Friends, not only was the legacy of the 9/11 attacks a major topic in the news this past week, but I happened to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum the day before the 25th anniversary! It was...sobering, and of course very impactful for anyone who lived through that day. My sense of normalcy was shattered in the space of a few hours. I'm sure you can relate. One can certainly debate whether our reactions to those events were entirely rational or appropriate, but that those events, and the consequences thereof, were historic, well, no one can question that. I invite your reflections on the big anniversary!
In other news, we notched another FABULOUS Newsmakers show this week, covering everything from the cultural significance of the decline of broadcast television, to the evolving U.S. strategy to contain (or destroy) the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the ongoing battles over tariffs (foreign AND domestic). Check it out!
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you visited The 9/11 Memorial. Thank you.
I was honored to do so, Ray.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: I was on my way to work at about 10am when I heard "both towers of the WTC are down, the Pentagon has been hit and another hijacked plane is headed for DC. " WOT DA!?I worked 100 miles from home and there was no way I was going to be that far from my kids in school so I turned back. I thought maybe at first that a couple of suitcase nukes had been used. The sounds must have been beyond appalling. Though President Bush declared us at war with all terrorism it made sense to attack radical Islam since it was the obvious and immediate enemy. Just imagine if Iran had been able to supply them with nukes. That ought to be well considered by those who castigate our war with Iran.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteIn my opinion, the religion of Islam has always been radical, since it was invented in the 7th Century. In any event, the people who did the towers were all from Saudi Arabia, and were Sunni.
I remember Bush went public and stated that the act was perpetrated by Muslim radicals, and that Islam was a religion of peace. I understand Bush was a history major, so I'm still trying to figure how he formed his views. He must have forgotten about the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who met with Heinrich Himmler and offered to form Muslim SS units in The Balkans.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteKeep in mind that my opinions are not an attack on you for using the words "radical Islam". My main point on this, is that Christianity was not ORIGINALLY spread by violence, and was the victim of massive violence by pagans for three hundred years.
Islam was spread by the sword from day one. Of course, Muslims will tell you how tolerant they were of Christianity and Judaism in lands they controlled.
As far as I know, the missionary journeys of The Apostle Paul were not accompanied by Armies of sword wielding warriors.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteNo matter what, the 9/11 attacks were a tragedy and a disgrace. If nothing else, the Islamic world applauded the fact that it had made a major dent in the Infidel armor. The U.S. was further sucked in to a 20 year war in Afghanistan, where victory is still debated, and that cost billions, not to mention the suffering our Armed Forces had to go through there.
Dr. Waddy:M A poll this AM on , I think National News Desk held that "6/10 of Democrats support the DSA's convictions."
ReplyDeleteI have always been convinced that the majority of Americans hold views which, if cataloged, would show them to be conservative, though many would not declare or consider themselves to be so.
Similarly , I think that many nominal Dems actually hold DSA views and that the Dem party has been ever more inclined that way since 1972. The DSA may be just emerging triumphant now from a long dialectic. I hope they take their subjects down to the gutter with them ."A plague on both their houses"; they are making "mincemeat of " . . . us "me" :Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet.
Ray: No problem. In the event as I remember it, it was mostly radical Islam we went after, although the now considered comprehensively pejorative term terrorist has been frequently used by President Trump as a justification for going after mass drug dealers and think he's right to do it.
ReplyDeleteHistory affirms that Islam was founded and summarily expanded by persons many of whom willingly used violence and territorial conquest. I agree with you on the mostly peaceful early advancement of Christianity but there is no doubt that Christianity in time manifested extensive and consequential violence , sometimes ,yes. in self defense against Islam and commies but also aggressively so internationally and domestically. The imposition of Christianity on the New World far too often was done with very regrettable force and intolerance.
I traveled extensively in 1973, in Malaysia , a strongly but not comprehensively Muslim country. I never experienced any hostility or disdain of the type one might expect a westerner would risk in a country with alot of radical Islamic influence and activity. I once stood just outside a mosque during worship and although I was not invited in I was in no way I know of troubled by the faithful. I conversed extensively with a Muslim prison Chaplain in one of the state prisons I worked in and he denounced what he considered the improper use of Islam as a medium for marked hostility toward groups considered evil by some radical Islamic Americans.
I completely agree that the West, and in particular America and Israel, are at war with radical Islam, much as Western civilization has been , off and on, for many centuries. .Muslim hostility to Israel extends, I think also to countries not necessarily dominated by Islamism and it is attributable there also to territorial grievances and resentment of Jewish "uppityness".
RAY TO JACK
ReplyDeleteOne thing for sure, is that we have a President who has confronted an ultra-radical Muslim country, Iran in this case, along with a dependable partner, Israel, and let them (Iran), know that we are tired of their terrorism.
RAY TO JACK
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your opinions with me. I was impressed with the fact that you got to travel in a Muslim country, something which I have not had the opportunity to do. I'll bet it was fascinating, to say the least.
Any comments on Tucker Carlson, who is supporting Abdul El Sayed in Michigan? Just found out about that today, and feel way behind the power curve.
Probably I should have said ":earthly "Islam was founded. . . Jack
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: Re the latest Newsmaker broadcast: I think because of the far left's relentless and bigoted emphasis on the negative aspects of American history and because of its appalling corruption of many vital official and private institutions in our country - maybe most notably, the seminal American academy and public educational system - it has established and confirms in myriad Americans compelling disdain for America. Its played a prominent role for so so long now - firmly esconsed in its third generation - that it has become mostly reflexive even in many highly educated people . In attempted principled discourse they often display a quasi moral outrage at the expression of any doubt of doctrine for and with which they FEEL only and do not reason. I'll bet most conservatives have attempted give and take dialogue with far leftists or their worker ants only see their eyes glaze over as they perceive your "heresy" and hear them emotionally and summarily trash further exchange.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: the broadcast cont.: You considered comparison and contrast between today's youthful use of smart phones and the use of TV by an earlier youthful population. When considering the effect of inveterate TV watching by youth then its informative to consider the evolution of the generation for which it was such an important factor. That is, the boomers, who grew up together with TV in the 60s and early 70s . Because of the negative effect far too many in that (my) generation had on American civilization it may well be that TV somehow had a regrettable role in their (my) acculturation.
ReplyDeleteFCC Chairman Newton Minow, sometime in the '60s was quoted in and on the very cover of then ubiquitous TV Guide: "TV is a vast wasteland" and was celebrated or castigated for the remark. Maybe he was right to a significant extent and TV helped to foster , even encourage, the often arrogant naivete, the presumptuousness of their virtue and the ingratitude of so many of the boomers (not all of us ,to be sure ). Eg. the depiction of WWII vet Archie Bunker as an ass and his parasite boomer son in law as a herald of justice in the popular tube series All in the Family in the early 70s. Popular music, much of which seeped onto TV, was full of such swill. Eg. The Monkees' Pleasant Valley Sunday , which smugly heaped contempt on the leisurely and "uncaring"suburban lifestyles of survivors of the Depression and WW II for whom such security and well being was all unexpected during their earlier ,. enervating travails.
More on this in connection with an incipient totalitarianism in our country today which may yet fulfill the Aquarian dream of the destruction of the American civilization and economy which gifted them so very much good fortune . . .
Ray: I know very little about Carlson now, since he is no longer on Fox. In supporting El Sayed one necessarily at least countenances Jew hatred with its hopeless but highly destructive wish that Israel be annihilated . Too, of course it amounts to support for the now assertively and unapologetically antiAmerican DSA. Its bad to lose an outspoken voice like that of Carlson but we'll be ok. We lost William Kristol too, though his change is not as disturbing as is Carlson's, but that's how it goes. It lends even further value to the constancy of Maga and President Trump.
ReplyDelete1000 kudos for your concise evaluation of one of President Trump's main claims to greatness.
Ray: Thats a good point about the hijackers being Sunni and not Shiite. So, I think, was Bin Laden. Maybe there hasn't been a very long time since the founding of earthly Islam that Western civilization and that Islam have not been at loggerheads.
ReplyDeleteThe Bushes both were good guys but both had some RINO tendencies and when W said Islam was a religion of peace I think he was being politic. Islam has at times manifested very high civilization but history affirms that earthly Islam is not solely a peaceful way of life.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteBoth Sunni and Shiite were capable. Cats of the same breed.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteSpeaking of Muslims, if you want to get your mind boggled, read about Muhammad's "Night Journey" and Islam's claim to Jerusalem. When I read about it, I always ask myself the question: "How much grease does it take for a horse to swallow a brick?"
Dr. Waddy: Re the broadcast again: I think your thought that it may have been best to try economic war first with Iran and to shut off their oil commerce immediately is solid . Still, the bombing did degrade their economy some and shutting down their oil spigot would have necessitated some kind of military action probably beyond the blockaded. And of course land bombing should always be preceded by consideration of methods less threatening to the innocent.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: Churchill was inaccurately quoted: "better to jaw-jaw than war-war". But he certainly knew "when-when" to do either.
ReplyDeleteRay: I do think earthly Islam affords constructive moral structure and spiritual consolation to hundreds of millions , most of whom live in lands with difficult living standards and has at times in its history manifested very high intellectual , technological and artistic civilization . I especially admire earthly Islam's demonstrated refusal to tolerate excuse making by criminals, instead holding them personally responsible for the victimizing they work on decent people. I think our world's Islam is right to be wary of the corrosive effects of the West's often debauched popular culture and the West's weakness in defending itself against destructive recreational drugs.
ReplyDeleteI'm confident that Christianity also offers sound moral framework, which has been the foundation of Western civilization's gift to the world of unprecedented and miraculous freedom and material well being. It has a glorious cultural and artistic history and a comforting assurance of deliverance from life's often appalling challenges.
As a Westerner I think Christianity's continuing self defense against radical Islam is very much justified. In my opinion the salient difference between the two faiths is that Christianity underwent a difficult but eventually beneficial dialectic in its Reformation and Counter Reformation but that earthly Islam has not experienced a similar smoothing of its rough edges. It still manifests in some settings atavistically intolerant and vindictive convictions , some of which smack of the Middle Ages. I think the world would welcome such reform in earthly Islam, one of the great world religions.
The reason I use the term earthly Islam is because I think I understand Islam to mean 'the way", on earth a comprehensive way of life, and I am utterly unqualified to opine on its spiritual convictions. Being raised Christian and embracing the Western civilization I think to be its very vital ,I may have some small capability for discourse on its other worldly aspects.
Dr. Waddy: In Hannah Arendt's widely respected The Origins of Totalitarianism she maintains that one of the necessary prerequisites for the establishment of totalitarianism is the reduction of a population to a "mass" no longer anchored to institutions which have theretofore provided definition , group identification , satisfaction and comforting resort to and for individuals.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest that in the widespread reduction in person to person transaction caused by the use of modern tech, to which you referred in the broadcast, could help to form such a "mass" of individuals no longer anchored to those institutions which foster vital fellowship and benefits : eg religion , neighborhood and patriotism in America. Lacking such structure, individuals may be far more vulnerable to centrally organized terrorism , consequently seeing in it no hope for resistance or for redemption. I'd suggest that the ever burgeoning use of modern , highly individually responsive , personally possessed communication and expedition devices may eventually reduce Western populations to "masses" ripe for the subjugation fully intended by definition by Marxists.
If the Dem party is close to subjugation by the Marxist DSA, the incipiently totalitarian DSA might actually control Congress in Jan '27! That makes this midterm election ever the more critical.
BTW, Arendt also maintained that unrelenting , ever mercurial terrorism imposed on such a mass is necessary because of population loss due to murderous totalitarian savagery. Reduced to far less mass, she says, a population would be more difficult for totalitarians to keep in thrall. As evidence she offers the relative respite from Stalinism afforded Russians by the necessities of war and Stalin's frantic and unimaginably cruel devotion to reestablishing it after the war.
Dr. Waddy:Beyond that though, Arendt maintained that intensely imposed terrorism was indispensable and definitive in maintaining a totalitarian state. Without it , an authoritarian state is no longer totalitarian. She offers an example of this in the post Stalin Soviet Union where relaxation of his limitless depravity meant that it was no longer totalitarian. That is an intriguing and esoteric view I think.
ReplyDeleteA Fox commentator said " few people realize just how very bad we will have it if the DSA takes over. We'll lose everything!" Arendt might have agreed.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteOf course we don't know how the midterms are going to turn out, but I'm inclined to believe (for the moment anyway) that people like AOC, and Kamala Harris can't win, if they run in 2028. Meanwhile, I suspect that places like California will stay dark blue.
Jack, you are not the first person who has told me that, as soon as they heard about the 9/11 attacks, they headed right for their kids' school... An understandable reaction. And you're right, of course, that nukes in the hands of terrorists would be disastrous. It's something of a pleasant surprise that we've managed to avoid that scenario, since there are an awful lot of nukes sloshing around out there.
ReplyDeleteRay, as you suggest, the 9/11 attacks were meant to provoke a reaction, although not necessarily the reaction they got. I think the geniuses (said sarcastically!) that ran Al Qaeda actually thought they could chase the U.S. out of the Middle East. How'd that work out???
I've never had the good fortune to travel in a Muslim country, although I'm not sure I would necessarily assume that what I encountered in one, or two, or three of them would represent Islam as a whole. Islam manifests itself in very different ways in different places, times, and circumstances. It's probably fair to say, though, that the Muslims we Westerners get along with the best are the ones that take their Islam least seriously.
Good point, Jack, that TV has been used since its inception to proselytize for leftist dogma, since the vast majority of TV executives, producers, etc. have been leftists. The brazenness of their leftism, and their degeneracy, has naturally increased over time.
Jack, that's an interesting theory that people who have been alienated from traditional institutions are more susceptible to totalitarianism. It's hard to argue otherwise, although people who are adrift and desperate are, arguably, more susceptible to almost anything bad or extreme. Anyway, if Arendt is right, then we're in big, big trouble, because Americans scarcely believe in anything these days. Every single one of our institutions has been trashed relentlessly.
Dr Waddy: Pretty soon I'm going to submit for your consideration my essay on what I've learned about totalitarianism from Arendt, some of her critics and other sources. I'm reaching a conclusion similar to what you expressed above about the relentless and often reflexive onslaught on our essential institutions which continues apace today. I think it originates in the blithe and smoky ignorance and naivete of too much of my generation starting in the '60s. As I remember , some of them considered Arendt a fellow traveler , which exemplifies their smug superficiality. She demonstrated a far too objective demeanor, possessed of painful intellectual objectivity , for their dominant "feelings" to have endured had they had the patience to examine them.
ReplyDelete". . . to examine Arendt's observations. " Jack
ReplyDeleteJack, I would love to publish your ruminations on totalitarianism! Please let me know when they are ready.
ReplyDelete