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Saturday, February 28, 2009

The Evolution from Value to Non Value

For reasons we shall see shortly many people today have lost track of the meaning of the word 'value'.

It means simply - within an ethical system - something worthy of pursuit and effort to keep it.

In the relativist Marxist dialectic and its frame of ethics, morality became a social construct of the Oppressors - i.e. the bourgeoisie. Middle class values became synonymous with the concept itself.

Like the entire field of ethics came to be defined in accordance with the Kantian ethics system, and 'morals' are understood as limited to sexual behavior, for entire swathes of Westerners 'value' currently means 'suspect middle class decency', usually slightly false and hypocrite. Value became a non value.

Pop culture consists almost entirely of non values, and even anti values. No one pursues health hazards, ugly things, refuse, dilapidated buildings, rags, music as a loose jumble of unrelated sound waves, ditto in literature (word salads), faecal art, urinals, and anything else skatological. In short, that which in real life we need to get away from as soon as possible because it's, well ... worthless -- valueless.

Postmodern art and culture tries to sell us refuse - non values - as if they were a value, something worth pursuing and keeping ... in effect, anti values.

The entire edifice of Left and Right collectivist ethics, is based on a fallacy (not reality as it is, but as it should be, according to their false ideologies) and the subterfuge, that aims to persuade us that what we see in front of us, is an illusion and thus unworthy of pursuit.

The consequence is the upside down, relativist world we live in today: in which our senses are said to be deceiving us and man is thus incapable of knowing anything (epistemological nihilism); black is white from a certain point of view and true (subjectivism); that reality will cease to exist at the moment of our death because it is 'thought that creates reality'.

Much has been said about the parallels of the Weimar Republic in the German interbellum, and the present times. In reference to values this is most certainly true: the same postmodern non and anti values in art and culture, and in society rampant relativism, sexual deviasion and permissiveness, and an obsession with death and the gruesome.

Yesterday Dutch TV aired an interview with a young Muslim woman who was in the Turkish Airlines plane crash at Amsterdam airport this week. The interviewers, who never hesitate to brutally deride and ridicule Christian believers, softly-softly pushed her on her beliefs and the Muslim approach to the afterlife.

She explained that in Islam our earthly life is not something worthy of great pursuit, and that real life, is the afterlife. It is in the unity with Allah that true life begins. While the same thought has certainly crossed the minds of many Jews and Christians, for a very good reason the basic credo has always been the absoluteness of the sanctity of life. This is but one basic aspect why the three faiths of the book are not "all the same".

Any other inference that may be drawn from that premise for the moment aside, it is obvious that to her and her co-religionists death is clearly a value, while life is not. Now, answer the question, why would anyone devise a thought system that makes death a worthy pursuit?

The conclusion is justified that two and half millennia worth of civilization is currently under attack by some form of nihilism, on some level or other: ethically, epistemologically, metaphysically, culturally, ideologically, politically, you name it!

Hampered by idealistic collectivists who are naive enough to have put their money on a happy, post Christian and post racial global cumbaya, and caught in a pincer between on the one hand, nihilistic postmoderns who lost their belief in anything, hell bent on tearing down the rest of humanity with the demise of their morally bankrupt ideals; and on the other hand the Islamic collective of the Ummah that is obsessed and in the throngs of a fanatical death cult.

Boy, are we knee-deep in skatological goo ...

Wilders Wraps up US Tour: CPAC and Capitol

International Free Press Society have the speech Geert Wilders delivered at the US Capitol last night.

Thank you very much for inviting me. (...) Today, the dearest of our many freedoms is under attack all throughout Europe.

Free speech is no longer a given. What we once considered a natural element of our existence, our birth right, is now something we once again have to do battle for.

As you might know, I will be prosecuted in my own country (...) The Kingdom of Jordan also threatens to prosecute me for insulting Islam and asks for my extradition.

Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most pressing issue (...) will free speech be put behind bars? And the larger question for the West is: will we leave Europe’s children the values of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem, or the values of Mecca, Teheran and Gaza? (...)

Hate speech will always be used against the people defending the West - in order to please and appease Muslims. They can say whatever they want: throw gays from apartment buildings, kill the Jews, slaughter the infidel, destroy Israel, jihad against the West. Whatever their book tells them.

(...) cultural relativism is the worst disease in Europe today. (...) Like the brave apostate Wafa Sultan said: it’s a comparison between a culture of reason and a culture of barbarism (...) The left once stood for women rights, gay rights, equality, democracy. Now, they favour immigration policies that will end all this. Many even lost their decency. Elite politicians in Europe have no problem to participate in or finance demonstrations where Muslims shout “Death to the Jews”. Seventy years after Auschwitz they know of no shame. (...)

Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest to defend freedom in general and freedom of speech in particular. I propose the withdrawal of all hate speech legislation in Europe. I propose a European First Amendment. In Europe we should defend freedom of speech like you Americans do. In Europe freedom of speech should be extended, instead of restricted.

(...) our enemies should know: we will never apologize for being free men, we will never give in. We will never surrender. There is no stronger power than the force of free men fighting for the great cause of liberty. Because freedom is the birthright of all man.

Freedom must prevail, and freedom will prevail. >>>

One commentator reminds us of Thomas Jefferson's words:

"Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state."

This morning Wilders spoke at the National Press Club ... Jihad Watch have the details.

Pam at Atlas Shrugs announces tonight's festivities ... "TONIGHT: AN EVENING WITH GEERT WILDERS - FRIDAY: FITNA, FREEDOM, FOOD .............. FIERCE!"

Join me Friday night at the OMNI SHOREHAM in Washington, DC (site of CPAC) for an evening with Geert Wilders. Please donate to the Geert Wilders Legal defense fund in lieu of an admission charge. (...) The reception is sponsored by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch, and Dr. Andrew Bostom. It is open to the public. (...) >>>

Update: here are a few personal observations on the event - worth a full read!

This interview on CNN just about sums it up: Wilders repudiating relativism, refuting the reverse morality, the false equivalence, the denial of historical realities ...



Related:

- Guess What? Wilders=Al Qaeda!
- Wilders Calls for World Wide First Amendment
- Wilders Hits US Talk Show Circuit
- Geert Goes to Washington DC ... and Stays Put
- Why Multiculturalism is Racist and Evil
- A Treasure Trove of Treason
- Liberty be Damned!
- Live Blogging "Geert Goes to London" and Back ...
- Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits!
- Geert Wilders: Persona Non Grata in Britain

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Guess What? Wilders = Al Qaeda!

Today's exploits of a European defender of liberty in Washington:

FrontPage: "Defiant Wilders", by Jacob Laksin

(...) “Formally, I’m on trial, but actually free-speech is on trial,” he told Front Page when asked about the pending case, which could mean a two-year jail sentence if he is convicted. It’s a typically media savvy sound bite that has the added advantage of being true. Agree or disagree with him about the distinctive dangers of Islam – and most Dutch, according to recent polls, share his suspicions that Islam is incompatible with the country’s liberal and democratic traditions – Wilders may be prosecuted for nothing more than expressing an opinion.

For the Dutch appeals court, that opinion is so “insulting for Muslims that it is in the public interest to prosecute Wilders.” In the United States, where the First Amendment holds, such a ruling would not pass the laugh test, let alone proceed to trial. In the Netherlands, it may yet cost Wilders his freedom. To add insult to legal injury, there is the recent unpleasantness in the UK. (...) >>>

Atlas Shrugs obtained a copy of the letter the UK's Embassador's chauffeur handed to Wilders.

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) made a video juxtapositioning Wilders' appearance on O'Reilly with a debate in the House of Lords on Wilders being barred from entering the UK.




The moral inversion today gets full circle: Wilders = blond terror! This is how it works! Facts are irrelevant, reality is silly putty ... read this piece of irrational racism which passes unchallenged by the old media (oops, almost fell into the same trap there - prayers, facial fungus and religious persuasion aren't race specific - the irrational part though, stands!):

CNN/AC360: "This foreign element does not speak Arabic. He does not pray five times a day. He does not have a beard. He is not even a Muslim. He is Geert Wilders, a Member of Parliament from a right-wing party in the Netherlands. Why he’s so interested in amplifying Osama bin Laden’s message that Islam promotes violence and division I don’t know. (...) >>>



On a lighter note: Wilders meets John Bolton at the CPAC ... Atlas has the scoop (go, Girl!): "We discussed freedom of speech, the deteriorating situation in Sarajevo and Kosovo (bad and getting worse), the worsening situation in Europe, Wilders' legal case in The Netherlands."

Islam in Action has another great video of Geert on Tuesday evening after a private screening for ACT for America in discussion with viewers. They also have more on a spot of bother Senator Jon Kyl had with the rage-boys of CAIR.

Related:

- Wilders Calls for World Wide First Amendment
- Wilders Hits US Talk Show Circuit
- Geert Goes to Washington DC ... and Stays Put
- Why Multiculturalism is Racist and Evil
- A Treasure Trove of Treason
- Liberty be Damned!
- Live Blogging "Geert Goes to London" and Back ...
- Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits!
- Geert Wilders: Persona Non Grata in Britain

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Wilders Calls for World Wide First Amendment

Dutch MP and free speech champion, Geert Wilders delivered an address in New York last night. Here's an excerpt (Hat Tip: Atlas Shrugs - see her post for images):



Here's the entire text. It ends: "Our enemies should know: we will never apologize for being free men, we will never bow for the combined forces of Mecca and the left. And we will never surrender. We stand on the shoulders of giants. There is no stronger power than the force of free men fighting for the great cause of liberty. Because freedom is the birthright of all man."

Think about the madness that this man, now for years on end, hasn't been able to live a normal life just because he is critical of an ideology - and we all accept that as a given!

Just how far our values and liberties are being sold out by the idealistic collectivists can be gauged from this video (also courtesy Pam at Atlas, interviewing historian and Human Rights Commissioner, David Littman. Read the post here).

The International Free Press Society and Wilders have posted a press release on next Friday's events. Details here:

On Friday, February 27, 2009, Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders, founder and floor leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), and the International Free Press Society (IFPS), in conjunction with the Center for Security Policy, will discuss recent attacks on free speech worldwide, especially the recent legal actions against Wilders and other political leaders and journalists. The International Free Press Society will announce a global initiative to protect free speech from laws that criminalize any criticisms of Islam or the doctrines of Shariah. (...) >>>

Also on Friday night: Wilders will deliver an address at a reception at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, site of the Conservative Political Action Conference, on Friday, February 27, at 6:00PM. (...) The reception is sponsored by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch, and Dr. Andrew Bostom. It is open to the public. (...) >>>

Updating throughout.

Related:

- Wilders Hits US Talk Show Circuit
- Geert Goes to Washington DC ... and Stays Put
- Why Multiculturalism is Racist and Evil
- A Treasure Trove of Treason
- Liberty be Damned!
- Live Blogging "Geert Goes to London" and Back ...
- Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits!
- Geert Wilders: Persona Non Grata in Britain

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Wilders Hits US Talk Show Circuit

Rob Piccoli over on Wind Rose Hotel has an excellent post up on the “Premio Oriana Fallaci”, Geert Wilders and the pernicious machinations of one of the most dangerous organizations of our time: the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC).

Some have suggested - amongst others the author of "Eurabia", Bat Yeor - that it is this massive lobby group that has pressured the Amsterdam Appeals Court into indicting Wilders. It says something about the politization of the course of justice that this morning's article in the Dutch paper De Pers states that Wilders is being prosecuted for making "anti Islamic statements". The text of the indictment is less straight forward, but it boils down to precisely that.

You can read a digest on Articles at the moment and here's the entire post. Here's one excerpt:

"(...) The OIC is one of the largest intergovernmental organizations in the world. It encompasses 56 Muslim states plus the Palestinian Authority. Spread over four continents, it claims to speak in the name of the ummah (the universal Muslim community), which numbers about 1.3 billion. The OIC’s mission is to unite all Muslims worldwide (...)"

Here's a clip of Wilders in an interview with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News.



O'Reilly is challenging Wilders that "what good does "Fitna" do, since everyone knows by now that Islamism is a totalitarian ideology". That's precisely the problem, isn't it? They should know and could know, but the psychological mechanism of denial kicks in so that they do not have to deal with a major threat!

If you want and care to keep abreast of the situation re the Third Jihad, there are a few new sites you might care to check out.

Vorzheva of the blog World Challenges of the XXIst Century has taken the initiative of starting an aggregate of the counter-jihadist movement, the Anti Islamist Coalition. You'll find such fine blogs as Infidels Are Cool and Muslims Against Sharia posting there.

Radical Islam.org is a great website, featuring for example Frank Gaffney, Jr exploring the pregnant question, "Where are the Liberal Muslims?" It stresses what we've been saying for some time. It just stands to reason that those in the West who are dancing to the Islamic tune - postmodernists, and a plethora of Leftist groups (Dutch language link) - are actually strengthening, aiding and abetting the radicals, not supporting the moderates. They are left out in the cold with nowhere to go. Check it out! It's outrageous! Read the comments too!

Wilders interview with Glenn Beck underlines another hazard to watch closely: the next stage in the disease called political correctness. Paired to "prosecution for anti Islamic statements" we see there's the tendency since the onset of Obama - and this is visible in Europe as well as the US - that opposition is somehow out of the moral order. This is dangerous stuff we need to keep a close eye on. Listen to Glenn!



Updating throughout.

The Daily Beast in "The Anti-Islam Film Everyone's Talking About" is the first to run against the apparent inconsistency in Wilders' logic. The idea however of a European "First Amendment" is a development that has come up only in the last couple of days.

"(...) Wilders has called for banning the Koran entirely. How does he reconcile this position with his new party platform as free speech martyr? (...)", asks the Daily Beast.

Andrew G. Bostom in an article on American Thinker clarified: "Wilders' demand is simply precision and consistency in the application of the law: "Wilders compared the Koran to Mein Kampf and called it hate speech according to the Dutch Penal Code".

Up next ... this was only to be expected! After just watching this vid as an example of transnational Islamization frankly nothing should surprise us any more ...

Atlas Shrugs: "ACTION ALERT: SENATOR KYL UNDER PRESSURE FOR HOSTING FITNA"

(...) There is a low grade civil war taking place in America. Just because the media is too afraid to report on it doesn't mean it's not happening. (...) Please contact Senator Kyl and declare your support for his courageous decision to show this honest and accurate but politically incorrect film. He needs expressions of support more than ever today! (...)

AN EVENING WITH GEERT WILDERS

Wilders, the foremost defender of free speech in the modern age, will deliver an address at a reception at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, site of the Conservative Political Action Conference, on Friday, February 27, at 6:00PM. (...) The reception is sponsored by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch, and Dr. Andrew Bostom. It is open to the public. (...) >>>


Related:

- Geert Goes to Washington DC ... and Stays Put
- Why Multiculturalism is Racist and Evil
- A Treasure Trove of Treason
- Liberty be Damned!
- Live Blogging "Geert Goes to London" and Back ...
- Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits!
- Geert Wilders: Persona Non Grata in Britain

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Geert Goes to Washington DC ... and Stays Put

After the honor of pocketing the freedom award in Italy last week, today Dutch MP Geert Wilders is off to our guarantor of free speech (at least, we hope so), the cradle of Liberty, the United States of America. He does so at the invitation of the influential Republican Senator for Arizona, Jon Kyl.

Last Thursday's event in Rome included a ceremony during which Wilders was awarded the Oriana Fallaci Free Speech Award, an honor that recognizes him, like the late Italian author and journalist, as a “symbol of the fight against Islamic Fascism and a knight of the freedom of humankind.”

Wilders noted the objectives of his "Facing Jihad" world tour:

“This event is part of the ‘Facing Jihad’ world tour for "Fitna" that will serve to expose Islam for what it is: an ideology that preaches terrorism, antisemitism and the oppression of women, homosexuals and non-Muslims”, Wilders said.

“Educating the public about the harsh realities of Islamization is the first step to effectively combating and ultimately defeating Global Jihad”.

But after his confrontation with the UK's Labor Government of Gordon Brown last week which barred him from entering Britain on account of "endangering community harmony", today he's off to the US where he will be showing "Fitna" to the Senate at the invitation of Senator Jon Kyl.

Individual Liberty and the Freedom of Speech being carved into the bedrock in that nation, Wilders doesn't expect any similar problems with Home Office officials there. Neither did he have any last week when entering Italy. It says a lot about the state of affairs in Britain today, no longer great! by any standard save one.

The showing in the American Senate will be followed by an informal discussion, in which the topic will be the state of the freedom of expression in Europe. Senator Kyl in his invitation referred to the enormous controversy sparked by Britain's ban.

Isn't that a first class embarrassment, after the Americans had to bail out Europe from various collectivist adventures a number of times over the last century?! Apparently we're still clueless how to safeguard our own values and keep them.

There has been a debate in The Hague Parliament over the Wilders ban, but the Dutch Government, while initially speaking up for a parliamentarian's right to do his job in any of the EU member states, have now dug in their heels and refuse to bring up the case in the wider political European arena.

The loyalties of the Christian Democrat Government apparently aren't as much to Liberty (not part of their political philosophy, after all) but rather to fellow 'confessionals' under the banner of - as Pat Condell put it - "any religious value in society is better than none".

Wilders will also visit New York and Boston this week, where he will host press meetings, grant interviews and feature in a number of MSM talk shows in order to raise money for his legal fund. While he's having to bear the costs of appealing the British ban, he's also facing mounting legal expenses defending against the indictment for "inciting hatred" extended to him by the Amsterdam Court of Political Correctness and Dhimmidom. (Hit the donate button on top of this page if you want to contribute.)

In an article on American Thinker author Andrew G. Bostom clarifies that what Wilders demands is simply precision and consistency in the application of the law: "Wilders compared the Koran to Mein Kampf and called it hate speech according to the Dutch Penal Code". In a 2008 post Bostom collates Wilders' view with historical comments made by Winston Churchill on the same subject.

He's also breaking the news that Wilders is now proposing a European First Amendment. Well, not a moment too soon to rid ourselves of the politically correct perversion that is 'hate speech'. Short of actual and proven incitement to murder it has no place in a mature society.

Bostom also interestingly calls to mind a very similar case as Wilders' Fitna, compiled in a book by Sita Ram Goel dating back to 1986 known as "The Calcutta Quran Petition" (peruse it here) (buy it here). The given aim of the book reads: "(...) to promote a public discussion of Islam as a religion, particularly its claim that every bit of the Quran and the Hadis has a divine source. This claim is used at present to prevent a close examination of what the book contains and what message Islam has for mankind at large".

Faith Freedom explains:

Three heroic sons of India, namely Sri Chandmal Chopra, advocate of Calcutta High Court, Sri Hamangshu Kumar Chakraborthy and Sri Sital Singh filed an application in the Calcutta High Court (...) to declare each copy of the Quran (...) forfeited to the government. In their petition they stated, among other things, the following reasons:

(...) the book contains words or sayings which promote, on ground of religion, disharmony, enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious communities or which outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India or insult the religion or religious beliefs of that class of people.
Two Hindus were arrested - under Indian law exploited by Muslims to prevent public criticism of their faith - for publishing a poster which simply cited 24 Koranic verses with a caption “Why riots take place in this country.”

The accused were eventually acquitted by a magistrate who opined, that close perusal of the citations shows that they are harmful, teach hatred, and ... how can we put that succinctly ... generally endanger community harmony.

Related:

- Why Multiculturalism is Racist and Evil
- A Treasure Trove of Treason
- Liberty be Damned!
- Live Blogging "Geert Goes to London" and Back ...
- Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits!
- Geert Wilders: Persona Non Grata in Britain

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Today's Day By Day

Friday, February 20, 2009

Why Multiculturalism is Racist and Evil

What do the pictures in this post have in common, apart of human esthetics and artistic excellence?

All spring from the genius of Nazi propaganda artist Leni Riefenstahl. But the icons share other characteristics.

Polylogism (here defined, and here seen in postmodern action) is a form of collectivist subjectivism that also produced the National Socialist racial theories. A postmodern term for polylogism is multiculturalism.

A people, racial or cultural group is seen as having to follow its own particular destiny apart from the rest of humanity, a historical path culminating - according to a number of subjectivist philosophers (Kant and Hegel) - in teleological endgames, often a secularized version of the Second Coming.

The irrationality of multiple 'logics' apart, this form of self-determination negates universalism and is in fact racism, with apartheid as a direct consequence.

Universalism endows the human race as a whole with basic rights, as poetically summed up in the American Declaration of Independence: (...) that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

In its result it makes no difference whether these inalienable rights are bestowed by God, are a result of Natural Law, or are seen as inherent in man's nature.

But it makes all the difference if such rights are relative, conditional and temporarily bestowed by society, or worse, by the state or a government - up for suspension at any time when the collective deems its own common causes of primary importance over the individual's as we have witnessed in Nazism, Communism and Fascism. See it succinctly explained in this animated video - the entire P1 series is heartily recommended, also as an educational tool).

Modern forms of collectivism are the inevitable consequences of a fatal mistake made by the thinkers of the so-called Radical Enlightenment, the first relativists of our time, skeptics, deists and atheists, notably Cartesian philosophers as Pierre Bayle and Baruch Spinoza: they 1o1 substituted absolute monarchy with the rule by the state. Diderot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau put the cherry on the evil edifice by fitting it out with an illusionary 'common will' of its own.

The erection of total states was not their intention, but it was the result of their oversight to safeguard individual rights against the ever expanding bodies of state. Whereas in universalism rights are absolute, either sacred, natural, or inherent and thus inalienable, collectivists derive their temporal, conditional and positive rights directly from the state or the government. These aren't servants and representatives of the people, but ends in themselves.

Universalism produces negative rights and liberty, limiting the powers of the state in favor of its individual citizens; on the racial level the result is 'melting pot' and given time, Dr Martin Luther King's 'color blindness'.

Polylogism or multiculturalism on the other hand produces subjects, drones, apartheid, gang morality, segregation, ghettos, no-go areas, balkanization, tribalism, and the oppression of dissidents of any particular group, whose rules they happened to have violated. These have nowhere to go since the multicultural prime directive - all groups being morally equal - is not to interfere in any other group's affairs.

Contrary to what the proponents tell us, the definition of a multicultural society is not a society comprising multiple cultures, but one consisting of segregated minorities, each following their own 'common will'. History learns that the result is oppression and a perpetual state of tribal warfare.

Given the fact that humanity can now look back on literally centuries of ill experience with collectives - each of course laying claim to its own version of Utopia - it's truly stupefying that we are still in the process of reproducing more of the same.

The analysis was never properly made, nor were the evils in essence ever exposed and addressed. As a result we're not looking ahead to a happy post-racial melting pot, but to the ultimate nightmare of a postmodern version of tribalism.

Eurozine recently published an exchange of polemics between proponents and opponents of multiculturalism. Note that the proponents defend their morally charged views on the basis of their good intentions, not on the logical consequences of their ideas. That particular strain of Kantian ethics is called deontology, or the perpetual get-out-of-jail-card for the good-intent-bad-result-never-mind brigades.

If anything stands out between the 17th century originals and the postmodern lot, it's that the former were rather keen on the absoluteness of the freedom of expression. But since the onset of the Counter Enlightenment that value has been subject of erosion, now temporarily culminating in the inexplicable wish to return to barbarism and obscurantism.

Need to have the matter explained the hard way? Watch (or listen to) "Tough Absolutes". (I can up that figure of 57 million: it's actually closer to 110 million over the last century alone.)

Related: "'Triumph of the Will', or Defeat of Delusion" (a full length Nazi propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl)

- Filed on Articles in "The Dystopia of Paradise" -

Monday, February 16, 2009

A Treasure Trove of Treason

British Home Secretary and former "Blair babe" Jacqui Smith explains UK's application for dhimmi status in Pakistan in an interview with German 'mainstream' magazine "Der Spiegel".

It might have provided a good opportunity to explain to the public at large, the embarrassing British bar on Wilders MP, but that would only have provided him with another platform to broadcast his critique of the religion of piece.

And in any case, possible infringements of the human rights of the violators of the Geneva Convention, plucked off the asymmetric battle fields in Iraq and Afghanistan while they were IED-ing our military, are much more important than the basic liberties of the people they claim to represent. [sarc off]

Just how bad the situation is can be gauged from the title of the interview ("No Day This Year without a Terror Trial), but otherwise Ms Smith prefers to uphold the impression that Wilders represents a danger to "community harmony".

Foreign Secretary David Miliband on the other hand admits (see vid) that what Wilders does, is "shouting 'fire' in a theater". But then be an honest man and show some cajones! Do not instead accuse the messenger of being morally abject in raising the alarm!

After all, what the British Labour Government (and others) are proposing, is to let the fire rage on with the audience sitting idly by, while the drama is running its course.

Or is Mr Miliband suggesting that Wilders is 'crying wolf', i.e. is raising the alarm whereas there's no clear and present danger except the ensuing panic as a result of the alarm? That wouldn't pan out very well with Ms Smith's admission in "Der Spiegel" that there's "no Day This Year without a Terror Trial - and "an attack is highly likely and could happen at any time and without warning" ... now does it?

As the Bush administration was well aware, a Government's first obligation is to ensure the safety of the people in whose name they're running the country; not to gag them mentally and physically while the enemy burns down the house!

Der Spiegel: "No Day This Year without a Terror Trial"

In an interview with SPIEGEL, British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith discusses her country's experience in taking in former inmates from the Guantanamo prison camp and how her country is seeking to reach out to young Muslims before they radicalize. (...) How would you evaluate the general situation?

Smith: Severe. We believe that an attack is highly likely and could happen at any time and without warning. On the other hand we see some success. In 2008, we had 50 people convicted in terror-related trials and this year there will not be a single day in the United Kingdom without a terrorist trial on the timetable. (...) >>>

In the following film we see Lord Pearson making an excellent point (3'58" mark). The Wilders objectionists are making two vital errors: on the one hand they're making a psychological mistake in the projection of their own hatred; on the other hand a fallacy in logic is committed by reversing cause and effect (this makes however entirely sense in the postmodern subjectivist narrative that rejects even the existence of causality).





- Filed on Articles in "Dhimmi Pride" -

Saturday, February 14, 2009

"Triumph of the Will", or Defeat of Delusion

Tonight in "The Lighthouse" historical movie theater "Triumph of the Will", full length, English subbed.

Liberty be Damned!

The current ones in power may very well be the first generation that makes a clean break with the time-honored nonsense of passing the world on to the next cohort as you found it, having preferably somewhat improved on it.

They may have corrupted their children, put their parents in human warehouses for the elderly, but say what you will - the boomers have very well taken care of themselves. Hence on it's pretty much après nous la déluge (or, after us the diluvial) in the theofascist collective that they are leaving us (all for our own good, of course).

Large chunks of present blog have been taken up by investigations into the causes of the treacherous default mind set of the boomer generation. Presently in power, having done their damnedest to erase history, they are now leading us into the brave new world of neo-totalitarianism after all.

For a while things looked pretty dicey, National Socialism having proved a non-starter and Communism dying of a silent implosion under its own weight. But the onset of mass migration and the violent death pangs of an exploding Islam offer fresh hope of establishing a total state yet on the smoldering ashes of the hated Enlightenment philosophy of individual Liberty.

Freedom be damned:



Should you want to watch Fitna again, here's the link.

And here you can read the entire Geert Wilders' speech, that he would have delivered to the House of Lords, hadn't he been barred from entering Britain.

Read all about the view upon the brave new neotot world on Shona Darress's Notes, from an email she just received from Germany on the dangers of the delusion that it is possible to compromise with evil. You can't, because you will always lose: the good has nothing to gain from evil.

The notion that you can appease it, is equally false. This has the effect of strengthening the fanatics and leaving the moderates in the lurch: you reach the opposite of what you hope to achieve.

But it gets worse. Read here how the West is funding its own subversives, in this case through transnational corporatism under the banner of 'diversity', corporate 'sustainability' and 'responsibility'; amusing how business is using the Marxist and Postmodern dialectics to their advantage.

Michael Ledeen has interesting observations about Socialism and Fascism as management models and in how far these systems have been implemented in recent times in guises, other than we historically have come to know them. Some of the commentary is worthwhile perusing. Freedom be damned! "We Are All Fascists Now".

- Filed on Articles in "Neototalitarianism" -

Friday, February 13, 2009

Two Quotes on Capitalism

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated. (...) Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state. (...) “The time for enlightenment has come. (...)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in a speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 2009

- Caption: "Look to the West", by Nathan Struttman (Quent Cordair Fine Art, Napa) -



If one wishes to advocate a free society - that is, capitalism - one must realize that its indispensable foundation is the principle of individual rights. If one wishes to uphold individual rights , one must realize that capitalism is the only system that can uphold and protect them. (...) Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law. (...) It was with the destruction of individual rights that the destruction of freedom had to begin. A collective tyranny dare not enslave a country by an outright confiscation of its values, material or moral. It has to be done by a process of internal corruption. Just as in the material realm the plundering of a country's wealth is accomplished by inflating the currency - so today one may witness the process of inflation being applied to the realm of rights. The process entails such a growth of newly promulgated "rights" that people do not notice the fact that the meaning of the concept is being reversed. Just as bad money drives out good money, so these "printing-press rights" negate authentic rights.

Ayn Rand, "Man's Rights" from "The Virtue of Selfishness", reprinted in"Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal"

- Caption: Cover design of "The Virtue of Selfishness", by Nick Gaetano (Quent Cordair Fine Art, Napa) -

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Live Blogging "Geert Goes to London" and Back ...

... or the diplomatic adventures of a intrepid parliamentarian.

The Channel 4 footage shown here earlier can now be viewed on VodPod.

Wilders' plane took off from Amsterdam Schiphol airport some time before 14:00 hours l.t.

At the other side of the pond a rare occurrence in diplomatic terms, the Dutch ambassador to the U.K. will be present to smooth things over, should that be necessary given the British "presumption in favour of exclusion".

- Caption: Wilders at Schiphol Airport, courtesy Robert Vos, ANP -

This story has the potential to turn into a full blown diplomatic row.

Wilders' party (PVV) has called for an emergency debate in Parliament with PM Balkenende and Foreign Minister Verhagen.

Wilders has been overwhelmed the last few days with letters of support from Brits who see the necessity to stand firm for the freedom of speech. According to Wilders this just goes to show that fear of Islam reigns in the United Kingdom.

A recent poll in the Daily Mail shows that an overwhelming majority of participants think Wilders should be allowed to address the House of Lords (currently at 84%).

Updating throughout:

De Pers is reporting that according to a spokesperson of the UK Border Agency Wilders is currently being held at the Customs area pending his deportation. Wilders will officially protest against his detention.

Before his departure at Amsterdam airport Wilders called for Muslims in the UK - including Lord Ahmed - to participate in a debate. Some months ago Wilders extended the same invitation to Muslims in the Netherlands, but to no avail.

On board the plane to the UK Wilders told a Times reporter he thinks the British Government are the most cowardly of Europe. "It's easy to invite to your country people with whom you agree. Tolerance implies accepting those with whom you don't agree". See footage here aboard the plane.

De Telegraaf is posting that upon arrival at Heathrow airport Wilders was the first to disembark. He was led to a Customs office, photographers and reporters in hot pursuit. "Chaotic scenes" are reported.

Wilders will be on a flight back to Amsterdam within an hour or two. He's texted to reporters: "I'm in the detention center in a small room with a table, a chair and a lamp pending my deportation. They haven't told me what time and what flight I'm on, but they told me I'm to depart within two hours".

Enigma: where is the Dutch ambassador ...? He's surfaced: he's tried until the very last moment in get Wilders into the country and has conveyed to Her Majesty's Government the non-amusement of the other Majesty's Government. In official parlance, "We regret this decision."

Wilders himself is less diplomatic: he has called British PM Gordon Brown the greatest coward in all the Europe"! He's had a 47 seconds altercation with Home Office officials and that was about it. "It's not just a slap in my face, but also in the freedom of expression's"!

In the meantime this BBC site is being bombarded with furious messages from all over Europe (only a selection is posted).

Watch this slide show of the day so far.

De Telegraaf is reporting that Wilders has been escorted back on a flight by a squad of some ten police officers. That plane has already landed safely back at Amsterdam airport.

Dutch public television shows Lord Ahmed as rageboy, fists punching London's clouded skies, living proof that Wilders is indeed inciting hatred ...

... and speech impediments ... British Foreign Secretary David Miliband is running out of superlatives, adjectives and tautologies - he told the BBC that Wilders is guilty of "extreme anti-Muslim hate" (try getting your head around that!) ... when someone starts expressing himself in such terms, you know for sure something has gone terribly wrong in the mental department!

Melanie Phillips in an apt analysis is spot on the reversal of morality that is taking place in the time-honored game of blame the messenger:

The Spectator: "Britain capitulates to terror"

So let’s get this straight. The British government allows people to march through British streets screaming support for Hamas, it allows Hizb ut Tahrir to recruit on campus for the jihad against Britain and the west, it takes no action against a Muslim peer who threatens mass intimidation of Parliament, but it bans from the country a member of parliament of a European democracy who wishes to address the British Parliament on the threat to life and liberty in the west from religious fascism.

It is he, not them, who is considered a ‘serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society’. Why? Because the result of this stand for life and liberty against those who would destroy them might be an attack by violent thugs. The response is not to face down such a threat of violence but to capitulate to it instead. (...) >>>

Wilders has a new English language site. It also contains a link to a PayPal account where you can donate to his legal fund. This courageous man is standing up for everyone's liberty of speech ... give generously!

Another hero speaks out, Mark Steyn:

NRO/The Corner: "The Arrest of Geert Wilders"

(...)
a sad comment on a land that was once a crucible of freedom. As to the judgment of the British Home Office, they have no problem admitting to the United Kingdom the likes of Dr Ijaz Mian, who preached as follows at the Ahl-e-Hadith mosque in Derby: "You cannot accept the rule of the kaffir. (...) You are in a situation in which you have to live like a state-within-a-state - until you take over." And so it goes: Multiculti England will tolerate any intolerance, except the guy who points out the intolerance. We can't tolerate that. >>>

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits! (update)

He's made up his mind and will definitely travel to Heathrow tomorrow for a confrontation with the weak, pusillanimous Labour Government that's holding on to dear power by a thread.

Wilders cannot lose. The British authorities can nothing but lose.

Either they give him a pass and they look pretty much like the Metropolitan police -- foolish and ineffectual; or they lock Wilders up and the world will know them as politically correct traitors to liberal democracy.

There's a third possibility. CBN News veteran, Dale Hurd who interviewed Wilders last year, thinks the Brits won't make the fatal mistake of jailing Wilders: "No, I don't think the British will arrest Wilders, but it certainly looks as if they may block his entry".

The defender of liberty for his part cannot wait to find out just how cowardly they are. Wilders - who for years hasn't been able to move without security detail - has drawn energy from the British stance - he's more determined than ever before.

Protests by the Dutch Government to date have had no effect. Dutch parliamentarians usually share some of the ambivalence towards Wilders' critique of Islam: the postmodern contempt for truth, disregard for facts, and a need to unquestioningly throw their weight behind minorities, no matter how wrong or downright evil they may be, all willingly sacrificed in the service of the blanket belief that compromise is the panacea for all of the world's ills.

But now the censorial British position has rekindled the rebel in the Dutch national character: Parliament is behind Wilders to a man! Hurray - the spirit of Cartesianism is animating the low lands once again.

Update:

Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham was just interviewed on Dutch television. He wanted to share the following narrative with the viewers (intelligible excerpts only) (we'll not insult anyone's intelligence by pointing out the obvious irrationalities):

  • There are also Christian and Jewish fanatics, whose unlawful deeds are never associated with their religious beliefs;
  • Wilders is lumping the pieceful religion of Islam with its fanatics;
  • Wilders is indicted in Dutch Courts for inciting racial hatred;
  • What! Wilders hasn't even arrived yet and already Lord Rotherham himself has been at the receiving end of threats uttered by the fascist British National Party (BNP);
  • Wilders has been invited by Lord Pearson (whom he respects), who left the Right wing Conservative Party to join the UK Independence Party, which has strong support of the fascist BNP (no lumping intended);
  • He never called upon 10,000 Muslims to bar Wilders' entry to the Houses of Parliament; Lord Ahmed's lawyers will sue the magazine that falsely alleged that; he just knows there will be no one outside Parliament when Wilders will not arrive because his authorities will not allow Wilders to enter the country;
  • Fitna will do nothing towards an intellectual debate, so why show a film he himself is not going to waste time on seeing?
  • The two Muslims scholars who have been invited to join the debate actually aren't Muslims at all, but people who take Islam out of context and attack Muslims;
  • Wilders is lumping Islam with people who do terrible things that Muslims are against;
  • Asked whatever happened since Salman Rushdie's right to free speech was guaranteed by the state, Lord Nazir requests an answer to the question whatever happened to his right to exercise the freedom of conscience without being insulted or provoked?! This has no place in modern Europe;
  • Nobody wanted to talk to (the Austrian politician) Haider because he said awful things about Jews; there are many Christian and Jewish fanatics who are never lumped;
  • We are to rest assured that his authorities will send Wilders back to where he came from.
The anchor wrapped up the interview with the scrap of news that British Midlands - Wilders' carrier of choice - has a strict policy not to take passengers on board who have been declared unwanted by the British authorities. So we are not to be surprised if Wilders doesn't even get off Amsterdam airport.

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Geert Wilders: Persona Non Grata in Britain

Sit down for this one.

On behalf of the British Government, her Majesty's ambassador to the Netherlands has served Dutch MP Geert Wilders today with a letter, declaring him persona non grata in UK.

Wilders is due on Thursday for a screening of his short film "Fitna" on the invitation of Lord Malcolm Pearson, member of the House of Lords for the euroskeptic UK Independence Party.

Wilders will be arrested on entering the U.K. The official ground for Wilders' banning is "endangering community harmony and therefore the public safety".

Wilders: "Great Britain is sacrificing the freedom of speech. You would expect something like this to happen in a country like Saudi Arabia, but not in Great Britain. This cowardly act by the British government is a disgrace. I was invited by a British member of parliament."

The Dutch Foreign Minister as well the House Speaker have protested the British Government's decision.

The British Labour Government have nothing to say for themselves, declining to "comment on individual cases". (At the moment of publishing we are anxiously awaiting tonight's broadcast of News Night - forget it: story has been buried by the BBC).

The invitation is actually an extension of an earlier request. The screening at the Lords had originally been planned for January 29 , but was postponed because Lord Nazi Ahmed, a Muslim member of the House of Lords (Labour), had threatened to take 10,000 Muslims to the streets to physically prevent Wilders from entering the House.

Lord Malcolm denies the postponement was in reaction to the threats. If Wilders doesn't show or gets arrested, screening of "Fitna" will take place nevertheless. Also on the program is a 1999 production called "Kill or be Killed", an even more "inflammatory" document than Wilders' indictment of the Koran. Afterwards a panel discussion will be held with Muslim scholars.

Wilders meanwhile, is pondering to travel any way and dare the British to throw him in jail the moment he presents himself at Heathrow airport.

In case you're wondering how things could have come this far, watch this (no, your eyes are not deceiving you: this is the proud Metropolitan police force being chased through the streets of London by demonstrating thugs).



Contribute here to Wilders' legal fund.

Read more on the case on the site of the International Free Press Society.

You can Digg It here.

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Monday, February 9, 2009

Of Anti-German Activities and Targeted Provocations (update)

Do you remember ... A Landmark: the Moment of Infamy? ...

... and The Moral Confusion in the West?

Well the verdict is in and we're even more confused than we originally thought. In fact, we're going to the dogs. Here's Fred Alan Medforth from Gelsenkirchen, Germany reporting on the case:

Allah's Willing Executioners: "German head of the Constitution criminalizes pro-Israel protesters" - Hat Tip: Atlas Shrugs

The head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia, Hartwig Möller (Picture), has criminalized pro-Israel and pro-USA protesters. In an interview with the newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten, he described the presentation of an Israeli flag in a violent Islamist rally in Duisburg as "targeted provocation". The flag was removed by the police (as reported). Mr Möller blames so-called anti-Germans for the hanging of the Israeli flag. In the interview Möller said:

Center of the political objectives of the anti-Germans is the unconditional support of Israel and thus Israel's protective power USA. (...) >>>
Let me get this straight: the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has aligned himself with members of an organization - Milli Görüs - that is said to be so radical, that it is being monitored by the Office of the Protection of the Constitution ...

... he is doing so by condemning counter-protesters for anti-German activities, calling it "a targeted provocation"? If the blog's conclusion is correct that the political objective of the 'anti-Germans' is seen as the support of Israel and America's protective power we're back in 1945, the old anti West knee-jerk alive and kicking despite two world wars! Gird your loins!

Be sure not to miss out on the update. Switch off the lights on the way out please ...

Update:

Who believes the outrage in Germany is an unique occurrence, is sadly mistaken. Here's Melanie Phillips report from the UK on the state of higher education. It's a safe bet that similar forces are at work on a global scale ...

The Spectator: "The jihad against Britain's Jews"

(...) One of the most troubling developments is the way in which the universities have become an extension of the Middle East conflict, with a simulacrum of the aggression, intimidation and violence from which Israel is under attack by the Arabs being directed at Jewish students on British campuses, who now routinely run a gauntlet of intimidation and abuse from Arab and Muslim students. But even more worryingly, some universities are spinelessly choosing to give in to such bullying.

Throughout last week, after the cease-fire was declared in Gaza, there was a series of anti-Israel sit-ins and demonstrations organised by the STWC at some 17 universities: in London at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the London School of Economics, Queen Mary College and King’s College, as well as at Bradford, Sheffield Hallam, Warwick, Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge, Sussex, Essex, Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan and Strathclyde. Some of these protests led to criminal damage and forced the universities to pay thousands of pounds to deal with the disruption, rearrange lectures, hire extra security guards and repair the damage. (...) >>>


- Filed on Articles in "Antisemitism" -

 
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