want us asking why?
-is it because it was an inside job?
-Is it because if the US public understood the issue they would agree that it make sense to pull out troops from the middle east?
-Is it because without the idea that US was attacked unprovoked then they couldn't rationalize war to the ignorant public?
Peggy Noonan's article should be spun as a rationale to ask why. It should be spun as a rationale to challenge media and political liars.
I thought the NYPD report described Timmy McVeigh to a T...
We are to blame for how we portray ourselves. Everything is our fault, or, put more directly, we've brought this upon ourselves. What is the "this" to which I'm referring? Everything -- the Boosh/Cheney Junta, the terrorists attacks, everything is our fault. But the US & A! seems to have abolished the idea of taking responsibility for ANYTHING. Sucks to be us. Everybody wants the bling, but nobody wants the blame.
republican morals are at fault. Kill, Kill, Kill,Kill, Kill.
They can't negotiate, they just gotta kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.
I guess it's the qristian reicht morals. ;)
mr trail safety @ 75:
Timothy McViegh wasn't a small terrorist group.
He had a friend he confided in, but evidently didn't need.
He is closer in my view to the case of Ted Kaczynski. And the FBI report doesn't nail him at all.
When I read the FBI report for the first time, it read like a justification to go after bloggers and people who post comments on blogs.
I read a snippet and when I got to Glenn Beck's comment about how "Promiscuity is off the charts," I became nauseous thinking of -- well, let's not go there. Beck = Dreck.
George @ 30:
Good one, George!
In a culture of individuality such as she espouses, one has to expect extreme deviancy, the self as better than all societal norms and mores.
kablooie @ 79:
Map makers get it on on their drafting tables?
Blue Buddha @ 64:
Okay, I thought I was missing something seriously profound in the article that made it so horrible. I'm glad to see I'm not crazy. She makes a few good points about all of this class warfare, materialism, and extreme religions' scooping up of extremely detached and beaten down middle classers. (hell, evangelical missionaries are taught how to spot, target, and convert specifically those types of people because they make the most loyal converts! the truly poor are too ineffectual to be bothered saving nowadays.)
Even pretentious weasels can be right about things, and I think this is partly the case for Noonan. at very least, some people on here have drawn some interesting conclusions about personal accountability on the level of the citizenry. about damned time, too...
Wasn't it the reagan era that ushered in the every man for himself ethos?
Rupert's own Noonan prep the sheep with police state justifications. Let Pravda sing!
http://www.light-to-dark.com/ruperts_black_house.html
.
As a foreigner, I don't blame Americans, I blame America's politicians and corporations, for sowing seeds of discontent abroad, with their policies (of raping other people's countries.) It's not enough to buy oil, but they feel they must CONTROL all the world's oil. This applies to every other resource. If there are resources to be exploited guess which countries are on America's "radar". (Note: nothing in Darfur worth taking, so who cares??? Don't you think??)
Noonan: ..."It's not a new thing to say but it's still true that the latter, which is more powerful than ever, is wholly devoted to the material. People are money winners or luxury item enjoyers. They just want stuff. It is soulless. "
And who is at the forefront telling Americans' to keep shopping? Bush! Who dangles all the "goodies" in front of you? The advertisers (corporations).
So who's made it soulless?
I understand that the people of Saddam & Gommorah were destroyed because they were defining their lives by hoarding money and all luxuries like certain conservatives.
expat @ 14:
Actually, the Danes has the temerity to publish a cartoon that many Muslims thought
mocked Islam and, as I recall, Denamrk was subjected to a significant non-violent boycott
rather than the much-preferred bombing of a skyscraper in Copenhagen.
I don't understand the new conservative's PR plan. For years it was all about "fighting them there instaed of here" and "we kept you safe -x- years since 9/11".
And now they're trying to scare us with continous +/- phony terror alerts and homebrown terrorists, i.e. by exposing the absolute failure of their policy.
Unless the american people as a whole is completely stupid, how could this strategy work ?
FC @ 90:
homegrown: but homebrown describes very well their strategy, too
FC @ 90:
Just in case you haven't noticed, America really has dumbed down a lot in the past few years.
Britisher @ 9:
well said Britisher, congrats from this Brit and Kossack :) living in the only State that was true blue in '84.
If only Dailykos, C&L, Mediamatters etc had existed for us in the 80s 90s in the UK,
just imagine how much shorter MT's and JM's reign would have been.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200708140001
Its utterly sickening that they stooped to tactics like this.
Fox News' John Gibson mocks Jon Stewart 9/11 response
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvx73OawqBw
World's Worst: Keith Destroys FOX's John Gibson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSfx8ZYiw8
Gibson Responds to Olbermann (Again) and to Media Matters!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkqDv6CWrDk
This is what Gibson mocked
http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/43270/The_Daily_Show_9_11.html
Every man for himself.Don't they call that compassionate conservatism?
So someone ask Peggy Noonan how many radicals were created by Bush and all the republicans that left Katrina victims to fend for themselves. The conservative ideology from born wealthy friedmanns.
Or like those self made wealthy men like George W Bush. The republicans are the ideology of everyone for themselves. Until they need to fight a war or bail out wall street. Then they need you for your tax dollars or to kill for them.
There is a great deal wrong with this country. The "hate" isn't toward the country per se, but toward those few in power. Whether we're talking about Iraq, or our new version of the old Soviet gulag, or social policies that further impoverish and isolate a growing portion of the population WHILE pouring the nation's wealth into the pockets of the few, rage grows. We have an unprecedented (in modern history) economic divide that ensures that hard work will get you nowhere but tired, we hear constant contempt for the people by the government. We see atrocities being committed in our name, knowing we will have to pay the price.
What would you expect people to think??? Should we blindly support what we know is wrong, for the sake of (someone's interpretation of) "patriotism"? Does anyone really accept the dictatorship-style ideology (or idiocy) of "My leaders, right or wrong!"
Comments are closed on this entry