I said yesterday that I believe in the a priori goodness of people. I have to amend that statement. I regret to admit that I don't necessarily believe in the a priori goodness of many Muslims in this world. I wish I didn't have to say that, but it's true. However, it appears that some Muslims in London assume all Muslims are peaceful and good.

Zeiad, 56, an Egyptian who has lived in Britain for 25 years, told AFP: "It's not al-Qaeda. Why would they do that? The Koran condemns such activities."

"How could a Muslim, praying five times a day, do such a thing?" asked Rovshan Kharim, a 25-year-old Azerbaijani, who arrived in Britain just two weeks ago.

I hate the fact that these claims make me want to laugh, but they do. I have a really hard time believing in the inherent goodness of people who are devoted to Islam. I wish it weren't so, but it's true. It makes me sad to know that I've built up that prejudice in my mind, but it has grown out of two years of reading LGF and learning about the horrific deeds carried out in the name of Islam.

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I still can't get over the fact that I know people who think that Bush has Bin Ladin and his going to pull a big TA-DA right before the election. This shocks me, and I think this morning I figured out why.

I operate on a daily basis on the a priori assumption that people are inherently honest and good. I assume that the people I meet are decent upstanding human beings, faithful to their spouses and honest in their jobs. I operate under that assumption until proven otherwise. I also assume that people naturally want what's good for them personally, what's good for others, and what's good for their country. I assume that, because that's the way I behave myself.

So when I read something like this, where people are constantly rehashing the idea that Bush lied and that he'll stop at nothing to stay in power, I can't believe it's true. I can't believe someone wrote this

He's also the first president to pre-emtively, unilaterally and illegally attack another country. I put NOTHING past these people and I mean NOTHING, including murder. If he's still down in the polls in Sept./ Oct.......we will see a terrorist attack and elections will be canceled and martial law declared. No doubt in my mind. These people are capable of anything.

because I do not operate under the a priori assumption that someone would resort to murder to get what he wants. I can't even fathom it.

I believed President Clinton when he said that he had not had relations with that woman. I believed him because I assume that people tell the truth. Naive? Perhaps, but shouldn't we assume that, for pete's sake? I believed him over all the rumors because I wanted to believe in the inherent goodness of the Presidency. I was wrong, I guess. And if Kerry were President, I would want to believe that he would tell the truth too. I might not be voting for him, but I would hope that he turned out to be worthy of our respect. I want to believe that others are trustworthy and good.

But it appears others don't.

How many times have we seen President Bush get the benefit of the doubt? With AWOL? With his Thanksgiving trip? With WMDs? With anything at all? People hated him from day one, and they've never even listened to what the man has to say. They a priori call him a liar. Geez, they even say he's going to resort to martial law if he's down in the polls in October! I can't understand that.

I re-read today QandO's Justification: A Post-War Review. It's so obvious to me that no one lied, that no one unilaterally did anything, and that no one should've been shocked that this was coming. It was justified. Period.

But people are blinded by their a priori assumption that Bush is Hitler.

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There's a lot of buzz out there about Spain; I found tons of interesting things via The Best. I don't have the time before work to comment on everything individually, but I recommend that you read all of these:

The Spanish dishonoured their dead by Mark Steyn

an open letter to Jose Blanco by Al Maviva

Subspace Crystal Ball and The Stampede Begins over at The Best. And follow the footnotes.

Annika's posts 1, 2, and 3.

But there is one thing that I want to comment on in depth. Tim pointed out a WaPo article that unfortunately you have to register for, but it's worth the time doing so to read it. It's called Madrid Bombs Shook Voters: Distrust of the Government, Anger at U.S. Fueled Upset. It contains a little anecdote that nearly sent me through the roof:

Many here contend Aznar has adopted a servile stance toward the United States. In contrast, Socialist party leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero stressed his independence and willingness to criticize Washington. Many approvingly cited an incident during last October's Columbus Day military parade when Zapatero sat down as the American flag passed by. "It's not my flag," he reportedly said later.

You bastard. That speaks volumes to me about what kind of man Zapatero is. I knew a girl like that in high school, a girl whose family had dual Brazilian-Scottish citizenship but was living in the USA, never intending to become American. Yet they'd gripe and moan about the government, and this girl would talk and be rude during the National Anthem at sporting events. I've never forgotten or forgiven that. You show respect for someone's country during ceremonies, regardless of how you feel. There's a time for public disagreement, and there's a time for ceremony and respect. A Columbus parade is not the proper time for a political figure to point out how much he hates the US.

Here in Germany, we fly the German flag over our post. And at ceremonies, we stand in reverence for the German flag and national anthem. Does it burn me up inside that we have to do this for them when they don't support us in anything except spending our dollars in their economy? Yes, but I stand quietly while their flag is being raised. Because that's good manners and common courtesy.

But if Zapatero thinks he should make a political statement during a public ceremony like that, then I have no respect for him at all.

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This has to be a joke, right John? Frank J made it up, right? Holy crap, it's true? Anyone here who thinks that Bush hatred is not something to worry about needs to read this post on RWN today. John found an extremely frightening thread on the DU. The intro:

As weÂ’ve heard again and again recently, if we are going to beat this bunch of rule breaking GOP misanthropes, weÂ’re going to have to start fighting as dirty as they do. I started this thread for one reason, to get everyoneÂ’s ideas on a list of things we as Democrats can consider to stop the takeover of this country. This isnÂ’t going to be a thread for the squeamish, or for the ideologically pure. Best to steer clear if that describes you.

Now we've already heard people like Moby say that lying is OK if it will help Kerry win. But these DUers lay it all out, provide strategy, and pat each other on the back when they come up with a new way to lie. I think my jaw dropped to the floor as I read these comments. I can't believe these are real people.

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Already not a good morning. So far I've had to listen to my two co-workers talk about how President Bush has Bin Ladin already and is going to bust him out right in time for the election. Then I had to take a Sexual Harrassment test for my new job that really irritated me. All I had to do though was answer the exact opposite of my own personal feelings and I ended up with 100% correct. Grrr.

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Amritas pointed to a comment on LGF that really made me mad. An Israeli family was in a New Mexico bookstore speaking Hebrew to each other when an American woman overheard them:

Suddenly the other mother said to my girls 'wow what a beautiful language ! What is that?" Eden innocently and very cutely told her " its Hebrew.. we're visiting from Israel" this womans smile vanished and she gave them a blank stare, said " oh. really." and than.... started telling her partner" do you know, I am going to start taking that Arabic language course,, it has a really cool Palestinian teacher, and I think it will be really broadening to learn it, blah blah;ah blah;ah" very very loudly. I was shocked.

The first thing I thought of when I read this was that Point-Counterpoint on Nigeria from The Onion. The American kid is envious of the rich cultural Nigerian heritage, and the Nigerian simply says, "Get me out of this godforsaken hellhole." It's a wonderful parody of how Americans multiculturalize everything and truly don't understand the vicious struggle that goes on in other countries.

I got a new button yesterday for my sidebar: I'm a Proud Friend of Israel. If I had been in that bookstore in NM, I think I would've beat that woman with a sack of Valencia oranges.

Idiotarianism makes me violent.

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Dogs made a funny statement yesterday that I can relate to: "I visited all 4,593,299 available weblogs this morning. I can't find anything to comment on that hasn't already been commented on in exactly the way I would have commented. What this means is that I must scratch around in the recesses of my mind for some other 'original content,' which I don't have right now." I read this morning thinking that I would come up with something new and interesting to say, but all I keep tossing around in my head are things that I've already shouted into a cave.

Yesterday I met a Reservist who was the most conflicted man I've talked to in a long while. He went off on a tirade against the USA and then switched gears mid-rant and slammed the Germans for a while. Then he talked about his recent tour in Iraq and what a good thing it was that the US had gone to help Iraqis, but then did a half-gainer and started saying that the US is the most dangerous country on the planet. He thinks the war in Iraq is just, but he wants Hillary to be President. He has some serious issues.

But one of the things he brought up was the WMD. Those jävla förbannad WMD. Sweet Jesus, I wish we could all look at the big picture here and forget about those stupid weapons for a minute. What did that Marine say the other day? "You can't even find an AK-47 in someone's home" so how can they expect us to find all weapons in Iraq right away?

Look, we should all agree on one of two things. Common ground, you know. Either Saddam had WMDs and has hidden them or gotten them out to Syria or somewhere else, or Saddam was so mean that no one told him the truth that they really weren't able to make any WMDs. So, if we must be forced to keep talking and thinking about those mfing WMDs, we have to assume that no one lied. President Bush honestly did think that Iraq had weapons or the potential to make weapons, just as both Clintons, Albright, Kennedy, and many others said back during the last presidency. And we have to assume that Saddam himself thought that he had WMDs, for what else would have made him feel so gutsy? Either he had them, or he was duped big time.

So when a Reservist says that we were right to go to war, but it was under false pretenses because we haven't found any WMDs yet, I want to rip his everlovin' head off. Especially when he's just finished telling me a story about how he stumbled upon dozens of dead bodies in a Ba'ath Party meeting house in Iraq that had been rotting for months. Months. Why hadn't anyone found those bodies before? I mean, they had months to find them, right? Well how come they weren't found earlier?

He also said that since the US has WMDs, we shouldn't be allowed to tell others who can and can't have them. Hmm. So since my husband carries a weapon in his job, he shouldn't be able to say that others can't do the same? If Iraqi shopkeepers, farmers, and reporters think it's OK to carry and use weapons as often as a soldier does, then that should be OK, right Reservist man? Who are we to say they can't, after all. Why don't you go back to Iraq and do your job again under these new "we're all equal" conditions?

And to say that the US is the most dangerous country in the world is just plain stupid. I asked this man straight out if he thought that head-to-head the first country to use a nuclear bomb would be the USA or Saddam's Iraq, and he said us. He is a damn fool. I know plenty of wives here who would love to see him proven right. I've heard many of them say we should've just nuked Iraq into a parking lot and not wasted our time and money on this stupid war. I know wives who don't give a flying leap about Iraqis and would push the button themselves if it meant their husbands didn't have to go spend a year on the other side of the earth. If this Reservist actually believes that our government is more ruthless than Saddam's, then he needs a big reality check. And I'm tired of hearing this nonsense.

I'm just sick of it. Of Michael Moore and John Kerry and Sean Penn and Jacques Chirac and everyone else whose image of the United States is that we're just itchin' to start somethin'. I'm tired of people saying we're a bully, as if we enjoy sending our troops to all these jacked up countries all over the globe to try to straighten out some centuries-old mess. I'm tired of people glorifying the UN, which couldn't even buy peace without a hefty contribution from the US. And I'm so tired of trying to explain world events and foreign policy to people in the military, people whose job it is to enforce it.

And I'm tired of hearing about those f-ing WMDs.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:53 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Conflicted Man comes across as mere garden-variety "Confused" until he gets to the part about wanting Hillary to be President. "Serious issues"? Understatement of the year. Sounds like he's been watching too much CNN and reading too much NYT. Although it's not the most accurate analogy, perhaps our insistence that finding WMDs is not critically important is as irritating and frustratingly 'off-point' to the Left as their insistence that it was "just about sex" was to us. Thanks much for the link! I definitely know what you mean about shouting intoo a cave, too.

Posted by: topdawg at March 13, 2004 06:59 AM (JMaAr)

2 It gives me the shivers to hear that type stuff, and I do hear plenty of it here in Bush Country, Texas. I just look at the people who say it in disbelief, how can they feel that way. Some people are still mad at him for his looks, he smirks, they say. Oh yes, big political fault, look and smile like your mother, for heaven's sake! And why would that make him dishonest? Give me a break. The liberal establishment may yet get there wishes and we become a cowering, frightened, socialist country. It is disturbing and I don't have a husband in Iraq to worry about . But I have grandchildren I want to live in a free, democratic country. And I want that for you and all the rest of us, too.

Posted by: Ruth H at March 13, 2004 09:41 AM (GYS20)

3 Buurruuppppp - the mere thought of Hillary as a prez (shudders). I'm also in that "who cares about the m.f.'n WMD's" club as well as the "no it's not either about oil" society.

Posted by: OkieMinnie at March 13, 2004 02:39 PM (++56U)

4 I think this guy is stuck in the third level of Maslow's Hierarchy. Bogey asked why military people liked Bush better than Kerry since Kerry served in Vietnam. Many folks don't grasp that military service doesn't mean as much to military folks as being black seems to mean to blacks or being union means to union members. What we are interested in is getting a job done. Period.

Posted by: Mike at March 13, 2004 04:49 PM (AcqBI)

5 A big 'yeah' to all of the above. I read recently (um in the last 6mos) that Japan just found a huge stash of artillery/wmd-like stuff under an airport runway from WWII!! Then there's the German stash found in about the same way, same goes for something found in VA from the US Military from 50 yrs ago. These people who keep saying this drivel are being disengenuous and are just looking for something to pin on BUSH so they can further their mantra of 'Bush Lied'. Remember a few weeks ago Sarah when Tim wrote something of a similar nature. I think we all go thru a 'fed up to here' phase with the mumbo jumbo speak of the 'truth challenged' pukes from the left or maybe from the uniformed. I can't wait or is it I'm afraid to listen or watch the Sunday news talk shows tomorrow. I'm continually amazed at the complicit nature of the media. Anyway - it will pass for you as it did for me. At least I sure do hope it does.

Posted by: Toni at March 13, 2004 09:51 PM (ELGaA)

6 As usual, Sarah, you hit the bullseye. I hope that the guy who wants Hillary to be president shows up for sick call. The man's in a bad way.

Posted by: Parkway Rest Stop at March 13, 2004 11:48 PM (Apafo)

7 I just found your blog--great reading. Thanks. ) The guy who thinks the U.S. is a threat is just an idiot. I'm ex-army (22SAS) and every time see an American battle group in our waters here (Australia) it makes me grin.."there stands freedom"... Go well.

Posted by: Keith at March 15, 2004 01:27 AM (fyrCe)

8 >> It stands to reason that things we are not looking for are much less likely to be found. While I agree with the lot of you, that this guy was full of hot air, I find it difficult to believe that in a country that's only a little bigger than texas, we couldn't turn up something in almost 2 years time. You can bet if we were looking for something this BIG, this important in Texas, we'd have found it. Discount of course the hazards, and what have you... You've got a lot of people, most of them capable, acting on "reliable" intelligence looking for these things and *poof*... nothing? Technology in espionage improves practically by the hour, the world isn't nearly as big as it used to be, it just doesn't add up. Am I saying Bush is a liar? No. But I do believe that there is more to this than meets the eye. Not necessarily oil, but there's something going on that nobody's talking about outside the oval office. Secondly, why oust Hussein? The terrible ogre executed people for bad reasons? Of course he did. So then, why didn't we act pre-emptively toward Lenin? or Hitler? Hitler ordered the mass-murder of millions, for practically no reason at all. But even knowing that wasn't enough for us to go over and fight. No-- we had to be provoked... by this I'm referring to Pearl Harbor, another attack on the US that could have been at the very least defended against, if not for the nay-sayers and foibles of the military and intelligence committees. I think the rest of the free-speaking world believes, given our current representation, we're not gutless... but incompetent and foolhardy... And since we're bashing the left with awful words like 'truth challenged' (politically correct) and pukes (not politically correct) Let me ask you this -- What's so great about George Bush? Careful with your answer... I asked someone this once. Her answer? "I'm a republican". "What???" "I voted for a republican president once, and decided I was republican so now I always vote republican". It suddenly occurs to me that a certain percentage of both sides sees it precisely this way... and I've officially lost all hope for a truly democratic country. Where leaders can be chosen based on the decision of a group of complete idiots to be one-sided, regardless of the issues at hand, We'd be better off flipping a damned coin!

Posted by: Mike at January 12, 2005 10:41 PM (WeXqQ)

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I went on a tour of Nuernberg today with my German class. One of our stops was at the Germanisches National Museum, which is constructed with an interesting entryway. Nuernberg is trying to improve its image from the city that gave us the Nuernberg Laws to a city that stands for Peace and Human Rights. The entrance to the museum was created by an Israeli artist whose name I can't seem to find on google. It is a series of pillars with the different articles from the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each pillar has one article carved in both German and another language. And I nearly slugged a lady from my class who asked why the Israeli artist didn't include the Palestinian language as one of those featured on the pillars. I pointed out that Arabic was included, and she said that wasn't good enough and that the Palestinians should specifically be recognized. I had to force myself to breathe deeply and let it go, but I'd have liked to have socked her.

MORE TO GROK:

In my search, I found this disturbing list of words that "should be used" when talking about a Palestinian state.

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I was kinda bored with the blogosphere today, just loafing at work and avoiding my German homework, when I stumbled on a post at RWN about Gut Rumbles' vitriolic rant.

Seems Rob dropped the n-bomb.

So I read lots of posts and comments from people who were de-linking Gut Rumbles because they no longer want to be associated with him, and then curiosity got the better of me and I went to the horse's mouth itself. I read all his posts and all the comments and have started to think.

My first thought: Rob actually said more than he was quoted as saying. His actual post is much longer than the expurgated versions I saw on other appalled people's blogs. It also has more "substance" than just repeating the n-word over and over. And he wrote a follow-up post as well.

So what do I think? I don't really know. Gut Rumbles has never been a place for sunshine and kitty cats, so I'm not surprised that this rant came out. And like other commenters, I think that Rob's below-the-surface message includes some valid points that just aren't considered acceptable for anyone to talk about. Do I like the way he expressed his message? I'm not as horrified as others, but I can certainly see how this would put him on the outs with other bloggers. I don't particularly like the n-word, but as a person who listens to a fair amount of rap music, I'm sorta numb to it now.

But it's still just a word. Someone in the comments section asked how it's different from using words like "Islamopuke" to describe Muslims. Another commenter said he hates the words "honkey" and "redneck", but no one gets upset when they're used. Personally I felt quite offended when people from the UK pejoratively called me a Yankee, but we've named a stinkin' baseball team after that word so I guess most people don't mind it. What happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me"?

I guess I don't have a definitive answer as to whether Rob is a racist. In my life I've met very few people who were true racists, and that included both people who were white and black. But I have met many people who get upset at the way we walk on eggshells in our country to avoid talking about race at any cost, and maybe those feelings came to a head for Rob this week.

I won't say Rob was wrong to say what he said, but I also won't say sites like RWN were wrong to de-link him. I'll just say you all can judge for yourselves.

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The office is empty and slow today, so I've been doing a lot of reading.
Here's another great Solzhenitsyn quote 30 pages later:

One thing is absolutely definite: not everything that enters our ears penetrates our consciousness. Anything too far out of tune with our attitude is lost, either in the ears themselves or somewhere beyond, but it is lost.

That's how I feel when I try to explain something to someone who leans Left.
I feel it might have entered their ears, but never their consciousness.

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1 I'm glad to see you're getting something from the book!

Posted by: Mike at March 03, 2004 10:34 AM (3b89y)

2 "I feel it might have entered their ears, but never their consciousness." Of course, the feeling is mutual, since it's SO obvious that Iraq had no WMDs, had nothing to do with 9/11, nothing to do with terrorism, and was a SOVEREIGN nation with a democratically elected leader with 100.0% of the vote that was overthrown by Bu$h (who got, what, 0.1% of the vote from his rich white male buddies?) so that America could have a 51st state to suck more oil from for its endlessly growing fleet of SUVs. The ENTIRE WORLD knows this. Only idiotic AmeriKKKans, addicted to FOX News, buy into the transparent lies of their leader. Seriously, I'm coming to believe in the "Two Americas" worldview, though in fact maybe the real number is more like three, given the large number of apathetic, ignorant people out there.

Posted by: Amritas at March 03, 2004 02:07 PM (kUxEJ)

3 Sarah, Don't waste time giving explanations to them. Write it on a 2x4 and wack them on the head. At least you'll know you've made an impression.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at March 04, 2004 10:07 PM (CSxVi)

4 I'd skip the writing and just start whacking.

Posted by: Amritas at March 05, 2004 02:15 AM (oC8m2)

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Posted by: rape videos at January 07, 2005 11:59 PM (Gvqsk)

6 hi guys

Posted by: casino at August 30, 2005 03:25 PM (DKl3T)

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I've been enjoying my reading of The Gulag Archipelago, as much as one can enjoy reading about imprisonment in Stalinist Russia. I hit a passage today that struck me with its simplicity. It's in the chapter on the Bluecaps:

To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he's doing is good, or else that it's a well-considered act in conformity with natural law. Fortunately, it is in the nature of the human being to see a justification for his actions.

Macbeth's self-justifications were feeble--and his conscience devoured him. Yes, even Iago was a little lamb too. The imagination and the spiritual strength of Shakespeare's evildoers stopped short at a dozen corpses. Because they had no ideology.

Ideology--that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes, so that he won't hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors. That was how the agents of the Inquisition fortified their wills: by invoking Christianity; the conquerors of foreign lands, by extolling the grandeur of their Motherland; the colonizers, by civilization; the Nazis, by race; and the Jocobins (early and late), by equality, brotherhood, and the happiness of future generations.

Thanks to ideology, the twentieth century was fated to experience evildoing on a scale calculated in the millions. This cannot be denied, nor passed over, nor suppressed. How, then, do we dare insist that evildoers do not exist? And who was it that destroyed these millions? Without evildoers there would have been no Archipelago.

Many have condemned President Bush for his label of The Axis of Evil; they thought it simplistic, sanctimonious, or ridiculous. Yet there is indeed evildoing in this world today; it's not confined to the twentieth century. And I agree with Solzhenitsyn that ideology is often the way that individuals justify their actions.

Would a Palestinian strap on a bomb and blow up a bus if he hadn't been told from day one that the Jews are the source of all of his suffering and he would be rewarded in heaven? Would one of Saddam's henchmen have been more likely to say "hang on a minute" when instructed to kill someone in a plastic shredder if he weren't backed by the Ba'athist ideology? And would individuals actually be stupid enough to do this yesterday if everyone else around them weren't doing it too?

The old question is If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you? You're supposed to answer No, but a group ideology makes it hard to not jump. But maybe that one person who refused to jump would make a couple of others see their error, and someday the whole ideology might come tumbling down.

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