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Random commentary and senseless acts of blogging.
The first Republican president once said, "While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of four years." If Mr. Lincoln could see what's happened in these last three-and-a-half years, he might hedge a little on that statement. Blog critics Gryffindor House Slytherin House Ravenclaw House House Elves Beth Jacob Prisoners of Azkaban Muggles
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Saturday, June 22, 2002
Same Topic, Different Blogger Max Sawicky has also criticized the same Instapundit reference. I've already done my epic-length post for the day, and I hope that I have answered the claim that suicide terrorism has anything to do with "willingness to die for one's country", as Max says. But I do want to address a few of Max's points. He agrees with me that Palestinians could have won independence by now through non-violence. But he also asks, `But have you ever wondered why nobody ever says, "I wish Israel would embark upon the path of non-violent resistance?" ` Well Max, that would be because non-violent resistance is a method for a people who are powerless in the current political scene to seek change. It isn't a traditional tool of states or the dominant ethnic group in a state. When a non-violent movement gains control of a nation, it goes ahead and builds an army, just like all the other nations have. If you don't believe me, ask Nehru.
Max also says that pejoratives like "psychotic cult" seem `to only attach to those placed in other racial categories. Hence the Japanese kamikazis were described as wacky Orientals with some kind of blind devotion to their Emporer[sic], and the Palestinians are mindless mystical nut-cases.` But we have plenty of cults right here, many of them violent and some suicidal - People's Temple, David Koresh, Charlie Manson, and hundreds equally bizarre but less extreme. These groups are described just as harshly. Really, there isn't much difference between the way phrases like 'violent cult' or 'dangerous cult' were applied to the primarily African-American People's Temple, the mostly white Branch Davidians, and the foreign Aum Shinri Kyo. So I think Max's claim of racial stereotypes here is a red herring. |
