A Different Perspective Than Most (I hope)
Greetings!
I used the name "Parsley Sage" for a column written on another continent 40 years ago, non-Googleable, when I edited a university paper. The inspiration was, of course, from Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair".
The idea to blog came to me gradually, with one primary purpose in mind: a careful, fact-driven view of what goes on around us politically, without the gobs of political correctness which obscure the view of almost all discussions, and make clarity a long-forgotten feature of any discourse.
I'd like to open with one of my favorite topics: the ease with which public opinion is created by someone like Tom Friedman of the NY Times.
As a MidEast reporter in Jerusalem and Beirut, and I stress the word "reporter", he openly admitted left-wing bias in his book "From Beirut to Jerusalem", against Menahem Begin and Ariel Sharon. He was happy to slant the news read by millions around the world, and more important, by decision makers. Needless to say, objectivity was never his concern.
To understand the damage done to humanity (and I am not using the term frivolously) by Friedman, let's examine only one of his well known adjectives, coined after the 9-11 attacks:
"They were carried out by a narrow, extremist Wahabite group". This phrase resonated immediately among all commentators, giving the impression of consensus that the overwhelming majority of Moslems are not represented by the thugs of 9-11.
However, a teeny bit of research reveals a completely different view on the plurality of Wahabism. A Google search of Moslem worldwide population in 1930 will reveal estimates ranging from 200-300 million. Current estimates run between 1,300,000,000 and 1,600,000,000. Yes, up to 1.6 billion.
Even procreation at the rate of super-rabbits does not result in a yield of this explosive nature. John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil and Henry Ford of Model-T fame cooperated in making the Saud family which ruled and still rules Saudi Arabia wealthy beyond belief. Whatever money they didn't spend in London at the Dorchester Hotel on gambling, women and other enterprises, was funneled to create the enormous web of madrasses (Islamic schools) throughout Asia. These schools provided a welcome change from the underdeveloped schools of the Third World, even providing for material concerns beyond education, especially food.
In other words, an overwhelming majority of Moslems today were educated under the aegis of the Wahabite educational system. No, Mr. Friedman, this is not a "narrow, extremist" group. The "narrow, extremist" group of Islam today are those few, brave souls willing to try and buck this trend openly, sacrificing life and limb, without very much success.
The damage that Friedman's sound-byte, talking-point nonsense has done is incalculable. There will be many more 9-11's before common sense takes hold and we realize that we are indeed in the midst of Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations".
I used the name "Parsley Sage" for a column written on another continent 40 years ago, non-Googleable, when I edited a university paper. The inspiration was, of course, from Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair".
The idea to blog came to me gradually, with one primary purpose in mind: a careful, fact-driven view of what goes on around us politically, without the gobs of political correctness which obscure the view of almost all discussions, and make clarity a long-forgotten feature of any discourse.
I'd like to open with one of my favorite topics: the ease with which public opinion is created by someone like Tom Friedman of the NY Times.
As a MidEast reporter in Jerusalem and Beirut, and I stress the word "reporter", he openly admitted left-wing bias in his book "From Beirut to Jerusalem", against Menahem Begin and Ariel Sharon. He was happy to slant the news read by millions around the world, and more important, by decision makers. Needless to say, objectivity was never his concern.
To understand the damage done to humanity (and I am not using the term frivolously) by Friedman, let's examine only one of his well known adjectives, coined after the 9-11 attacks:
"They were carried out by a narrow, extremist Wahabite group". This phrase resonated immediately among all commentators, giving the impression of consensus that the overwhelming majority of Moslems are not represented by the thugs of 9-11.
However, a teeny bit of research reveals a completely different view on the plurality of Wahabism. A Google search of Moslem worldwide population in 1930 will reveal estimates ranging from 200-300 million. Current estimates run between 1,300,000,000 and 1,600,000,000. Yes, up to 1.6 billion.
Even procreation at the rate of super-rabbits does not result in a yield of this explosive nature. John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil and Henry Ford of Model-T fame cooperated in making the Saud family which ruled and still rules Saudi Arabia wealthy beyond belief. Whatever money they didn't spend in London at the Dorchester Hotel on gambling, women and other enterprises, was funneled to create the enormous web of madrasses (Islamic schools) throughout Asia. These schools provided a welcome change from the underdeveloped schools of the Third World, even providing for material concerns beyond education, especially food.
In other words, an overwhelming majority of Moslems today were educated under the aegis of the Wahabite educational system. No, Mr. Friedman, this is not a "narrow, extremist" group. The "narrow, extremist" group of Islam today are those few, brave souls willing to try and buck this trend openly, sacrificing life and limb, without very much success.
The damage that Friedman's sound-byte, talking-point nonsense has done is incalculable. There will be many more 9-11's before common sense takes hold and we realize that we are indeed in the midst of Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations".
posted by The Parsley Sage at
3:01 PM
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