Miscellaneous Musing #82

People who write or speak nowadays of terror in the Near East are nearly always referring to the ISIS.  Why has the world outside the Holy Land paid so little attention as it has to the latest intifada?  Is a terrorist attack in Israel so common an occurrence that our media do not deem it especially newsworthy, or are we incapable of devoting attention to tragedies other than those that claim the greatest number of lives, or do we not care whether violence is done if it’s done against Israelis? (Perhaps all three of these possible explanations are factors.)

Uncommon Commentary #510: A Wrong Right

Sermons delivered at this time of year in the USA often emphasize the value of religious liberty, which, however, is not always a good thing.  The government ought indeed to protect our freedom to worship the one true god, Yahweh, but it also gives us license to worship Ras Tafari, the Manitou, Satan, &c.  I know that this will seem a shocking instance of intolerance to the secular, and make most Christians uncomfortable, but the truth is that countries such as Inquisition-era Spain were much more truly Christian than ours, which permits its people to commit idolatry and, even worse, leads us to believe that we have an inalienable right to do so.

Uncommon Commentary #509: (GB Says) "PU" to the EU

I have not studied the reasons for what has become known by the imbecilic coinage “Brexit”, but the decision to leave the European Union (EU) is probably correct.  I’m in favor of cooperation between countries, but the degree of cooperation mandated by the EU seems excessive; many economists, for instance, have ridiculed the idea that a common market has need of a common currency such as the “Euro” (another stupid name).  And then there’s the EU’s policy of maintaining open borders between member states, which is a reason why the refugee problem in Europe is at crisis level.  (If none of the preceding confirms the wisdom of the UK’s departure, consider also that Obama is opposed to it!)

Uncommon Commentary #508: Trump Towers Over Democrats

Do you recall that Obama told everyone that a vote for McCain would be a vote for a third term for President Bush?  Trump ought to tell everyone that a vote for Hillary [sic] is a vote for a third term for Obama!

Uncommon Commentary #507: Were the Founders Bounders?

The average person is conservative, by which I mean not that he is right-wing but that he resists change; people tend to assume that the way things are is the way that things ought to be, and so, in the 1700’s, the fact that slavery had been legal for as long as anyone could remember meant that people in general did not question whether it were right or wrong.  The USA’s Founding Fathers, being revolutionaries, might be expected not to have shared in the conservative attitude to which I have referred, but, among them, slaveholding was at least widespread and perhaps universal.  Ownership of a fellow human being certainly is difficult to reconcile with the ideas that all men are created equal and that they have a right to “liberty”, but being a hypocrite is not the same as being a monster.

Uncommon Commentary #506: As a Boxer, He Was More of a Mutt!

When “Muhammad Ali”, i.e., Cassius Clay—It’s rather ironic that he discarded his baptismal name, which he shared with a Nineteenth-Century abolitionist, and adopted a name that he shared with a Nineteenth-Century ruler of Egypt, who was a slaver—proclaimed “I am the greatest”, he ought to have added the word “egotist” to the end of his statement. (He was also a hypocrite who based his refusal to serve in the military on the pretext that his Muslim religion forbad violence, even though he was a professional fighter.)

Uncommon Commentary #505: Why Can’t She Be Satisfied with Having Been Co-President in Bill’s Administration?

Bernie Sanders is wrong on nearly every issue of concern to the USA, but he, at least, is not known to deliberately misstate facts, i.e., lie.  It is therefore not Senator Sanders but Dunghillary (see UC #462) who ought to withdraw from the race/contest for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, for the good not of the party but of the country.