I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

August 21, 2010 - 12:27 p.m.

A Cordoba without rich Corinthian Leather

I didn't do anything yesterday so I'm going to have to think of things to write. I had things to complain about from when I went food shopping. They mainly involved inconsiderate people blocking aisles. Why would anyone park his cart in the one spot on the aisle adjacent to a floor display? When I went to parallel park my car when I got home there were cars behind me. I pulled up right next to the car in front of the spot and waited for the cars to pass me. The first, an SUV went past. The next car was much smaller and wouldn't go past. He just honked his horn at me. There was obviously room for him to get by as the car before him was much wider and had no trouble. I ended up moving forward and letting all the cars by then backing up to the spot. I'm lucky no one else took it. I couldn't hear what he was said but from the look the guy was cursing me as he went by. Do you think it's because he felt insecure because he knows that he's a bad driver and wanted to blame the problem on someone else? I always wonder about that kind of thing. The big disappointment of shopping was that my bagels were cold. Usually when I call up and order them they are fresh out of the oven. I was told the baker left early. Whatever the reason cold bagels are not nearly as good as hot ones and it made me sad.

So I've been thinking more about the Islamic Center planned near the World Trade Center. First off I should be using its name, Cordoba House and the building is Park 51. It makes things easier to relate to when you use a name. Of course opponents of it call it the Ground Zero Mosque, a sobriquet designed to inflame passions. The debate is inflaming mine. Sure I'm an atheist. I'm not just an atheist but I'm an anti-theist. I think religion is on the whole a bad thing for the world. But I'm not against religious people and I recognize that preserving their rights is preserving my own. I really do take the attacks personally. If people feel they can tell Muslims where to worship they can tell me too.

But that's not quite what I want to talk about either. I want to talk tactics and strategies and ironies.

As many people have pointed out fighting Cordoba House is a great recruiting tool for Al Qaeda and Muslim extremists. It lets them say, "See America hates all of us. They aren't against Al Qaeda they are against all Muslims. It's a war and you have no choice but to fight or you and your Muslim brothers will be attacked."

As I've said before there are levels of support for any group or ideology. You have a tiny amount that commit violence. Then there is a larger group that don't commit the acts but will provide material support. Then there is a larger group that believe in the ideals and think the violent ones are right but don't do anything about it. Then there are those that believe in the ideals and feel the desire to be violent but don�t because they think violence is wrong. Then there are those that believe in the ideals but are repelled by the violence and don't identify with those committing violent acts. Then there are those that don't believe in the ideals but think that the goal of the ideals is to help people like them.

Each of these pools is far larger than the next smaller one. That leads to paradoxical effects as we are finding out in Afghanistan and Iraq. If you kill 1 person committing violence and 2 that give support and 3 that are just sympathizers you can be convincing far larger numbers of people in each of the larger groups to fill their ranks so you end up having more terrorists not less. Getting those in power to overact and radicalize the population has been a strategy of revolutionaries for ages. Just think of American history. Did the Boston Massacre stifle or help the revolutionary movement? The fact that we still study today in the independent United States is enough of an answer.

But let's now apply that same lesson to those in favor of building Cordoba House. If we attack those opposed to vitriolically we can move people into the more radical circles too. If we call all opponents Nazis or bigots we will create more Nazis and bigots.

But, and there is always a but because things are never that simple. You can also go too easy. If you don't fight at all people don't learn the lesson that some positions are beyond the pale. Outside pressure isn't the only source of radicalization. It can come from within. In the French Revolution one motto was "no enemy to the left." That led to a race to see who can be the most radical and the killing of those that didn't keep up the pace.

So in the end like so many other things you don't know what the right thing is, you have to use judgment and most importantly you have to be willing to learn and to change your judgment as you go along. Am I going to call everyone opposed to Cordoba House a bigot? No. I know that isn't true but I also know that some of the leaders are trying to inflame bigotry for political ends and I won't be afraid to call them on that. As for those that aren't bigots I'll try what I do best, teaching.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile August 21, 2010
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