Manolo proposes these remarkable shoes.
Perfect for the spectacular Bush victory party, no?
Europe
Moral Dissonance
Europeans insist that they’re morally superior to Americans. They say that they’re the peacemakers, we’re the warmongers. Our invasion of Iraq is used as the latest talking point they use to try and shore up their sagging self esteem.
Differences in foreign policy aside, the Euros also say that they inhabit the moral high ground on a personal level. If Americans really cared about their fellow man, they say, then we’d vote for local and state politicians that vow to abolish the death penalty. They’re not shy in condemning the practice as barbaric and brutal.
The BBC has published this news article, which details how American forensic experts are uncovering mass graves in Iraq with depressing regularity. Their latest find is a trench that contains the remains of hundreds of children and their mothers, some of whom were pregnant when they were tossed in the hole and the dirt shovelled on top.
The skeletons of unborn babies and toddlers clutching toys are being unearthed, the investigators said. (snip)
The body of one woman was found still clutching a baby. The infant had been shot in the back of the head and the woman in the face. “The youngest foetus we have was 18 to 20 foetal weeks,” said US investigating anthropologist P Willey. “Tiny bones, femurs – thighbones the size of a matchstick.”
The remains of hundreds of thousands of innocent victims are being uncovered, evidence that can be used against Saddam in court. But the work is going slow because the European investigators have refused to participate. They’re afraid that the evidence they supply will be used to eventually put Saddam to death.
So the Americans are wrong to have invaded Iraq, which was the only way to end the slaughter and keep more children from being killed. And now the Americans are wrong to investigate the crimes since the dictator who’s responsible might have to face justice for them.
I’m having trouble seeing the moral superiority of the European position here.
(Big hat tip to blog goddess Natalie Solent.)
Fabulous Old Cycling Photos
Enough about the election for a while. Here’s a neat site that’s packed with dramatic photos from European races of the 1930s through 1950s. In those days a lot of roads were unpaved and the riders worked for peanuts.
It’s interesting to compare these ancient mountain images with more modern views (e.g., here and here) of similar areas.
“Mobile” vs. “Immobile” Civilizations
That’s how Reuven Brenner, in this recent column, characterizes the struggle between the democratic West and Islamic fundamentalism. Brenner’s argument is interesting.
It is easy to criticize both grandiose thesis and narrow ones. To come up with a different way of perceiving the events and offer solutions is a bit harder. Yet this brief does just that. It shows that today’s conflict between Islamic groups and the West, as well as within Islamic societies, can be viewed as one between “mobile” and “immobile” civilizations, whose members can be found in every society. What distinguishes the US is that it has far more people sharing the outlook of a “mobile civilization” than any other country. And what characterizes many Islamic countries is that they have a large number of people sharing the values of an “immobile” civilization. “Relativist” orthodoxy notwithstanding, one point I make is that although one can understand the values and ideals of “immobile societies”, as fitting certain situations, there cannot be a compromise between these two civilizations. Today’s circumstances – demographic in particular – require moves toward “mobility”.
Sweden Confirms Its Neutrality Between Good And Evil
The Swedes are throwing a hissy fit because the Israeli Ambassador, visiting a museum exhibit associated with a Swedish government-sponsored conference on genocide, took offense at a display of offensive “art” and literally pulled out its plug.
(The Israeli government says that the Swedes promised not to link the conference to the Arab-Israeli conflict — which, BTW, Reuters mislabels “the Middle East conflict.”)
Meanwhile, the “artist” — a lefty Israeli “peace” activist — said, essentially: Hey, what are you so upset about? It’s just an exhibit, we were trying to raise consciousness about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, what about freedom of expression, etc., etc. And a representative of the Swedish government expressed outrage that the ambassador had the temerity to damage sacred art, etc., etc.
To the “artist” and the Swedish government, I say: fuck you. Yeah, the Israeli ambassador lost it, but you provoked him. He took the bait and now you get to tut-tut about his emotional reaction and make sanctimonious statements about “art.”
The message I get is that the Swedish government cares more about art exhibits and moral posturing than it does about the lives of Jews. Would the Swedish government tolerate, at an official conference, an “art exhibit” portraying Hitler sailing in a lake of Jewish blood? More to the point, would the Swedes tolerate an exhibit showing the Jewish mass murderer Baruch Goldstein sailing in a lake of Arab blood? Would they tolerate an exhibit that could be interpreted as insulting to Muslims or Arabs? To ask this question is to answer it.
Maybe I, like the Israeli ambassador, am overreacting, but my impression is that the ambassador isn’t the problem here.
UPDATE: I am happy to learn that the Israeli government is supporting the ambassador:
Sharon said he called Mazel Saturday night and thanked him for his stand against rising anti-Semitism. “We are witnessing a rise in anti-Semitism, and will increase our efforts to fight the phenomenon,” he reportedly told the cabinet.
Good. Let the bastards worry about offending Jews, for a change.
(Link: Yehudit)
UPDATE 2: Bjørn Stærk has a contrary view.