Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/4/2011

Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/4/2011The demise of Osama bin Laden continues to dominate the news. The White House debated for two days whether to release the death photo of Mr. Bin Laden, and then finally decided against it. Meanwhile, a Reuters photographer scooped everybody else by getting into the compound an hour after the raid and photographing various dead bodies, although apparently not Osama’s. Christian leaders have spoken out against celebrating the Al Qaeda leader’s death, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been chastised for expressing joy over the occasion.

In other news, Finnish parents in a culturally enriched neighborhood of Helsinki are going to great lengths to make sure that their children do not go to immigrant-dominated schools, including arranging for legal separations in their marriages.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Diana West, Kitman, Nilk, SJ, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

4 comments:

Zenster said...

American Muslim Students React to Osama Bin Laden’s Death

Despite Obama’s reassurance to the American public that “the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam,” Khan is skeptical about American attitudes towards Islam.

Good. I can only hope that most Americans feel a reciprocal skepticism with respect to Islam's intentions. Obama's declaration that “the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam,” is one of the most ridiculous and offensively subservient attempts at appeasing our Islamic enemies seen to date.

“I’m glad that President Obama said that but I don’t think that generally people will actually listen to it. A lot of people still view this war on terrorism as a war on Islam,” she said.

She says that like it's a bad thing.

The young Muslim-American, who was just 10 years old on 9/11, is unable to shake the memories of past jabs about bombs in her backpack by her high school peers.

“I think that the greater (American) population still believes that … eliminating terrorist activities is the elimination of ideologies that only Muslims have,” said Khan.


Perhaps she could explain to us the origins of that, now-dated, but amazingly persistent axiom regarding how:

"Not all Muslims are terrorists but most terrorists are Muslims."

Why does that simple equation continue to be more and more proven out as Islamic jihad keeps on meeting with so little genuine opposition?

Lawrence said...

"Not all Muslims are terrorists but most terrorists are Muslims."

But to may people, when you say it this way, and they wish to equate Islam as a valid religion along side Christianity, what it means to them is that if all these Muslims are pursuing terrorism then the reason must be driven by some other issue.

Given that the West is the target of Muslim "reactions to whatever bad stimulus causes them to murder" it must therefore be the fault of the West whom they are lashing out at.

End result of this thinking: Western culture's resistance toe Islamic ideologies is the cause of Islamic terrorism. In this, then, we are the problem, not the terrorists.

Follow that logic?

Zenster said...

Lawrence: Western culture's resistance to Islamic ideologies is the cause of Islamic terrorism. In this, then, we are the problem, not the terrorists.

Follow that logic?


Clearly, any ostensible "logic" that derives this conclusion must obligatorily ignore the overall state and behavior of Islamic culture. Were Islam a superior cultural model, then it should exhibit all the trappings of a more advanced civilization. In fact, the exact opposite is true.

Therefore, objections to attempts by Islam to dominate Western nations are validated by the preferable living conditions within those countries which are most certainly not found in the MME (Muslim Middle East).

There is no legitimate form of logic which can allow Islam's claim regarding moral or sociological superiority to supersede that of the West's. Even the most cursory examination of Islam's track record with respect to basic human rights, representative government, constitutional law along with other hallmarks of free and open societies makes it obvious that Muslim culture is severely lacking and, in fact, exceptionally backwards to the point of being retarded.

Furthermore, those who wish to overlook Islam's violent and predatory nature in order to blame Western conduct must also ignore the historical record which, at every turn, reveals it to be a most vicious and genocidal culture.

Once an individual has managed such a profound level of disconnect from both history and evident facts, then whatever "logic" is applied can nigh well prove anything because it has no basis in reason.

Zenster said...

Who Says Bin Laden’s Killing Was Not Legal?

It seems as though Michael Rubin and myself are reading from the same playbook.

Five years ago, in the context of the Israel-Hezbollah war, I published a piece in National Review, arguing that not only is assassination legal, but we should also embrace assassination as a key national security tool. It was a controversial piece, but international legal experts who reviewed drafts said the legal interpretation was correct. Let’s hope that President Obama doesn’t shrink from the inevitable chorus of global naysayers and will prioritize now and in the future a strategy that, used carefully, can not only enhance American national security but also can dis-incentivize rogue behavior and avert far greater bloodshed. [emphasis added]

It is refreshing to see someone else recognize that killing a few hundred of Islam's jihadist aristocracy has the potential to avert an otherwise more probable Muslim holocaust.