Ghost of a flea: All the moral insecurity that living in a free nation will instill in you

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October 04, 2007

All the moral insecurity that living in a free nation will instill in you

Christopher Hitchens quotes Mark Jennings Daily (via the Drink Soaked Trots).

"I was having a conversation with a Kurdish man in the city of Dahok (by myself and completely safe) discussing whether or not the insurgents could be viewed as "freedom fighters" or "misguided anti-capitalists." Shaking his head as I attempted to articulate what can only be described as pathetic apologetics, he cut me off and said "the difference between insurgents and American soldiers is that they get paid to take life—to murder, and you get paid to save lives." He looked at me in such a way that made me feel like he was looking through me, into all the moral insecurity that living in a free nation will instill in you. He "oversimplified" the issue, or at least that is what college professors would accuse him of doing."

I think this is a remarkably insightful statement: All our moral insecurity. Ayaan Hirsi Ali diagnosed the same sentiment as she refused to be lectured by the CBC on the virtues of the religion which would once again enslave her, "You grew up in freedom, and you can spit on freedom because you don't know what it is not to have freedom" (hat tip to someone best kept anonymous). She is still in fear for her life as the West cannot quite decide if her liberty is worth protecting from the religion of peace.

And Mark Daily was killed by a roadside bomb planted by exponents of this or that fascism which would over-run the nascent democracy of Iraq. Their words should shame those of us who risk so little against the gathering darkness. We have to - somehow - be worthy of these valiants.

Related: Confidence is key. Bill Ardolino updates the evolution of the Fallujah Police Department.

"At first the IPs wouldn't go, and we'd tell them we were going out on patrol ourselves," said Sermarini. "We'd even joke with them, 'Hey let's go out and get blown up today!'… and slowly, they started coming with us."

Posted by Ghost of a flea at October 4, 2007 07:03 AM

Comments

Wow. Just saw the Ayaan Hirsi Ali video you linked to. That Avi Lewis is full of a deep-seated, festering hatred. He cheerily said anti-American things that either are wildly exaggerated or demonstrably false. Ms. Hirsi Ali politely refuted everything he said, and he was too dumb to notice most of the time (and changed the subject quickly when he did notice).

Posted by: JohnAnnArbor at October 4, 2007 07:46 PM

Avi Lewis is the Canadian establishment. Born to wealth and political connections, Upper Canada College grad, and the very embodiment of CBC-ism. Nietzsche described his type as the "ascetic priest"; a sick man aiming to make everyone else sick, a peddler of resentment on the tax-payer's dime.

Posted by: Ghost of a flea at October 4, 2007 07:58 PM