Monday, December 01, 2008
Blame America first
Dorothy Rabinowitz is pretty good this morning on the tendency of the chattering classes to blame America for all the world's ills. I only wish she had picked more serious examples than Larry King and Deepak Chopra, both of whom seem to think it is reasonable to blame the United States for the attacks in Mumbai. You know, because our influence is that vast.
There is a peculiar strain of knee-jerk transnational progressive who -- on the one hand -- reflexively attributes most of the troubles in the world to the United States, but -- on the other hand -- prattles on about the "limits of American power" whenever the United States actually does something. The idea that we have vast culpability for every turd in the world's punchbowl but stark limits on our ability to act strikes me as intellectually dishonest and nothing less than rank anti-Americanism.
But maybe I only think that way because I love America.
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Dec 01, 12:29:00 PM:
I applaud you for stooping to even notice turds like Larry King and Deepak Chopra. These loathsome publicity seeking insects exist only to ride whatever wave they can sell to newspapers, and their opinions don't indicate much of anything. Yet, given that there are probably people out in the world who mistake this sort of stuff for "insight" I suppose we have to both hear these inanities and someone has to actually take the trouble to pose a response, as you have done, or their voices might horrifically take on some accidental credence. Seems like a waste of valuable blogging, though.
By 
Escort81, at
Mon Dec 01, 12:59:00 PM:
I though all of that attitude was supposed to change once Obama was elected. Or are they just getting in their last licks between now and Jan. 20? Just hoping for some change, that such people can actually start to hold perpetrators responsible for their acts.
By Bob W., at
Mon Dec 01, 02:45:00 PM:
Try to ignore the idiots who connect every single ill that befalls the world to America; they have a much harder job ahead, with President Bush leaving office, no?
I think the initial police reposnse to the terror attack in Mumbai bears scrutiny, though, sinceany large American city could find itself in a similar situation in the future.
The seeming reluctance of armed police, first on the scene, to respond effectively to the terror attack is interesting, and something that we should think about as we analyze our own readiness for a similar type of attack in the U.S.
I argue here that at other times in history we were fairly prepared for unpleasant surprises like what occurred in Mumbai, using the historical example of the James-Younger raid on Northfield Minnesota. Cheers.
By , at
Mon Dec 01, 05:39:00 PM:
Everything is our fault, but we can't do anything about it. Sounds about right...for a delusional paranoiac
By , at
Mon Dec 01, 06:42:00 PM:
Deepak Chopra and Larry King, along with the rest of the chattering class, should read this article before they open their big fat mouths again. Read it and weap.
I stand with India. Hunt these bastards down and kill them, like the rodents they are.
