"A time for self-examination ... America's chickens coming home to roost"
Here is the full-length, uncherry-picked clip of Jeremiah Wright's sermon in response to September 9/11.
How about these people, Reverend Wright? What sort of self-examination would you suggest for those who, by the logic of chickens coming home to roost are no less collateral damage than any which you seek to condemn? Whose capital city in 1945 suffered as many dead as the Nagasaki you so sorely regret?
They are the invisible men and women, like the janitorial cleaner at ABM Industries, confirmed dead, World Trade Center.
Grace Alegre-Cua, 40, Glen Rock, N.J.
Cesar A. Alviar, 60, Bloomfield, N.J.
Marlyn C. Bautista, 46, Iselin, N.J.
Cecile M. Caguicla, 55, Boonton, N.J.
Jayceryll M. de Chavez, 24, Carteret, N.J.
Benilda Pascua Domingo, 37, New York, N.Y.
Ramon Grijalvo, 58
Frederick Kuo, 53, Great Neck, N.Y.
Arnold A. Lim, 28, New York, N.Y.
Manuel L. Lopez, 54, Jersey City, N.J.
Carl Allen Peralta, 37, New York, N.Y.
Rufino Conrado F. (Roy) Santos, 37, New York, N.Y.
David Marc Sullins, 30, New York, N.Y.
Hilario Soriano (Larry) Sumaya, 42, New York, N.Y.
Hector Tamayo, 51, New York, N.Y.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
The Belmont Club is supported largely by donations from its readers.
posted by wretchardthecat at 3/23/2008 05:41:00 PM
47 Comments:
I have been reading "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison. And the hatred for white people- all white people- just jumps out. I knew this was the case but I had avoided thinking about it too much.
Obama is done. This is not going away. People are not going to forget about this. MSM, yes, Democratic primary voters, yes, but the masses who don't follow and don't care about politics, and would have voted for Obama because he seems like such a swell guy, now know his pastor is an angry, racist nutjob. And they will be reminded of it in late October/early November.
This will set "race relations" back many years. The conversation has been started, but not it the way Obama wants.
I think we found the Poet Laureate for the Obama Administration. Eisenhower had Robert Frost. President Obama can have the Left Reverend Wright. Good fences make good neighbors indeed! He'd be such a comfort in times of turmoil. At the next 9/11 he'll eulogize the "martyrs."
Like the memorial Crescent of "what the hell is that?" in Shanksville Pa.: we can all wonder if it's dedicated to the victims or the attackers. It will be ever so post modern as we try to figure it out. On second thought, I think the Left Reverend will make it all to easy for us to know.
Rev God Damn America is just what Dr. King warned about. Also the Pope (and his predecessors). JFK. FDR. Ike. Reagan. And even Bill Clinton. America and Americanism is universal. It judges not by the color of the skin but content of the character. Just as for the Pope, Christ is for all mankind not just a few.
Particularlism based on race and ethnicity and a shared hatred of the West is a dead end. Which is why yes Obama is done. I'm sure we'll go through the motions. Riots in Denver to seat him (after free-falls in PA and perhaps close calls in NC and elsewhere).
But Rev. God Damn America is not going away. I'm sure some viral video will go out with the words and images of Rev. God Damn America and Obama disrespecting the flag intercut with the victims of 9/11 falling out of the towers, and the firefighters rushing into the towers.
Ending with Rev God Damn America's hysterical rants over the names of the victims.
The effectiveness of this is that the viral video will come not from some slick Lee Atwater campaign, but ordinary citizens using tools that are cheap and easy. And they'll get passed around. Obama and McCain can't control it. CBS and NBC can't act as gatekeeper. It will pass from person to person, email to email, site to site.
The subject is too emotional, too arousing, too visceral not to produce such a populist response.
If people can produce the hilarious parodies of trailers (YouTube has parody trailers for "Taxi Driver" as a Romantic Comedy and "The Shining" as a family comedy and "Sleepless in Seattle" as a horror-stalker movie), they can also express themselves on what pisses them off. Which will be ... Rev. God Damn America.
Wow. After watching the complete video -- did any of you guys watch it? -- the biggest gist I got from it was that Rev Wright was dramatically making the case for the answer to 9/11 to be to further develop one's relationship with one's God. There's no "scary" there, and if you were in the audience, you'da probably missed the "chickens coming home to roost" line as fiery rhetoric leading to a quieter, more personal, more important moral.
The question I get from it is, who had the time to buy all the videos from the church, watch every hour of every single one of them, and transfer the very worst 30 seconds of them to video tape to be sent to Fox News?
The Rev. Wright's core message was that one had to look into one's sinful self to determine why things turned out as they did.
The atheist might answer that shit happens -- and for no apparent reason. In fact, 9/11 is an argument for the capriciousness of God, not that "chickens have come home to roost". If the chickens had come home to roost the Twin Towers would have been full of whoever Jeremiah Wright thought "guilty". George Bush, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby. Whoever.
Instead they were filled with ordinary Joes. Cleaning ladies. Busboys. Computer analysts. Working stiffs.
Why is it that people see their prejudices reconfirmed in the misfortunes and agony of ordinary people?
Why should the Rev. Wright ask anyone to look into his heart to discover why his cleaning lady aunt had been buried alive underneath the World Trade Center? Better that he should ask why someone should choose to destroy a purely civilian target simply because of its symbolic value. It should have occurred to the Reverend. But it didn't.
Not everything in this world is about race relations in America. Sometimes people are dead simply someone decided to murder them. But there are none so blind as they who will not see.
I listened to Obama's 'More Perfect Union' speach before seeing Wright's sermon. I was moved by Obama's eloquence and thoughtfulness.
I must say, though, that I cannot now support Obama (I was leaning that way). No person could listen to that type of sermon without one of two reactions: (1) revulsion, or (2) acceptance.
It is difficult enough to sit through church sermons when agreeing with the message. I would find it impossible to listen to the invective and hate week after week while disagreeing. Such rhetoric compells a viceral response. Even more impossible would be to have the source of such bile as a mentor, friend, confidant, all while feeling disgust at the message.
I have concluded that Obama's speech was a great performance, but only that. A man that can listen to such vicious invective week after week must at some level share or find acceptable the sentiments expressed.
"The question I get from it is, who had the time to buy all the videos from the church, watch every hour of every single one of them, and transfer the very worst 30 seconds of them to video tape to be sent to Fox News?"
---
Who had the time, or inclination, to watch every hour of every single one of them to determine that those 30 seconds indeed DO represent the worst of the entire series?
Only those that have endured the entire affair would know.
---
Dan,
The part I can't get over is anyone repeatedly taking their young children to be exposed to such stuff.
My opinion is that Wright says what Obama would like to but cannot because of his political ambitions. When you hear Wright talking you are listening to Obama. I think that most Americans see it the same way I do.
Maybe Obama can still be successful by using race to mask his statist, collectivist agenda. Most people would recoil faster from his pinkoism than from his racism.
Wretchard wrote:
"Better that he should ask why someone should choose to destroy a purely civilian target simply because of its symbolic value. It should have occurred to the Reverend. But it didn't."
He addressed that question directly at the beginning of the sermon with the short answer being "the cycle of violence".
It is amazing how one is blinded by ones prejudices isn't it?
I must say, though, that I cannot now support Obama
Well now wait, we haven't heard from McCain's pastor yet.
If it's really that important that all of our friends, acquaintances, mentors, bosses, allies, etc. share our political philosophy in lockstep -- because that's what's important in a pastor, not how he guides us in spirituality -- then it is absolutely critical that we get McCain's pastor's thinking here.
To do anything less than that would be hypocritical. If there is guilt by association then we need to locate and interview the associates.
First McCain associates up: John Glenn; Alan Cranston; Donald Riegle; Dennis DeConcini; Charles Keating, Jr. I'm not saying I won't vote for the man, but do let's talk to his associates.
Because we need to agree 100% with the candidate's friends before we vote for him or her. Deviation is the enemy. Find and purge the infidels amongst us, etc. etc.
It's so much easier than critical thinking!
"It's so much easier than critical thinking!"
Mr. Obama's own writings are to be ignored.
Mr. Obama doesn't share Mr. Wright's views nor the belief system of the church; why even be a member?
Nor is he a leftist, despite his voting record and judicial perspective.
critical thinking is not defined as what a collectivist tells his followers to believe, so that he may further his political career
"It is amazing how one is blinded by ones prejudices isn't it?"
Wright: How many of Cone's books have you read? How many of Cone's book have you read?
How ironic.
What church do you go to elijah?
The Reverend Jeremiah Wright is an albatross whose putrescent carcass needs to be chained and padlocked around Obama's neck for the duration.
It is difficult in the extreme to sit still while this sort of scum trowels it on so thick. The hideous moral equivalency Wright draws between America's attacks on Hiroshima or Nagasaki and the 9-11 atrocity is an unforgivable ethical lapse. It reveals an intolerable contempt for America and everything it stands for.
Wretchard: Why should the Rev. Wright ask anyone to look into his heart to discover why his cleaning lady aunt had been buried alive underneath the World Trade Center? Better that he should ask why someone should choose to destroy a purely civilian target simply because of its symbolic value. It should have occurred to the Reverend. But it didn't.
As Wright ranted on and on about "State sponsored terrorism against the Palestinians" and how "Blessed are those who dash your babies' brains out upon the rocks", I could only think of Samir Kuntar
Israeli media and eyewitness accounts of the incident provide much more detail. Kuntar was one of a four-man group that crossed into Israel by sea, sent on the mission by the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), an affiliate of Yasser Arafat's PLO.
In the coastal town of Nahariya, the terrorists shot dead a policeman and forced their way into an apartment building, where they captured Danny Haran and his daughter, Einat, 4.
While the terrorists rampaged through the apartment, firing weapons and detonating grenades, Haran's wife Smadar hid in a crawlspace above the couple's bedroom together with their other daughter, two-year-old Yael, and a neighbor.
In an effort to prevent Yael from crying out and alerting the terrorists to their whereabouts, Smadar kept her hand over the child's mouth, and accidentally smothered her to death.
Meanwhile Kuntar and his group took Danny and Einat Haran to the beach.
"There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see," Smadar wrote later.
"Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Kuntar."
[Emphasis Added]
Blessed, indeed, are those who dash your babies’ brains out upon the rocks. Jeremiah Wright certainly seems to have no problem blessing murderous cretins like Samir Kuntar who BASHED OUT FOUR YEAR-OLD EINAT HARAN’S BRAINS UPON A ROCK. In his wrath against all that is White, Jeremiah Wright freely ignores Islam’s declaration of genocide against Israel and all Jews. He just as easily disregards the 2,350 lives lost at Pearl Harbor as he excoriates America for retaliating against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He brutalizes America for enslaving Black Africans but refuses to note how it is our eternal enemy Islam that has enslaved more blacks than America and colonial Europe COMBINED. The same eternal enemy Islam who committed the 9-11 atrocity and has now declared open war upon that America and its Constitution which allows Jeremiah Wright the freedom to spew his hatred for all things White and American.
The moral and ethical perversion represented by this is essentially criminal in nature. Jeremiah Wright’s cognitive dissonance rivals that of Islam. His hatred and intolerance rivals that of Islam. His willingness to spread lies and racism cloaked in religious robes rivals that of Islam.
What shall we expect of someone like Obama who has sat for year after year listening to and donating money towards helping such a morally inverted hatemonger spread his message of racism and anti-American filth?
Thank goodness for the Internet. It has arrived just in time to help the intellectually honest people of this world take up arms against those enemies of Freedom who long ago crashed the gates of our universities and media institutions. Even just two short decades in the past, we would have been virtually (pun intended) defenseless against such a coordinated onslaught. Today, there is a fighting chance and all of us owe an immense debt of gratitude to The Belmont Club and other Internet beacons of Free Thought as we navigate these dark waters. Thank you so very much, Wretchard.
Ways to spot a Liberal Progressive (and then to understand how many grains of salt to give to their comments:
1. Try to shift the blame: who had the time to buy all the videos from the church,watch every hour of every single one of them, and transfer the very worst 30 seconds of them to video tape to be sent to Fox News. Implication here is that it must be a Hillary plot because only a very well-funded Clinton campaign would have the staff or the time to do this.
2. Project your own psychology on the other guy because that is your reality and the only way it could possibly be in the world: It is amazing how one is blinded by ones prejudices isn't it? Seems to me the prejudice you consistently show, Ash, is that of a really dumb person against someone who demonstrably isn't.
Finally, the very most favored tactic of a Progressive Liberal:
3. Denigrate the intelligence of the person you're debating with: It's so much easier than critical thinking! Otherwise also known as, "We all have degrees -- why won't they just leave running to the country to US since we're all so well-educated?!?
Normally at this stage of the conversation, the word "racist" is also thrown in, to underline the moral superiority of the progressive as well as the stupidity of the person being attacked, but in this particular incidence, that really does seem like over-kill.
Perhaps as a favored liberal tactic, use of the hurled "racist" will join the junkheap alongside words like "nazi" and "fascist" and "Hitler!"
thrasy,
"This will set "race relations" back many years"
I don't know; this could turn out to be the best thing that could happen for race relations.
It seems to me that since these tapes appeared and have been discussed, there are two separate issues: (1) the hate-White racism, and (2) the hate-America treason.
It's interesting to me that both Obama and what are left of his Democratic followers are both focusing on the racism part, and totally ignoring the treason part. I wonder if this is a tactic - either conscious or unconscious - trying to play on what's left of white guilt, that we are absolutely forbidden to not vote for Obama because some black ancestors were forcibly brought here hundreds of years ago. Not Obama's ancestors, of course, since they are still in Kenya, but the ancestors of the Katrina victims, the gangsta rappers, and the welfare mothers who have not managed to learn the language, to educate themselves, or to get a job in 200 years.
There *might* be some white guilt left over that set of circumstances, but no one (except a NY Times editor), no place (except Berkeley), no how is going to agree that America deserved 9/11 -- so really, it's best just to keep the topic on racism and hope the traitor-stuff goes away.
Nahncee,
I was simply responding to Wretchard's words:
"Why is it that people see their prejudices reconfirmed in the misfortunes and agony of ordinary people?"
and
"Sometimes people are dead simply someone decided to murder them. But there are none so blind as they who will not see."
For it is Wretchard who blithely missed Wright addressing his central concern:
"Better that he should ask why someone should choose to destroy a purely civilian target simply because of its symbolic value. It should have occurred to the Reverend. But it didn't."
but no Nahncee you've demonstrated you mental acuity and lack of self awareness by writing:
"Seems to me the prejudice you consistently show, Ash, is that of a really dumb person against someone who demonstrably isn't.
Finally, the very most favored tactic of a Progressive Liberal:
3. Denigrate the intelligence of the person you're debating with: It's so much easier than critical thinking!"
A Freudian slip perhaps little lady?
My one comment is that Mr. Obama brought HIS CHILDREN to sit in the pews of Pastor God Damn America. THAT is as a searing indictment of Mr. Obama's judgment as it gets. That he willingly brought two young minds, his own children, to be "educated" by Pastor Wright says all you want know about where Mr. Obama's heart is.
nahncee: [i]Ways to spot a Liberal Progressive[/i]
Why don't you ask me? I'm right here in the thread.
I am a...
Small-l libertarian, genuinely moderate with an emphasis on individual rights, free market economics, skepticism about the ability of government to affect cultural matters, personally principled but with a grudging nod of acceptance at the inevitability of practical politics. From 1986-1999 I was a big-L Libertarian and became a high-ranking state level party official, but I fell away from the hardass L approach into something that reflects the political reality on the ground.
Now that you got it so wrong, I find it funny that I wrote Deviation is the enemy. Find and purge the infidels amongst us, etc. etc. and you proceeded to go right down that road... and fuck up.
The easy answer is if you don't want to be called a non-critical thinker, don't be such a dumbass! ... but I don't mean it, I'm not that mean-spirited, I'd only play that for the comedy of it.
HOWEVAH
If you want to just purge the ideas that you can tag as foul! unclean! heretical! that's sorta my definition of a non-critical thinker.
"I refuse to even consider ideas from people whom I think may have ideas different than my own." Should be self-evident why that's a bad practice, even though it's standard practice at 98% of blogs on both left and right.
Oh yes, and I'm absolutely convinced that Hillary's team is behind this. She has the organization; the will; the passion; the connections; the timing is exactly right for her campaign.
It's right in the middle of her "shotgun burst" of attacks, which began just as she brought in her new campaign team and continue on a daily basis.
A 527 would take credit for it if they came up with this stuff; that's how they get donations. Hillary sent it and Fox News took credit for it to protect their source. Do you think Drudge found that photo of Obama in African garb? Of course not, it was sent to him, and he didn't have to say who sent it.
Does it label me an Obama supporter if I think Hillary did it? That sucks, I rather hope it would label me an astute follower of events.
And I don't know who I'll wind up voting for; I prefer to wait to evaluate all facts.
I prefer to wait to evaluate all facts.
I wish you would provide a link to the "fact" that Hillary and/or her staffers unmasked and aired Obama's infatuation with Preacher Hatred.
"I refuse to even consider ideas from people whom I think may have ideas different than my own."
Way To Spot a Progressive Thinker #4: They make up quotes (which are oftentimes lies), and then publish them as if they actually mean Something.
Interesting that you're a reformed big "L" liberal. I always thought that was like being sorta pregnant -- you either is or you ain't. But maybe it's more like being an alcoholic, with the need always being there but sometime it's more or less under control.
Alcoholic lore says that a dry drunk is the worst, most miserable kind. I guess that's why reformed "liberals" are the most rotten and vicious thinkers, too.
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The sermon I heard from the video was mainly aimed at urging Wright's fellow-believers to spend a brief season of time reflecting on their personal relationship to God before deciding "what to do" about 9/11. Almost as if individuals sitting in those pews would determine the resulting course of action for our government. Strange?
Within that sermon he threw in a footnote expressing his personal belief the US was too often taking non-combatant lives when responding to military situations. His examples were too varied and widespread to be used in a reasonable manner. They simply served to support his obviously personal POV that the America he knows is evil.
Since he is so deeply involved in the twisted religious views of authors Cone and Hopkins, he has no choice but to believe - and preach - that point. Whether he follows or understands scripture, or not, is not the point. He twists scripture to match his viewpoint. And for that he and his church body should be held to answer.
Another great example of why 'politics' should be kept clear of religious issues. But sadly, men of faith never seem to learn this lesson till its too late and they "fall" overboard on an issue.
"What church do you go to elijah?'
Do secular progressives go to church?
///////////////////////
"There's no "scary" there, and if you were in the audience, you'da probably missed the "chickens coming home to roost" line as fiery rhetoric leading to a quieter, more personal, more important moral."
is this an example of critical thinking?
your view as the one to be digested by all
Perhaps the more personal, more important moral is collective punishment for the oppressors
///////////////////
"Black men turning on black men – that is fighting the wrong enemy. You both are the primary targets in an oppressive society that sees both of you as a dangerous threat.”
Perhaps the moral personal, more important moral is collective punishment for the oppressors
liberation theologists are not interested in geopolitics. they don't analyze it and they don't care to. wright's entire moral universe stops at the water's end. he 'speaks truth to power' and is not interested is entertaining the idea that america reacts to forces beyond its control. america is all the foil he needs, and not all of america, just enough to keep his real constituents hooked. he could have used the tulsa race riots to the same effect, and probably did before 9/11. his point is not to be correct about what america is or what america means, but to establish the basis of his message in moral contradistinction to 'them'.
understand that from what i understand his position to be, that america is only made moral by establishing social justice, and it has yet to be run by the right kind of candidate. wright's contempt for america, like michelle obama's is contingent on american deeds, and what they believe america is doing is wrong.
that's why they want change.
this isn't about race relations. anyone who thinks so is barking up the wrong tree.
2 differing interpretations, perhaps one is missing critical thinking, it seems difficult to view both as correct-
"Rev Wright was dramatically making the case for the answer to 9/11 to be to ...further develop one's relationship with one's God. There's no... "scary"...there, and if you were in the audience, you'da probably missed the "chickens coming home to roost" line as fiery rhetoric leading to.... a quieter, more personal, more important moral."
- undertoad
that america is only made moral by establishing social justice, and it has yet to be run by the right kind of candidate. wright's ....contempt... for america,... like michelle obama's is contingent on american deeds, and what they believe america is doing is wrong.
-cobb
words have meaning -
race, white, black, enemy, oppressors
otherwise, any view can be explained away as misinterpretations
in essence, the writer or speaker and the actual words become unimportant
and the interpretation becomes reality
elijah wrote:
"and the interpretation becomes reality"
...and most all here seem to think that all of Wright's views are Obama's and thus Obama should defend them. Silly really.
Nahncee, your silence speaks volumes.
King George III thought that young America's "chickens had come home to roost" in 1776. Nazi Germany and Totalitarian Japan thought that America's "chickens had come home to roost" in 1941. The Communist Soviet Union thought that America's "chickens had come home to roost" during the cold war.
This is the mantra of the enemies of God-given American Liberty which now include Osama bin-Laden, Ward Churchill and Jeremiah Wright.
To hell with the enemies of our sacred liberty, and I don't give a damn if they are Communist, Atheist, Muslim or some pseudo-Christian zealot, nor do I care what is the color of their skin.
Mentor also has a meaning
but again, let's remove Mr. Obama's mentor and spiritual advisor from the equation.
Are these the writer/ speaker and the actual words?
//////////////////
from a race perspective-
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
” I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my race"
“The emotion between the races could never be pure, even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart.”
“That hate hadn’t gone away,” he wrote, blaming “white people — some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives.”
“It remained necessary to prove which side you were on,to show your loyalty to the black masses to strike out and name names"
////////////////
from a religious perspective-
in The Audacity of Hope Mr. Obama writes that the Black Value System is a ...."sensible and heartfelt list"
from that list, the-
Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness.”
Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must be able to identify the “talented tenth” of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captor’s control.
Those so identified are separated from the rest of the people by:
Killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another.
Placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.
Seducing them into a socioeconomic class system which, while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of “we” and “they” instead of “us.”
So, while it is permissible to chase “middleclassness” with all our might, we must avoid the third separation method – the psychological entrapment of Black “middleclassness.” If we avoid this snare, we will also diminish our “voluntary” contributions to methods A and B. And more importantly, Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright: the leadership, resourcefulness and example of their own talented persons.
///////////////////
From a policy perspective-
"The 'white community' must invest more money in black schools and communities, enforce civil rights laws, ensure fairness in the criminal justice system and provide this generation of blacks with "ladders of opportunity"
///////////////////
from a judicial perspective-
Sen. Barack Obama argued that the role of a justice is to favor the "weak" over the "strong"
"The problem I had is that when I examined Judge Roberts' record and history of public service, it is my personal estimation that he has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak," Obama said in a floor speech on Sept. 22, 2005.
"When I examine the philosophy, ideology and record of Samuel Alito, I am deeply troubled," Obama said in another floor speech on Jan. 26, 2006. "There is no indication that he is not a man of fine character. But when you look at his record, when it comes to his understanding of the Constitution, I found that in almost every case he consistently sides on behalf of the powerful against the powerless."
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This is not a different time. This is not a different enemy. This is not a different world. This is not a different terror. This is not a different reality. The technology may be different but the essential reality between the September 11 attacks and the sacking of Jerusalem is the same.
Our response against the terrorists must be to kill the guilty and refrain from killing the innocent. Let's not let Rev. Wright's fear that Americans would dash innocent babies against rocks deter us from doing what is right. We must destroy al-Qaeda but more than that we must fight with honor, for the enemy is not only evil but seeks to deprive us not only of our lives, not only of our fortunes, but yes especially, our sacred honor.
There are those who equate being American with covetousness, those who think you can't be American unless you worship prosperity. One of those men was Sayyid Qutb, the philosophical grandfather of those who attacked us on September 11. The enemy thinks, by destroying those two gleaming towers, he will destroy our spirit, that by destroying the material progress of our civilization he can destroy our sense of who we are.
But being American isn't about coveting. It isn't about greed. It isn't about a love of money or a worship of Mammon and isn't about being defined by something called "The American Dream". No, it’s about liberty. It’s about the freedom to be who you want to be and living life on your own terms. It’s about the freedom to worship as you please or not at all.
Freedom is about the Lakota, the Cherokee, the Navajo being free to be who they are without some liberal Quaker seeking to destroy the man within. It’s about saying no to governments who take children away from their parents in order to break families apart, whether it’s Ottoman Turks taking Serb boys from the families in the devshirme or sending Indian children to boarding schools to beat their native languages out of them. Freedom is about a government that doesn’t care what color of skin you have and doesn’t ask your race in the federal census. Freedom is about owning land if you want to and not owning land if you don’t want to.
The first literary reference to “The American Dream” comes from James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America. He wrote the following:
“If, as I have said, the things already listed were all we had had to contribute, America would have made no distinctive and unique gift to mankind. But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.”
The words may sound good when you hear them, but they contain the seeds of discord. Better, richer, fuller. Is there no contentment? Is there no liberty to be good and rich and full without letting one’s identity become defined by how much somebody else has? America’s gift to humanity is to be a land of liberty and opportunity, and that includes the opportunity to become content, to feel good, to refuse to feel resentful merely because another man lives in a mansion.
No, America is not about achieving “The American Dream”, of keeping up with the Joneses, of rating ourselves according to how rich people live. It is about living on one’s own terms and being true to one’s self.
Imagine the following vision.
“America, the New World, is that vast far-flung world that occupies in the mind’s eye more space than it really does on this earth. Imaginations and dreams glimmer on this world with illusion and wonder. The hearts of men fall upon it from every valley, men from every race and color, every walk of life, every sect and creed.
America, the vast expanses of land that stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. America is the inexhaustible material resources, strength and manpower. It is the huge factories, unequaled in all of civilization. It is the awesome, incalculable yields, the ubiquitous institutes, laboratories, and museums. American genius in management and organization evokes wonder and admiration. America’s bounty and prosperity evokes dreams of the Promised Land. The beauty that is manifested in its landscape, in the faces and physiques of its people is spellbinding. America conjures up pleasures that acknowledge no limit or moral restraint, dreams that are capable of taking corporeal shape in the realm of time and space.”
Was the man who wrote this an American patriot? Was he an immigrant who sought to become an American citizen? No. The author’s name was Sayyid Qutb, and these two paragraphs are the introduction to his essay, “The America I Have Seen”. We know of it now because it was translated recently by Tarek Masoud and Ammar Fakeeh.
This essay, “The America I Have Seen”, is a noxious piece of hatred. He wrote, “I fear that the wheel of life will have turned and the book of time will have closed and America will have added nothing, or next to nothing, to the account of morals that distinguishes man from object, and indeed, mankind from animals.” He went on to sneer at the supposedly primitiveness of Americans, that, “In America, man was born with science, and thus believed in it alone.” He did not understand, nor do his followers now understand, America outside of a stilted reading of James Truslow Adams. If you read the writings of Adams and then Qutb’s criticism of America, one essay sounds like a direct reply to the other.
So yes, let’s oppose anti-Americanism. It is anti-American to equate the essence of being American with covetousness and it is anti-American to presume that our greatest strength is our material prosperity. The theology of al-Qaeda is dedicated to conquering the world by destroying America’s prosperity. They will not destroy America’s material prosperity, but even if they could, they cannot destroy our inner strength which is our belief in liberty. Only we can do that.
This is why I oppose the idolatry of grievance, the idolatry of covetousness, that is at the heart of so many liberal social programs. Why should apartment dwellers subsidize the mortgages of home owners? What is the point to our government telling us that every American needs to own his own home, and worse, give people the illusion of a better home with a mortgage that turns homeowners into glorified serfs who are tied down to the land where they live and the bank payments they must make?
Barack Obama talks about “The American Dream”. That is precisely why I am suspicious of him. Many Americans are content and do not demand a life that is better and richer and fuller, but are instead content to defend what they have from being taken away, whether by Uncle Sam or by some greedy neighbor who sees his olive grove and then accuses him of being a traitor.
"This is why I oppose the idolatry of grievance, the idolatry of covetousness, that is at the heart of so many liberal social programs."
////////////////
Along this line of thinking-
Why is it immoral to produce something of value and keep it for yourself, when it is moral for others who haven't earned it to accept it?
If it's virtuous to give, isn't it then selfish to take?
//////////////
finally
"your silence speaks volumes" was it?
but we eagerly await an........interpretation;
wait, wasn't that the point to begin with?
"silly really"
always a pleasure
Fox News? The cycle is already almost complete.
Last week ABC news puchased Dr.
Wright's videos and gave them the
mass attention that they needed.
Didn't they? Or is it just my lyin' eyes agin?
Ash: ...and most all here seem to think that all of Wright's views are Obama's and thus Obama should defend them.
Not necessarily. If you find nothing repugnant about Jeremiah Wright's statements, then there is no need to defend them. Obama's voluntary participation in the congregation of a reverend with such highly polarized views literally demands explanation. Attempts at distancing himself with palliative statements of how he is not entirely in agreement with the views expressed by Jeremiah Wright are entirely insufficient with respect to the significant financial support given and lengthy attendance of record. These are facts upon the ground that cannot be shrugged off with mere denials. Either there is concordance or disagreement. No middle ground is permitted with such anti-American propaganda.
So, do tell, Ash. Is there nothing offensive to you about Jeremiah Wright's pronouncements in the foregoing video?
Please be quite explicit about this as it will define all further perception by me of you and your credibility at The Belmont Club. Are you content to accept all that Jeremiah Wright blames upon America: Be it terrorism against the native American Indians, terrorism against the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or sponsorship of terrorism against the Palestinian people?
A simple "yes" or "no" will suffice. Feel free to elaborate but only after making clear your support or opposition to Jeremiah Wright's own declamations.
Who had time to listen to all the tapes for the thirty seconds we saw and heard.
First we don't know if all they got out of the viewing was ONLY thirty seconds. It could have been thirty hours.
Secondly the sophisticated tapes systems can be programmed for certain words , word combinations, etc so it didn't take a human sitting there to find the stuff.
About that olive grove, it could just as easily be a vineyard...
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Elijah,
I was fortunate in business to have a mentor and no, I do not agree with a relatively large portion of his views. He had trouble working with women in powerful positions and he was quite racist, still, I was fortunate that he chose to take me under his wing and I learned a lot from him. I still have a lot of respect for him as well but his views are in not my own.
You missed a number of steps in your attempt to establish that Obama believes that "Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright: the leadership, resourcefulness and example of their own talented persons." Try again if you care so much.
Zenster, see paragraph 1 in this post of mine for a response to your issues. Sure, I disagree with some of what Wright says, there is also much truth to some of his rhetoric as well.
People in Ash's camp just don't seem to want to understand that Obama's problem is that he is largely an unknown who just came on the national scene in 2004 and has done little but run for President ever since. How are we to know him? His books, esp the first which was written before his prsidential run (but maybe not before political ambition?) is disquieting. His history as a community organizer is troubling. His wife's comments give one pause. His policy positions are of concern. Yes, nothing is definitive and some may be "guilt by association," but he has given us very little to go on and we're not talking about taking away his liberty in a trial---he wants to be President and the burden of proof is on HIM, and he responds by accusing the "typical white" 70% of the population of being racist and daring them to not vote for him...
He has a big problem, because one has to assume that if honesty would have worked, he would have tried it by now.
Spin spin spin
does america have time for honesty?
understand that the entire paradigm of black community organizing, the political influence of black churches, and everything that is indeed by for and of blacks & self-organized with little or no assistance or oversight by whitefolks is under question here.
jeremiah white and those like him, have been, by and large, off-limits. now, people who just found out that there was something called 'black liberation theology' last week, feel perfectly justified in considering it a hate-based religion.
is it possible that there is an entire branch of christianity heretofore unknown to the american mainstream that is as vicious and vile as the worst aspects of the nation of islam? is jeremiah wright black america's version of matt hale?
who knows? who wants to know? or are we all satisfied that it serves to put that obama dog down?
where was the fbi?
Ash: Sure, I disagree with some of what Wright says, there is also much truth to some of his rhetoric as well.
Please feel free to identify whatever "truth" you think Jeremiah Wright upholds. Again, it would go a long way towards identifying what drives your own logic. Some specific quotes of Wright's that you agree with would be useful.
Ash--
The (great) difference between working with a business mentor and following a spiritual mentor is this:
The business mentor teaches you about business. You can set aside philosophical and moral differences.
BUT the spiritual mentor, as Obama has named him, teaches you how to regard and treat other human beings. And about the overarching Meaning of Life.
THEREFORE, Obama's two-decade attendance at this church, indeed as a close protege of Wright's and pillar of the institution, SCREAMS that he's essentially in sympathy with the racist and traitorous views of its leader.
This is so bloody obvious that those of you who ignore it are being willfully obtuse. An example of the protective stupidity Orwell talked about.
Have a nice life, sweetie.
If Ash sat any harder on the fence (as exhibited in those last comments of his), it would come out of the top of his head.
Or, said differently, how do you like your eggs Ash, overeasy or sunny side up.
"Both", he answered.
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beverly, you make a good point about the difference between a business mentor and a spiritual mentor. Even then one need not adopt all of the beliefs of a spiritual mentor. I'm not much of a church going person myself but my understanding of those that do go do not wholly subscribe to the preachers preachin'. Of course there is a wide range of folks and their 'toein' the line' in that regard and it also varies by church. The Catholic church allows little deviation from scripture as interpreted by the Diocese to various protestant churches adopting unique interpretations. Gay pastor anyone?
With regard to the specific teachings of Wright the little video going around is but a small selection of what he speaks of (best I can tell). There are strong intellectual underpinnings to the view that the attacks of 911 were a function of the foreign policy of the US. Similarly America has many problems and has done many a thing throughout history that could be deemed immoral. Pastor Wright expressed these views quite colorfully with a rhetorical flourish in that "best of" video. In the 'whole' video that Wretchard post he makes some good points about the cycle of violence which many believe to be true
Something this group may be interested in...
UNITED NATIONS COMEDY TOUR What is the United Nations Tour? An opportunity. In these difficult times where people are fighting and killing each other in the name of race, religion, land, or even the pursuit of trying to make a better life for them and their family wouldn’t it be great if we would stop the insanity long enough to listen? Wouldn’t it be great if people could come together to laugh and learn about and with people and cultures that they might not know or what knowledge they do have comes from the media? Now you have the opportunity and it won’t hurt but instead it will be fun(ny). We have put together the most diverse group of comedians ever assembled on one stage. Our comedians have been seen on Comedy Central, HBO, CBS, ABC, etc. but more importantly they have toured our great nation and met Americans of every walk of life. We have found that people are scared about what is happening in this country. They fear a Mexican might take their job. They fear a Black man might take their purse. They fear the White man is hell-bent on keeping the status quo. They fear the media controlled by the Jews no longer tells them the truth. They fear that an Arab/Muslim is going to blow up the next flight they take. Individually we have tried to break the stereotypes. Individually we have laughed and made fun of the very stereotypes that we fall into. Together we will take all of our different cultures and beliefs and mold them into one great country which is what our nation was based. We are a nation of immigrants & differences. Those differences and immigrants have always been the backbone of our nations strength. In these confusing times it is harder and harder to find common ground. We found one…laughter. Not only will you see comedians of different colors and beliefs on the stage. You will hopefully see an audience filled with the same diversity. All of us coming together and just having a party. When you look over and see somebody who looks so different from you laughing at the same jokes as you and they do the same hopefully we will come a little closer to understanding together. Our goal is to break through the fear and bring people together one great show at a time. Come out and be prepared to live, laugh, and learn. This is the most dynamic and inspirational comedy tour going so don’t miss it!
Come Join Us This Day for the launching 13 of June 2008 at Darress Theatre 615 Main Street Boonton, NJ 07005
Members:
Amaru as "The Black Man" Chad Daniels as "The White Man" Helen Maalik as "The Arab Woman" Ruben-Ruben as "The Mexican" and Davin, "as the Jew"
www.myspace.com/unitednationstour
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