L
LoafingOaf
Guest
Why do they hate us? Many have asked that;...but only some of us went looking for the answers
> "al Qaeda" exists because American fanatics like yourself exist.
The fact is, Qutb's writings about American policies were few.
What you fail to grasp is that the deepest quarrel of Sayyid Qutb (who's brother personally taught bin Laden)was not with the West's failure to uphold its principles, but rather his quarrel was WITH THE PRINCIPLES. In other words, his dislike, for example, of the USA, was not the same as your dislike of the USA (or apsects of it, if you like the USA). I take it your gripes with the USA are that you feel it has often failed to be a liberal society (which I would agree on). Qutb's and bin LAden's gripe is that it IS a liberal society. And the most dangerous aspect of the West to Qutb was, above all else, the sepration of church and state. It couldn't be more clear in the writings of the man, as he goes on and on, not about poverty and anti-Americanism, but about how Christianity went wrong and how martyrdom could change the world. And that is, in fact, the roots of al Qaeda.
Below is the amazon blurb on Berman's book, Terror and Liberalism, and it really is an eye-opener when you read the book itself. When you learn the facts about the movement, rather than just having vague notions from the uninformed on your BBC or whatever, you find this is a fight against a fascist, anti-liberal movement, and you'd be a self-loathing, suicidal fool to oppose that fight. But then most of us (90 nation coalition, largest ever assembled) understood that on 9/11/2001. The most interesting thing about the book is he presents the Islamic-fascists in a new light, as heirs to the Bolsheviks, fascists, and Nazis of 20th century Europe.
And with this post, I shall end all of my participation in these discussions, because I really did not want this thread to be about this shit. Certain people decided to make it that anyway. But yes, I'm glad this book came out recently, and I give it my strongest endorsement. And you see, it's not FOX News, and in fact it is not really a pro-Bush book. It is an anti-fascist book. For those fools who call me a right winger, it is the best thing I can offer that represents me.
>>>>>>
Berman puts his leftist credentials (he's a member of the editorial board of Dissent) on the line by critiquing the left while presenting a liberal rationale for the war on terror, joining a discourse that has been dominated by conservatives. The most original aspect of his analysis is to categorize Islamism as a totalitarian reaction against Western liberalism in a class with Nazism and communism; drawing on the ideas of Camus in The Rebel, Berman delineates how all three movements descended from utopian visions (in the case of Islamism, the restoration of a pure seventh-century Islam) into irrational cults of death. He illustrates this progression through a nuanced analysis of the writings of a leading Islamist thinker, Sayyid Qutb, ending with some chilling quotations from other Islamists, e.g., "History does not write its lines except with blood," the blood being that of Islam's martyrs (such as suicide bombers) as well as of their enemies, Zionists and Crusaders (i.e., Jews and Christians). Berman then launches into his most provocative chapter, and the one he will probably be most criticized for in politically correct journals: a scathing attack on leftist intellectuals, such as Noam Chomsky, who have applauded terrorism and tried to explain it as a rational response to oppression. Berman exhorts readers to accept that, on the contrary, Islamism is a "pathological mass political movement" that is "drunk on the idea of slaughter." A former MacArthur fellow and a contributing editor to the New Republic, Berman offers an argument that will be welcomed by disaffected progressives looking for a new analysis of today's world.
> "al Qaeda" exists because American fanatics like yourself exist.
The fact is, Qutb's writings about American policies were few.
What you fail to grasp is that the deepest quarrel of Sayyid Qutb (who's brother personally taught bin Laden)was not with the West's failure to uphold its principles, but rather his quarrel was WITH THE PRINCIPLES. In other words, his dislike, for example, of the USA, was not the same as your dislike of the USA (or apsects of it, if you like the USA). I take it your gripes with the USA are that you feel it has often failed to be a liberal society (which I would agree on). Qutb's and bin LAden's gripe is that it IS a liberal society. And the most dangerous aspect of the West to Qutb was, above all else, the sepration of church and state. It couldn't be more clear in the writings of the man, as he goes on and on, not about poverty and anti-Americanism, but about how Christianity went wrong and how martyrdom could change the world. And that is, in fact, the roots of al Qaeda.
Below is the amazon blurb on Berman's book, Terror and Liberalism, and it really is an eye-opener when you read the book itself. When you learn the facts about the movement, rather than just having vague notions from the uninformed on your BBC or whatever, you find this is a fight against a fascist, anti-liberal movement, and you'd be a self-loathing, suicidal fool to oppose that fight. But then most of us (90 nation coalition, largest ever assembled) understood that on 9/11/2001. The most interesting thing about the book is he presents the Islamic-fascists in a new light, as heirs to the Bolsheviks, fascists, and Nazis of 20th century Europe.
And with this post, I shall end all of my participation in these discussions, because I really did not want this thread to be about this shit. Certain people decided to make it that anyway. But yes, I'm glad this book came out recently, and I give it my strongest endorsement. And you see, it's not FOX News, and in fact it is not really a pro-Bush book. It is an anti-fascist book. For those fools who call me a right winger, it is the best thing I can offer that represents me.
>>>>>>
Berman puts his leftist credentials (he's a member of the editorial board of Dissent) on the line by critiquing the left while presenting a liberal rationale for the war on terror, joining a discourse that has been dominated by conservatives. The most original aspect of his analysis is to categorize Islamism as a totalitarian reaction against Western liberalism in a class with Nazism and communism; drawing on the ideas of Camus in The Rebel, Berman delineates how all three movements descended from utopian visions (in the case of Islamism, the restoration of a pure seventh-century Islam) into irrational cults of death. He illustrates this progression through a nuanced analysis of the writings of a leading Islamist thinker, Sayyid Qutb, ending with some chilling quotations from other Islamists, e.g., "History does not write its lines except with blood," the blood being that of Islam's martyrs (such as suicide bombers) as well as of their enemies, Zionists and Crusaders (i.e., Jews and Christians). Berman then launches into his most provocative chapter, and the one he will probably be most criticized for in politically correct journals: a scathing attack on leftist intellectuals, such as Noam Chomsky, who have applauded terrorism and tried to explain it as a rational response to oppression. Berman exhorts readers to accept that, on the contrary, Islamism is a "pathological mass political movement" that is "drunk on the idea of slaughter." A former MacArthur fellow and a contributing editor to the New Republic, Berman offers an argument that will be welcomed by disaffected progressives looking for a new analysis of today's world.
