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October 06, 2005
Some of my immediate reactions during the President's speech today:
The murderous ideology of the Islamic radicals is the great challenge of our new century. Yet in many ways, this fight resembles the struggle against communism in the last century.
Sweet! That means I can recycle the mindless fear and hatred of the sixties and seventies! Now I don't even have to come up with a new mode of generalized disgust!
Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy teaches that innocent individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision. And this explains their cold-blooded contempt for human life.
In a courtroom in the Netherlands, the killer of Theo Van Gogh turned to the victim's grieving mother and said, I do not feel your pain because I believe you are an infidel.
I'm sorry, but at least he gave a reason.
Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy pursues totalitarian aims. Its leaders pretend to be in an aggrieved party, representing the powerless against imperial enemies.
In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination and they wish to make everyone powerless except themselves.
I get it. Jon Stewart wrote this speech. It's all a big joke. Right? Please?
[Transcript via NYTimes.com]
The parallels between the politically-motivated fear mongering during the Cold War and the War on Terror are clear, but if you're the one perpetrating the fear mongering, you aren't supposed to make it so obvious.
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