His timing, given the closing down of Jewish shops and attacks on Jews, is impeccable — just what one expects out of the editor of an august magazine purportedly nuanced in its understanding of foreign diplomacy, but in reality just another venue for massaging specific progressive narratives in an effort to will them, through repetition, into “truths.”
MRC:
Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Thursday, David Rothkopf, CEO and editor of The FP Group, which publishes Foreign Policy magazine, warned against European authorities being too aggressive in fighting Islamic terrorism following the brutal attack in Paris: “I think we have to be just as worried about the reaction to the attack from nationalists, from right-wingers, from people who have sought to drive this wedge…between the Islamic communities and the mainstream communities in Europe….it’s very important that we recognize the value of restraint in response to these things.“
[emphasis in the original]
pw susses out the subtext so you don’t have to: “Instead of worrying about the mass killing of cartoonists, we should instead be focused on the backlash to such barbaric killings — which almost never come — so that we don’t find ourselves in a “cycle of violence” where one group keeps overreacting to mass murder in the name of Islam by way of cursing the Islamists who perpetrated the outrage. Which is just as bad as storming a building and shooting people in cold blood for cartoons, then killing police officers. I counsel restraint. And for the love of God — and his Prophet, peace be upon him — let the Islamists know that I’m one of the thinky kind of pundits who is on their side. Like Hillary, I empathize with the poor 7th-century throwbacks. So no need for them to show up to my place of business with AK-47s.”
Moments later, he cited the Abu Ghraib prison scandal as a cause for the massacre: “You know, one of the reports has it that one of these guys who led this attack was radicalized by reading about Abu Ghraib, that prior to that he was not an extremist, and after that he moved into this vein of thought.”
[emphasis in original]
pw susses again: “Please overlook my willingness to infantalize these servants of God — and the Prophet, peace be upon him — as well as the rather obvious disconnect in my argument, where I contend that Abu Ghraib radicalized one of these butchers, thus relieving him of the bulk of responsibility for his actions, even while I would never in a million years allow that the shooting at the satirical paper of cartoonists and editors could in any way justify the kind of radicalization that would be evident in the reaction to the attack, should it ever come. Which it won’t. But which is always latent.”
Unless and until we stop giving barbarism a pass, such insults will act as the parents to further insults, as the Islamists become emboldened by the wet-pant reactions of our erudite class.
— To paraphrase Jefferson. Who was himself a right-winger who launched attacks on the Barbary pirates, to whom all he had to do to de-escalate their attacks and enslavement of ships was to, you know, redistribute the wealth a bit.
The racist.
Chers Juifs français,
Quittez la France rapidement. Fuyez pour vos vies.
un ami
“David Rothkopf is useless above the ground – he ought to be below it, encouraging the cabbages.”
And guess who the puppet masters, scripting/staging the play are….
“people who have sought to drive this wedge…between the Islamic communities and the mainstream communities in Europe…”
Because people standing up and insisting that the jihadis stop murdering their neighbors is exactly what is “driving a wedge” between communities. Riiiight.
Can you imagine the ratings and money that would accrue to the first cable news talking head who possesses the brains and the spine to recognize tripe like this and call it out? Imagine a straight-news version of Jon Stewart, except with actual powers of reasoning:
“So you’re saying that the treatment of terrorists in an American camp in Afghanistan is sufficient justification for mass murder against French cartoonists, but mass murder of French cartoonists is not sufficient justification for treating the Islamist movement with suspicion. Do you not realize just how stupid that argument makes you sound? Would you like to reconsider and try again?
“Larry — call the guys in Booking & Talent and tell ’em they gotta find us an ‘expert’ with half a brain. This is just embarrassing.”
If Abu Ghraib radicalized him, I would probably blame hyperbolic French reporting on the matter.
(Did anyone bother to tell him that the people responsible there were sent to prison for it?)
*-@:{(>
i blame the nyt for their coverage of abu graib. they didn’t use trigger warnings.
A prescient essay. h/t PA Cat at Belmont Club.
I thought many in the Arab world did not even like Iraqis so, why would they care about what happened in Abu Graib prison?
[…] at his joint, Protein Wisdom, he links and conjoins with the sorry Spirit of David Rothkopf, CEO and editor of Foreign Policy […]
What’s French for “DON’T HURT ME LOOK HOW I’M STRIKING THE LINTELS WITH LAMB’S BLOOD OH CRAP THAT’S A JEWISH REFERENCE ISN’T IT.”
Google Translate didn’t provide anything plausible.
French won’t work anyway, di. You need to ululate and cry “Allah akbar!” before pressing the switch on a garage remote — then say, “Allah dammit, I left the bomb trigger in my car!”
From 6 months ago:
Working well for certain definitions of “working” and “well.”
Stephen Harper, Canadian PM speaks. Speaks with some clarity, but even as the second best of major national leaders to speak on the subject (President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt being the foremost, heroic even), only barely with clarity.
PM Harper, like most of us I don’t doubt, has little if any formal education concerning Islam, and may well — again like many of us — look upon that religio-political complex in amazed disgust and loathing at the ugly face of slavery Islam presents to the world.
And this is a problem, as President al-Sisi makes perfectly clear in his speech. We cannot say what we believe about Islam, for the religio-political complex — taken in its wholeness — is the problem.
One must wish, therefore, all the personal power of persuasion and wisdom to President al-Sisi in his efforts to induce the change necessary to help Islam become acceptable to men everywhere, for as it is in its cruelty and slavishness, Islam is hardly tolerable to men anywhere.
ot
Numerous Robbers Storm Female Gun Store, Get Shot
President al-Sisi’s effort is doomed unless there are Muslims who are willing to reinterpret The Koran forgetting all previous interpretations. This requires a major willful blindness on their part. In essence, they must ignore the Reality of what is written in it and create a Myth Of Islam.
Even if that happens, the effort may be for naught because I believe The Koran is a product of Evil, of Satan, if you will.
proggtarded news
Christian Amanapour Calls Charlie Hebdo Terrorists “Activists”
hey darleen how about a photoshop with the general and “je suis charlie”
Criminal charges recommended against Petraeus
it’s very important that we recognize the value of restraint in response to these things.
this is what this propaganda slut has to say as failmerica’s saudi royal trash allies are beating the holy pigshit out of a cheeky blogger?
cankles news
As outlined in the Benghazi Brief, the only player in the joint CIA/State Department Libyan operation “Zero Footprint” -that resulted in the Benghazi attack- who was an extreme risk to Team Hillary Clinton, was David Petraeus.
Bumper Sticker Of The Day…
and a fine bumper sticker it is
Until The Whole World Hears
hands up for jesus
Praise You In The Storm
Shelter From the Storm
>}Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings the illusion of an identity, of dignity, and of morality while making it easier for them to part with them. As the repository of something suprapersonal and objective, it enables people to deceive their conscience and conceal their true position and their inglorious modus vivendi, both from the world and from themselves. It is a very pragmatic but, at the same time, an apparently dignified way of legitimizing what is above, below, and on either side. It is directed toward people and toward God. It is a veil behind which human beings can hide their own fallen existence, their trivialization, and their adaptation to the status quo. It is an excuse that everyone can use, from the greengrocer, who conceals his fear of losing his job behind an alleged interest in the unification of the workers of the world, to the highest functionary, whose interest in staying in power can be cloaked in phrases about service to the working class. The primary excusatory function of ideology, therefore, is to provide people, both as victims and pillars of the post-totalitarian system, with the illusion that the system is in harmony with the human order and the order of the universe. . . .
{9}The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; the complete degradation of the individual is presented as his ultimate liberation; depriving people of information is called making it available; the use of power to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary abuse of power is called observing the legal code; the repression of culture is called its development; the expansion of imperial influence is presented as support for the oppressed; the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the highest form of democracy; banning independent thought becomes the most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal assistance. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to persecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.
<
link
{10}Individuals need not believe all these mystifications, but they must behave as though they did, or they must at least tolerate them in silence, or get along well with those who work with them. For this reason, however, they must live within a lie. They need not accept the lie. It is enough for them to have accepted their life with it and in it. For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system. <
Voice Of Truth
for the moes or allanor the mecca rock
Glorious Day
Some A-hole on twitter just told me that I need to get over the ancient Grekks.
Now I want am “Its all Grekk 2 me” t-shirt
Well sure, they kinda invented western civilization, but what have they done for us lately?
The Ramens helped too. And the Puhrshinz. Don’t forget the Idjipshunns.
Sukratees was my favorite Grekk but Zorba was cool too dancin’ and busting all those plates. Dude was a punk rocker.
I don’t grok Grekks.
Though Wayne Grekksty was a fine hockey player.
It could turn out that “getting over” the ancient greeks is precisely what ails us, but we’d only find out by going to study them.
Yep. I think the evidence provided by the contents supports this position.