Book Review being reviewed by author
David Frum and Richard Perle wrote a well-received book called:
"An End to Evil, How to Win the War on Terror" It was reviewed by Michiko Kakutani of the
NY (no bias here!) Times. Frum proceeded to read the review and write his comments in
his column in the National Review.
From the NY Times:
bq. The title of this new book by David Frum and Richard Perle, "An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror," says it all. It captures the authors' absolutist, Manichaean language and worldview; their cocky know-it-all tone; their swaggering insinuation that they know "how to win the war on terror" and that readers, the Bush administration and the rest of the world had better listen to them.
Frum's comments:
bq. Richard Perle & I take some pride in having done our bit to make Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times choke on her biscuit yesterday morning. When she reviewed THE RIGHT MAN last year, she complained – as much in sadness as in anger – that I had not lived up to the high standards set by my earlier work. (Her enthusiasm for the earlier work inexplicably went unexpressed at the time.)
bq. This time there was no pretense of regret, but only inarticulate howling rage. There was no argument in the review, only a series of gesticulations: “Can you believe they said this? And THIS? And THIS??!!! Well we did say it, and we do believe it.
bq.
The greatest scholar of the Islamic world, Bernard Lewis, has brilliantly explained the roots of Muslim rage. He traces that rage to the failure of Muslim societies to adapt to the modern world. The people of these societies remember that they were once rich and powerful and important. Now they lag far behind – and they do not understand why. Rather than look inward at their own faults and failings, they have sought scapegoats in the world beyond their borders.
bq. Can’t one see something similar at work in the mind of Michiko Kakutani? The brand of liberalism championed by her newspaper was once all-powerful in American cultural life. Over the past decade, that power has ebbed away – and since 9/11, the ebb has become a flood. The New York Times no longer decides what Americans will read and what Americans will think about what they read. Rather than look inward, they blame talk radio and the Internet and Fox TV. And when this ferocious reservoir of accumulated resentment encounters a new and contradictory idea – well it just boils over.
(Emphasis mine)
Frum and Perle have hit the nail on the head here - both with their insight into the origins of 'Muslim rage' and to the frustrated braying of the left.
The Muslims need to integrate their society into this century and the citizens need to get some control over their government. The people who rule the Muslim nations are corrupt and venal for all of their protestations of sanctity and purity. They live in wealth while their citizens starve.
The left felt they had a moral high-ground during the 60's and the Vietnam war. Many in the left were intrigued by writings from the Soviet and Chinese Communists. When that whole house of cards fell apart fifteen years ago, revealing itself for what it was -- a brutal corrupt murder machine (over 100,000,000 people killed) they have turned into a bunch of philosophically homeless Cassandras, warning against anything that catches their eye. Environmentalism, the USA's Imperialism, the Oiiilllll... the Jeeewwwssss...
This time in our world, we need clear thinking and people who are unafraid to act. This is the time for action, not diplomacy because we have seen during the eight years of the Clinton administration that treating terrorism with diplomacy only begets more terrorism.
Nobody wants to destroy the culture of the Muslims. We need to help them over the threshold and welcome them into this century as a full member of the human race.
Posted by DaveH at January 20, 2004 6:59 PM