Porthos has been skeetering on the edge of exhaustion these days, with little time or mojo for extended Internet activity, but I noticed a brave speech byBhutto in one of my brief forrays into the blogosphere (via Instapundit).
Things like this tend to keep me from adopting the Neo-Isolationist stance developing amongst my Rad Trad pals.
"Engage," as Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard used to say.
2 comments:
What a magnificent lady. BTW, I would hesitate to throw the same neo-isolationist blanket over anyone else, Porthos. I'll take the tag if it is warranted.
I, like Spence, think Islam is, in the words of the Tom Terrific cartoon from Captain Kangaroo in speaking of its villain, Crabby Appleton, "rotten to the core." Does that mean neo-isolationist?
I wd willingly engage with Scimitar reps, tho' with extreme caution for three reasons: (1) One can misrepresent, agree to, lie about whatever one wants as a valid means to defeating foes of Islam later. Subterfuge for Islam is like American colonists shooting from behind walls and trees as red coats march in nice straight lines.
(2) Islam tends to define the terms of discourse and assume vvery different meanings to such issues as "peace", "freedom", and "truth". The Vatican seems more aware of this than anyone else on the planet in dealing for example with the recent epistle from Muslim scholars. I hardly consider the Vatican "neo-isolationist".
(3) Denizens of the Scimitar are, in my book, far more susceptible to the effects of mimetic shenanigans than the typical main street American, say. Mark Lilla does a good job of describing this epistemologically in his Coping with Political Theology. It isn't Girard, but it fleshes out radical differences. Girard, of course, would say that Islam is far less affected by influence from the GOSPEL.
Bhutto, IMO, shows that a strong leader can be influenced by the Gospel albeit 3 or 4 steps removed from its canonical NT origins. But the "man in the street" on mainstreet America or in Hyde Park, London, is a vvery different critter than that in Karachi ...
Exhibit A: "Benazir Bhutto was totally talking like an infidel. What should be the reaction of jihadis? They should definitely kill her. She is an enemy of Islam. She is an enemy of jihadis. She is an enemy of the country. This is the reaction."
NB: the AP link by Kathy Gannon.
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