Betsy's Page posted on an article by the brilliant DANIEL PIPES - in THE NEW YORK SUN. EXCERPT:
This is a shallow, culturally relativist argument which misses the key point - and the histroical perspective.
This clash is between people (who happen to live in the West) who live in societies in which humans have regained their natural, inalienable INNATE, UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS, and people who live under tyranny - ALIENATED from their basic, universal human rights. People who live in a tyrannical culture ruled by a totalitarian ideology. An ideology which DEMANDS that women be treated as sub-human chattel, in which polygamy and FORCED consanguinous marriage are the norm. In which "honor-killings" and "rape as punishment" are perfectly acceptable.
We do not seek to "impose" our peculiar culture on them; we seek to LIBERATE them - our brothers and sisters - from this archaic form of tyrannical totalitarianism. They may seek to make us Muslim - or dhimmis, but what they're really doing is seeking to drag us back in time 1000 years - back to a time of tyranny and serfdom, back to a time when we were denied our innate human rights by other types of tyrants.
Well, we didn't win the revolution against the King of England (and defend it in WW2 and the Cold War) only to become the slaves of other kings - or the slaves of politburos, or of caliphs! We will NOT be dragged back in time.
As Bush has said many times, "Freedom is not America's give to the world; it's God's gift to each human."
The Islamofascists seek to deny EVERYONE their human rights - not just us "westerners" but even their own people. They want to take away everyone's PERSONAL autonomy, our PERSONAL sovereignity. To do so they have threatened our nation and the free world with terror. They're using terror to intimidate us into relinquishing our human rights. If we surrender them we don't become less "Western" - we become less free. We become slaves. And wiuth the USA out of the way, it would become easier for them to impose their tyrannical ideology on everyone else.
Just as being a slave in not merely having a bad job, so too is being attacked by Islamofascism NOT merely about being a non-Muslim. It's about being free - and wanting to stay free. And wanting to help make all people EVERYWHERE free. As they should be.
And it's not merely an battle for an abstract ideal, "freedom." There's a HUGE and very real bonus which comes with being free. Being free is not just right and good in-and-of itself; it's also the only way to create PROSPERITY - because prosperity is a by-product of liberty.
THEREFORE, our struggle to liberate our brothers and sisters who are still living under tyrannical totalitarian ideologies isn't merely a clash between morally equivalent ideologies or cultures. And when we win, it won't MERELY make them free. It will also empower each and every one of them to become more prosperous and to live longer, healthier, richer lives.
And they deserve that opportunity as much as they deserve their inalienable and universal human rights - and they deserve all that as much as you and me. We all do. That's what Coretta and Martin fought for!
(MORE HERE ON PIPES FROM POWERLINE.)
The key issue at stake in the battle over the 12 Danish cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad is this: Will the West stand up for its customs and mores, including freedom of speech, or will Muslims impose their way of life on the West? Ultimately, there is no compromise: Westerners will either retain their civilization, including the right to insult and blaspheme, or not.I think Pipes is wrong - or at least FRAMED the conflict incorrectly. This is NOT a battle between two civilzations, each trying to impose its peculiar customs and mores on the other, each feeling its customs and mores are under assault by the other.
This is a shallow, culturally relativist argument which misses the key point - and the histroical perspective.
This clash is between people (who happen to live in the West) who live in societies in which humans have regained their natural, inalienable INNATE, UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS, and people who live under tyranny - ALIENATED from their basic, universal human rights. People who live in a tyrannical culture ruled by a totalitarian ideology. An ideology which DEMANDS that women be treated as sub-human chattel, in which polygamy and FORCED consanguinous marriage are the norm. In which "honor-killings" and "rape as punishment" are perfectly acceptable.
We do not seek to "impose" our peculiar culture on them; we seek to LIBERATE them - our brothers and sisters - from this archaic form of tyrannical totalitarianism. They may seek to make us Muslim - or dhimmis, but what they're really doing is seeking to drag us back in time 1000 years - back to a time of tyranny and serfdom, back to a time when we were denied our innate human rights by other types of tyrants.
Well, we didn't win the revolution against the King of England (and defend it in WW2 and the Cold War) only to become the slaves of other kings - or the slaves of politburos, or of caliphs! We will NOT be dragged back in time.
As Bush has said many times, "Freedom is not America's give to the world; it's God's gift to each human."
The Islamofascists seek to deny EVERYONE their human rights - not just us "westerners" but even their own people. They want to take away everyone's PERSONAL autonomy, our PERSONAL sovereignity. To do so they have threatened our nation and the free world with terror. They're using terror to intimidate us into relinquishing our human rights. If we surrender them we don't become less "Western" - we become less free. We become slaves. And wiuth the USA out of the way, it would become easier for them to impose their tyrannical ideology on everyone else.
Just as being a slave in not merely having a bad job, so too is being attacked by Islamofascism NOT merely about being a non-Muslim. It's about being free - and wanting to stay free. And wanting to help make all people EVERYWHERE free. As they should be.
And it's not merely an battle for an abstract ideal, "freedom." There's a HUGE and very real bonus which comes with being free. Being free is not just right and good in-and-of itself; it's also the only way to create PROSPERITY - because prosperity is a by-product of liberty.
THEREFORE, our struggle to liberate our brothers and sisters who are still living under tyrannical totalitarian ideologies isn't merely a clash between morally equivalent ideologies or cultures. And when we win, it won't MERELY make them free. It will also empower each and every one of them to become more prosperous and to live longer, healthier, richer lives.
And they deserve that opportunity as much as they deserve their inalienable and universal human rights - and they deserve all that as much as you and me. We all do. That's what Coretta and Martin fought for!
(MORE HERE ON PIPES FROM POWERLINE.)
No comments:
Post a Comment