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Idiocy Watch
#2
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at TNR Online | Post date 10.05.01 |
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[Ed. note: The Idiocy
Watch is our ongoing attempt to keep up with
the dumbest, most outrageous comments made about
the terrorist attacks on America and our response.
This is the second installment and we are confident
that it won't be the last. To read the first
installment, click .
To submit idiotic comments for consideration,
e-mail us at .
Be sure to include your name and city if you
want credit.]
"Patriotism threatens free speech with death.
It is infuriated by thoughtful hesitation, constructive
criticism of our leaders and pleas for peace.
It despises people of foreign birth. It has
specifically blamed homosexuals, feminists and
the American Civil Liberties Union. In other
words, the American flag stands for intimidation,
censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia
and shoving the Constitution through a paper
shredder. Whom are we calling terrorists here?"--Barbara
Kingsolver, novelist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
September 27. (Thanks to Holly Watson of Houston,
Texas.)
"U.S. foreign policy is soaked in blood. And
other countries of the West--including, shamefully,
Canada--cannot line up fast enough behind it.
But the people, the American nation that Bush
is invoking, is a people which is bloodthirsty,
vengeful and calling for blood. They don't care
whose blood it is, they want blood.... There
will be no emancipation for women anywhere on
this planet until the Western domination of
this planet is ended."--Sunera Thobani, professor
at the University of British Columbia, speaking
at a feminist conference in Ottawa, October
1. (As reported by the National Post;
thanks to Jean-Philippe Boulet of Quebec City,
Canada, and many others.)
"But who is Osama bin Laden really? Let me
rephrase that. What is Osama bin Laden? He's
America's family secret. He is the American
president's dark doppelgänger. The savage twin
of all that purports to be beautiful and civilised.
He has been sculpted from the spare rib of a
world laid to waste by America's foreign policy...
Its marauding multinationals who are taking
over the air we breathe, the ground we stand
on, the water we drink, the thoughts we think.
Now that the family secret has been spilled,
the twins are blurring into one another and
gradually becoming interchangeable."--Arundhati
Roy, The Guardian, September 29. (Thanks
to Alexander Wardell and many others.)
"Why has this happened? Why has a nation
which has enjoyed the blessings of God for over
two hundred years suddenly experienced such
a catastrophe? We've shaken our fists in God's
face for far too long. We have ignored His laws,
belittled His son, taken His name in vain until
it's almost a national slang word. We have allowed
radical groups like the A.C.L.U. to all but
remove the name and reverence for God from American
society. We have murdered untold millions of
unborn children and tolerated an immoral president
in the name of a good economy. We have proclaimed
that homosexuality is just another lifestyle
when the Bible clearly states that it is an
abomination to God. We have encouraged illegitimate
birth, and condoned living together out of wedlock,
practiced racial prejudice and child molestation,
followed new age religions and harebrained spiritual
leaders. Some of our music is fit for nothing
but a garbage can.... We can no longer travel
this road people. This road leads to hell.--Charlie
Daniels, band leader, CharlieDaniels.com.
(Thanks to Kevin Bowman of Dayton, Ohio.)
"Terrorism is the political argument of last
resort rather than, necessarily, an assault
on freedom and democracy. Terrorism was our
weapon in Europe during the Second World War
when Resistance fighters wrecked the trains
and convoys of the Germans without counting
the cost in local villagers shot against the
nearest wall--the end justified the means, we
argued then and now, cherishing these deeds
as acts of heroism."--Brian Sewell, The Evening
Standard, September 25 (Thanks to Martin
Kannengieser, London, England.)
[Bonus Cowardice Watch material from Brian
Sewell: "Shall we risk...a third world war,
or shall we take the twin towers of New York
as the measure of how far Bin Laden is prepared
to go in defence of the Islamic fundamentalism
that is his chosen way of life, threatened by
America's decadence, and talk to him? If all
he wants is the withdrawal from the Muslim world
of all that is represented by McDonald's and
bathetic missionaries, this is a small thing
to concede--better this than a catastrophe in
the Channel Tunnel, a Channel ferry blown to
smithereens, a new Guy Fawkes in Westminster
or a Boeing on Buck House."]
"Now [African Americans] are supposed to fight
and die for a racist corrupt government in yet
another imperialist war, when it is the U.S.
which has clearly brought on this attack. We
are supposed to fight for a country where we
still have limited social, economic and political
rights, and where we are still subject to death
by any racist cop or citizen, where there is
widespread poverty, mass imprisonment of the
youth, and massive unemployment concentrated
in the Black community. The obvious question
is what the hell are we fighting for? To avenge
America? To mourn America? Why, we don't owe
this country anything.... [W]e have to look
out for our interests, not the Pentagon's or
Wall Street's. We regret the thousands of deaths
of people who died in the process at the WTC,
but we know it is Washington's fault this happened.
We also know that if this happened in the Middle
East, carried out by Israel or the US Army,
hardly anybody in this country would say anything."--Lorenzo
Komboa Ervin, CounterPunch, October 3.
(Thanks to Jeff Vaca of Sacramento, California,
and many other readers.)
"It dishonors [the dead] and their families
to so callously crank up the greed machine within
days of this tragedy. Their bodies--thousands
of them--are still buried under the rubble down
the street, but, hey, why wait to give them
a proper burial--let's get busy making some
money! I can only hope that the stench from
the rotting corpses of their former employees
will haunt them for the rest of the day and
remain in their consciences for the days to
come."--Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com,
September 17. (Thanks to Daniel Hart of Washington,
DC.)
"[T]hose two aircraft…had gone straight
into those towers with such force that even
at the mid point of the building, or in that
case two-thirds up, something had happened that
so totally weakened the infrastructure, that
this was like peeling a banana, except that
it was full of people or had many, many people
in it. I think we have Senator John McCain on
the phone from Washington."--Peter Jennings,
ABC News, September 11 (Thanks to Day
Brock of Dallas, Texas.)
"America could use a new elder statesman commentator
with a sense of history. Move over Henry Kissinger,
here's someone we can actually understand."--Howard
Mortman, giving a "thumbs-up" to Newt
Gingrich, NationalJournal.com, October
3.
"That was a very sweet moment, the two
President Bushes, father and son, are very sensitive
about the relationship and all of that. And
when he grabs his hand and squeezes it, that
was lovely, wasn't it?"--CNN anchor Aaron
Brown, interviewing White House correspondent
John King after the memorial service at the
National Cathedral, September 14. (Thanks to
Howard Mortman.)
"As many people evacuate Manhattan throughout
the day in the wake of the World Trade Center
explosions, PETA is begging New Yorkers to ensure
that their companion animals are safe."--People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals news release,
September 11. (Thanks to Brandon Smith of Hoboken,
New Jersey.)
When Darwinists
attack.
The Duke
& David Duke return.
A British
invasion.
Starring
Richard Gere.
With our
thanks to The Village Voice.
Charlie
Daniels, more Michael Moore, and more.
News flash:
Reuters does something dumb.
Got a dumb or outrageous
comment to submit? Send it to Idiocy Watch at
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