Carnal Reason

Here’s a joke I’ve told before.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said “Stop! Don’t do it!”

“Why shouldn’t I?” he said.

“Well, there’s so much to live for!”

“Like what?”

“Well… are you religious?” He said yes. I said, “Me too!”

Are you Christian or Buddhist?” “Christian.” “Me too!”

Are you Catholic or Protestant ? “Protestant.” “Me too!”

Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?” “Baptist” “Wow! Me too!”

Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?” “Baptist Church of God!” “Me too!”

Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?” “Reformed Baptist Church of God!” “Me too!”

Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?” He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!”

I said, “Die, heretic scum”, and pushed him off. (Emo Philips)

I have argued repeatedly that the war with the Islamists is a war to determine whether Muslim women are to remain slaves and property. The enslavement of women is a fundamental weakness of our enemies, and we should capitalize on it. In an outstanding post, Instapunk points out another fundamental Islamist weakness:

The entire western propaganda effort to “win hearts and minds” in the Islamic world is misdirected. We waste time and money trying to convince them we mean them no harm and have much to offer if they’ll just play nice. All that’s accomplished by such appeals to absent logic is cementing their focus on us as the common enemy that prevents the inevitable ideological cannibalism from occurring. The correct mission for western propaganda is to ignore the west altogether, forget Judaism and Christianity, and inflame the existing conflicts among the most devout of muslims. Goad them to become even more extreme in their definitions of what it means to be true to the message of the Prophet. The CIA doesn’t need savvy political operatives; it needs demonically shrewd theologians who can catalyze the explosion of Islam into hundreds of fanatical splinter denominations. Then we can stand aside and watch as they tear themselves to pieces in an orgy of religiosity.

I know you lefties are scratching your heads. Unless you actually believe in God, it’s impossible to understand what people can do, for good and ill, in the name of God. You think all the religious talk is merely code for their frustration with western economic and military oppression. You’re wrong. But I won’t debate that with you today. Instead, I’ll give you an analogy you can understand. Politics. Politics like yours, in fact. Idealistic, utopian, so ultra-rational as to make ideas into weapons of mass destruction. Think Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky. Intellectuals so brilliant and cerebral that the only right answer becomes an icepick in the ear.

Better yet, think French. Think of the Directorate under Robespierre in the French Revolution. Think of the rage you feel when you turn on one of your own who has compromised one of your most sacred ideological principles. Think Lieberman. What you were prepared to do to him is precisely what landed Robespierre in the jaws of the Guillotine. He was a true believer so true that he inevitably became a target for those who envied his power and therefore came to view his power as a proof of hypocrisy, of blasphemy. Ultimately, there was no test of egalitarian humility Robespierre could pass. It cost him his head.

Posted on May 3rd, 2007 by pwyll
Filed under: religion, war