I’m sure we as a Western society need to take responsibility of our thoughts before we make such outlandish suggestions filled with unfounded propaganda. It needs to come from both sides of the Political divide. There are those Liberals among us who will argue until they cannot argue any more, that the Bush Administration were actively involved and had funded 9/11. They will work tirelessly to find any unimportant discrepency and tie it to a mass conspiracy. It is ultimately a fatuous argument on their part.
Similarly, there are those on the Conservative side of the fence, who see a scratch on the flesh and call it a canon ball wound of great proportions. I’m talking about ‘Freedom of speech’. Conservative writers, much like Liberal writers, will not deviate from their ideology. They will insist that the opposing ideology is wrong, not just on certain issues, but on everything they stand for. A GOP Blogger Gopwire writes recently that us Liberals have a deep underlying plan to “to “hush” conservative’s so Obama and his cronnies can be free to destroy our nation as we know it.” I take great offence at this, because there is no plan to silence anyone. And it isn’t just liberals that have attacked what people consider to be their rights, throughout history. Conservatives are just as guilty. You cannot argue that one side is destroying your liberty whilst blindly supporting the same on the other side. Rhetoric as powerful as “free to destroy our nation as we know it” engages not the thoughtful brain, but the easily lead. There are those, like that particular blogger who will insist that Obama has a plan to destroy the Nation purely because his policies disagree with those of the Ideology he blindly and obediently follows. There are those who consider George Bush to have been the devil, even though those in their own Democratic camp have been failing to pay taxes, screwing the system, and generally acting rather corrupt whilst preaching ‘change’. The term “destroy our nation as we know it” is ridiculous hysteria of the worst variety.
There are those Liberals who insist that Nuclear weapons do not serve the purpose they claim to serve, and are in fact inherently evil. There are those Conservatives on the other side of the fence who believe that Nuclear Weapons are a key to National security. I agree with both. They are inherently evil, but one cannot expect to disable your Nuclear capability in the hopes that your enemy will do the same thing out of good will. It just isn’t realistic. The Liberals in this case, refuse to acknowledge that they may be wrong.
There are those Liberal bloggers who insist that Israel is disastrously evil. And whilst the actions of Israel recently, is nothing short of genocide, I cannot help but wonder why those Liberals will not step out of their ideological bearing and condemn Hamas for their wickedness and hatred since coming to power; and in fact before gaining power.
Similarly, there are those who refuse to acknowledge that Western Policy may have something to do with the rise of Extremism. They don’t “hate our freedoms” they don’t want to “destroy our way of life“, they simply hate us for how we’ve treated their Nations in the past. They think it gives them a right to fight fire with fire. We’re all in agreement that terrorism is by definition, evil. But why are we quick to label our enemies terrorists, whilst we are apparently fine with the atrocities our own Governments cause? Why are we surprised that we’re hated?
On the other hand, Conservatives are refusing to take even slight blame for the collapse of the Global economy. They will not for a second hear of the notion that a free deregulated market concept is anything but perfect. They instead, find the most obscure reasons to blame Liberals for the disaster. The Free Market ideal much like the Socialist ideal, is just that; an ideal. It doesn’t work in reality. But even when it fails, the Conservative branch will refuse to accept it.
There are those who insist that Socialism can work, regardless of the fact that where ever it’s been tried, it’s ended in a nightmare of genocide and dictatorship. There are also those who live by the wonders of the Free Market, regardless of that fact that it has left so many nations behind, drenched in indescribable poverty. Neither side will admit it’s notion is flawed. Massively flawed.
Others will live by what the media says, unquestionable in their acquiescence. In ‘Audacity of Hope’ by Barack Obama, along with other sources, speak of an article not too long ago suggested that Guards at Guantanamo Bay had flushed Koran’s down the toilet to the dismay of Muslim inmates. The Pentagon then released a report outlining that although the Koran’s had not been flushed, the female U.S Guards had pretended to smear menstrual blood on the faces of inmates during questioning, and pissed all over the Koran and an inmate. Fox News went that day with the headline: “Pentagon finds no evidence of Koran being flushed“. I often feel anger toward Fox News reports, there bias is shameful. And yet, many people will sit and quote them on their blogs, insisting that they are right… because Bill O’Reilly said so. They do not think for themselves. They do not investigate for themselves. The presume that their bias choice of media, is entirely without fault in it’s assessments. The media has a love affair with partisanship. The people have a love affair with partisanship. That, will never change.
There are those who sport tshirts and logos with “Communism killed 30,000,000 and all I got was this lousy tshirt”, whilst failing to acknowledge the deaths of thousands under Capitalist Regimes like Pinochet’s Chile. Just because one ideology kills less innocents than another, doesn’t make it relatively moral. It just means one dictator with no ideology was much more committed to murder and genocide than the other evil dictator with no ideology. Why are we arguing that it is the fault of the ideology, rather than the tyrants who profess to be apart of that ideology?
Similarly, Obama is savaged by Republicans and conservatives for saying “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done“. One forum dedicates a topic of conversation to this, with the Topic title being “Obama against free speech for Conservatives/Republicans/Private citizens“. No he isn’t. He’s merely stating an opinion. Which is surely, his freedom of speech right? Freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to say whatever you want to say without consequence. Limbaugh has called Obama “The magic Negro“; he’s said “I hope Obama fails“; Of African Americans, he said “They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?“; and he once referred to Obama as “Osama Obama“. The Republicans and Conservatives did not express anger at the utter lack of respect and tact that Limbaugh has shown, they waited until Obama responded and then stood to support Limbaugh. It’s slightly unnerving when that happens. It is not supporting free speech, it is out right support for the freedom to insult and cause trouble without having to stand up to the consequences. You cannot throw such deep hate filled attacks at people and then hide behind “I’m just exercising freedom of speech!!” when you’re called up on it.
Over here in the UK recently, Dutch Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders has been denied entry to the U.K, based on the fact that he is trying to show his film linking Terrorism to the Koran, and Islam in general. It is a film filled with one side of a very complex argument. Wilders does not talk to any Muslims who strictly oppose and denounce all Terrorism in the name of their holy book. He merely sticks to the notion that the Koran and therefore Islam is evil. He fails to point out that actually, there are those who practice Islam, who are strongly opposed to Extemism. Instead, he applies his twisted logic to include all Islam. By that same logic, we could apply the Phelp’s family’s reading of Christianity, to the entire Christian nation.
There will always be excuses by those intending to defend their beliefs, which is there right to do. However, to ignore punctilious evidence that contradicts their beliefs, is disturbingly wrong.
Whilst Wilder has a right to say exactly what he believes, and it was a mistake for the British Government to ban him from the Country, it has sparked a multitude of Conservative Bloggers, who suggest that the British are now pandering to Islam because we’re afraid to offend Muslims. That whilst we allow home grown muslims to call for the slaughter of those who insult Mohammad, we don’t allow the opposite argument to take shape. They go further to claim that it is an out right attack on freedom of speech. This, in my opinion, is utterly misleading.
The suggestion that the UK Government is afraid of offending muslims is a weak one at best, given that the main issue Extemists have with the UK is that we support Israel and the war in Iraq. The fact that a Fascist MP was banned from our shores will only prove to ignite misguided Nationalists like the BNP who insist that we’re becoming a Nation pandering to Muslims. The Government cannot expect to beat the rise of the Nationalists, by banning those who may support the Nationalist cause. Nationalists can only be beaten through debate which serves to ridicule their pathetic cause. Geert Wilders himself, said of Britain “Be brave. Be a defender of free speech. If you don’t you are weak. You are cowards. Your country has already taken a big step in the direction of Islamification.” What he, the Nationalists and all those who insist that banning Wilders from British shores is a step toward the abolition of freedom of speech do not talk about, or report on their Nationalist websites filled with hate and propaganda, is that Wilders is not the only person to be banned from British shores..
Now forgive me if i’m wrong, but those people are Muslims right? In fact 80 Islamic Hate Preaches are among the 230 people banned from the UK. You cannot, as the Nationalists would like to do, suggest that freedom of speech is dying purely because those who support your flawed ideology are banned from the Country, yet not make a sound the moment that those who disagree with you are banned. To truely possess freedom of speech, we must allow the hate fill muslims to be beaten by logic and reason, whilst at the same time we defeat those Fascists and Nationalists with the same logic and reason. They may be entirely wrong and flawed in their arguments, but they both have the right to say it, providing they can in fact deal with the consequences of those words.
However, it certainly doesn’t help the Islamic cause, when the protest Wilder’s film about Muslims being violent, by calling for his death.
The problem with Islam is that it cannot claim to take the moral high ground against those who attack the faith, by burning and threatening to kill those responsible for insulting it. Much like the problem with the West, in that anyone who threatens us we call “Terrorists” and yet, we fight terrorism, with terrorism. It’s one big bag of hypocrisy from every side you look. No one side has the moral high ground.
In any event, i’m derailing from the point of this blog. To suggest such a small provision is an attempt to destroy all freedom of speech; like suggesting that the Obama Stimulus is somehow equal to turning the United States of America into Soviet America is misleading and shows a lack of forethought. When Bush was doing it, no one suggested Socialism. When Guiliani’s New York debt reached record highs and spending increased by 30%, no Republican called out “SOCIALISM!”. The moment someone who happens to disagree with them does it, it’s suddenly Leninist.
Similarly, Democrats and those of us on The Left cannot legitimately attack those like the Bush Administration for it’s Free Market failure, when people like Rahm Emmanuel, who served on the board of Directors as Freddie Mac lied and cheated it’s way through scandal; is now given pretty much the top job in Washington. It isn’t change. It’s much of the same. It isn’t Socialism. It isn’t an attack on any fundamental rights, it does not require Political Drama Queens on either side of the political fence to act as if they World is falling down around them whenever the ideological tide changes slightly (ever so slightly) against them. It’s getting boring now.
“You’re wrong.“
“Why?“
“Because you’re Liberal.“
“But you’re wrong.“
“Why?“
“Because you’re Conservative.“
That’s how modern politics is. That’s how modern political bloggers write. I must concede that I too am guilty of this. We don’t care what the opposition has to offer, it will be wrong and useless and too much of the same or too Socialist before it’s even been offered. We take a point and we find evidence to back up our point whilst ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Again, I must concede that i’m guilty of this, but i’m certainly not the only one. I’m yet to read a blog or a Newspaper or the website of a Political Party who come to an equally well rounded opinion.
The Labour Party of the 1970s destroyed the lives of millions. The Conservative Parties of the 1980s and 1990s destroyed the lives of millions. The Labour Parties of 1990s and 00s are destroying the lives of millions. And suddenly we’re all taken in by the Conservative opposition. They must be better than what we already have, we all presume. But it will take another decade before that Conservative Party who will inevitably become the next Government, again, destroy the lives of millions, by which time we’ll have a New New Labour, who offer change, and then proceed to destroy the lives of millions. It’s the same shit, over and over. Do we really believe David Cameron to be any different?
I fully accept that differences in opinion and ideology and the crucial need to have all sides allowed to talk, is a gift of Democracy to the developed World. However, when both sides refuse to accept that the other side may have a point; when both sides refuse to accept how tragically wrong they have been in the past; when both sides refuse to work together rather choosing instead to push their own agenda through (Although I support the Obama Stimulus fully, I do feel Pelosi appears to have used it to her own ideological advantage, which is so desperately wrong) whilst at all times attacking limited aspects of the other side rather than accepting certain arguments they may give as valid; when all of that happens, we are not Democratic. We are two teams of political stubborn spin and twisters, hellbent on destroying the opposition regardless of how negatively it affects the Country.
By creating such deep divide based on a ‘get-one-over’ on your opponent system, we are allowing those people who make a small dent in their car sound like a hellish car crash when they relay the story on their blogs and news articles to influence the weak minds of a generation.
I do not believe Obama is either Socialist or evil. I believe he is trying to do what is best for the Country. Similarly, I believe John McCain and Sarah Palin were not evil, they simply wanted to do what was best for the Country. They just differ in how that goal is to be achieved. Suggesting either McCain or Obama have some hidden agenda, without actual evidence (And I don’t mean taking what you consider to be evidence, out of it’s original context) or adequate quotations, is deeply ignorant. And although that may be true, as Freedom of Speech would have it, those who cry SOCIALIST the moment Obama provides support for those who need it most, or the moment they cry OUT OF TOUCH the moment Sarah Palin makes a mistake when interviewed (as if she’s the only one) have the right to their hysteria.
I’m slowly becoming disillusioned with Politicians across the board in general.
If I had learned education I would not have had time to learn anything else.
Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.