Maggie's Notebook
I've had these little Civil Wars more than once. It seems the Conservative stance is always the one that offends. The Liberal side ALWAYS is far more emphatic than I, when in truth, I have far more to say based on fact.
I hold back. It is considered threatening when a Conservative holds his/her ground.
That's what's great about blogging. We don't have to hold back.
Thanks Roger,
Maggie
ah yes antennae up almost all the time!
The very idea that an opinion could be un-American is un-American. The reason we are the great Satan is that our culture is clashing with theirs and we are destabilizing their countries. Notice that Switzerland is not their enemy WE are. That is no accident. Your fellow Americans are not the enemy. To consider people who disagree with you to be traitors is to be like Stalin, Hitler, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
Anne, well yes, I can consider your opinion to be un-American - that "we" are the great Satan. It's my very American right to see it that way, and your very American right to believe as you wish.
Our culture has been life itself for millions and millions of people who immigrated here and who would never consider leaving - and who will tell you that they thank God for America. No country has been as benevolent and certainly, no country ever will be.
Switzerland: al Qaeda threatened Olympic games in Switzerland - experts said Switzerland and Austria are in a "terrorist danger zone," the plan to build the largest Islamic cultural center (Mosque) in Bern, Switzerland was recently denied, the Swiss people are fighting the building of minarets on mosques and a national referendum is in the works, and this from June 07: The central position of the Swiss government suggests Islamic militants are using the country as bases to launch extremist publicity and solidify support abroad.
The 2006 report on internal security asserts that Switzerland shelters violent extremists ...
Maggie
Dear Anne -- I think you are the one who is destabilized. "The very idea that an opinion could be un-American is un-American. The reason we are the great Satan is that our culture is clashing with theirs and we are destabilizing their countries."
It is really difficult to decide which of these two crazy statements are the more absurd.
Opinions can not only be un-American, they can be anti-American. And some opinions can be treasonous. If your opinion is that our enemies have a point, that we, the United States of America are the real problem, then your opinions are not only delusional and uninformed, they are un-American.
Your embittered views on America and of on our realtionship with our present enemies hold about the same moral weight as Charles Lindbergh's views on America in 1941. He also indentified more with our adversaries than he did with his own country. And, if you recall, he paid a high personal moral price for his self-righteous treason. And this, it seems to me, is precisely what you are doing.
Your second statement demonstrates your abysmal ignorance of the nature of the great peril that this country -- and indeed all of our Western Democracies are in at this moment in history. We are facing the greatest threat to our cilivization that we have faced in decades -- perhaps in centuries. But you refuse to open your eyes. You know better. You have learned all that you need to learn.
You have, I assume, read the Qur'an and all the supporting texts. You have read the charters of Hamas and Hezbollah, and the captured documents and letters from the senior Al Qaeda leaders. You have, I'm sure, studied the Islamist literature and read Frantz Fanon and Mouloud Feraoun. You have studied the vast schlolarly works of Dr. Phylis Chesler, or Nonie Darwish, and the biographical books and essays of Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Ali Hirsi. You have, I can only assume, become familiar with the history of Islam and the immoral life of Muhammed the Grat Pirate, and of course, we can take it for granted that you keep abreast of current events in that part of the world by subscribing to MEMRI every day or HTe Tehran News in order to read the latest transcripts of what the Middle Eastern press is telling its people about us that day. And it would necessarily follow that you're also keeping current on the daily intelligence reports that are available on the net every day, such as the Family Security Matter reports or The Strafor Reports and many others, and that you subscribe to Saudi publications and Isareli publications, and read Foreign Affairs religiously every month.
In short, my dear Anne, I am sure that these invaluable opinions of yours are based on at least as much research as we do here. This is what we do here every day, all day, twelve to sixteen hours a day, all week, all year.
But, of course, you don't need to bother with all this do you? You are, I am certain, completely satisfied that your opinions are important, and that they need to be shared with the world.
The problem of course is that your self-satisfied ignorance isn't merely annoying, Anne, it is downright dangerous, dangerous to everyone in this country.
You say that our fellow Americans are not the enemy. Wrong. If a fellow American is aiding and abetting the enemy, then they are our enemy. If a fellow American is hindering our ability to prosecute this war(we ARE in a war, you know), or obstructing our attempts to protect ourselves, then they are our enemy. If they are, for whatever reasons attempting to undermine the moral standing of their own country while that country is at war, then they are our enemy.
But the most dangerous internal enemies of all are complaceny, blind, self-righteous, arrogant complacency, such as you so proudly exhibit.
Your second-rate, second-hand borrowed opinions are utterly useless -- worse than useless -- they are stupid and, yes, they are anti-American.
Comparing me to Stalin, Hitler, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein because I can no longer abide stupidity such as yours may perhaps make you feel better, but it doesn't help to solve the problem of your deep ignorance.
I do not have enough room here in this comments thread to attempt to educate you, nor do I have the patience. Furthermore, I sense that it would be a classic lost cause. In fact, I am just now running out of what little patience I had left to continue this useless conversation.
My only advice to you, Sweet Anne, would be to move to Switzerland just as soon as you can.
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