Theo-Idiocy
“Theodicy. 9/11 and our puzzling pursuit of the evil Saddam H. show that a much different view of the world obtains in our govt than what you describe for yourself (or me).” –a friend.
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An elderly friend, a poet from Kansas, used to prate on about “This Latter-day Rome.” That was 1946. He saw the exercise of national power in the corrosive light of Gibbon’s study of the rise and fall of Rome.
The example sits there, grinning at me. Yet, I still deny. It does not carry the ring of truth: too facile, perhaps.
A nation is, among other things, a social organization: the ineffable and mandatory are unique and beyond challenge. I suspect that Moslem Manhood is a nation and impossible to deny, if you are born and fetched up in it. Their political states are labels of convenience in their ethos and have little to contribute to the personal identity of the individual men.
Social organizations (families, tribes, nations, states, committees, clubs etc) are not the same thing as individuals. We are still learning this. They have a different viscera, a unique soul, and unspoken meaning and intention. They do not fit the forms for persons
If the current Moslem Nation is not a genuinely preferable condition for good living, then what is? They, the Moslem men (and Moslem women) have to speak to that.
I suspect that calling the USA the Great Satan fairly summarizes their point of view. It leaves them no choice but to stamp us out.
For all I know, that may be a fair description of US; but, no one has showed me the facts which are persuasive.
But, what do I know of Satan? Would I recognize it if I faced it? I think I would, yet no one has stood up and said: “Here I am.”
This seems a valid basis for an argument. Them and Us. Oil and Water. Shake it really hard, or add some patented emulsifier, to arrive at a new mix.
I bet there are guys is the U.S.Department of State who have the emulsifier in a neat bottle, all labeled with the suggested dosage. Hopefully, no one will use it. Those guys are unlicensed practitioners.
We will, as always, muddle through. Costly, wasteful, sad. But, that’s who we are.
This line of argument could easily be expanded to unimaginable lengths, a dissertation for no audience. Not my line of work
Ides of March, ‘03/ht