>"They hate us for our freeedom" is a great sound byte but has no real basis in fact.
It is definitely bumper-sticker shorthand but there is no question the islamo-fascist arguement is exactly directed at intellectual freedom which has been the basis of Western society since the 17th century. It is a statement regarding their intellectual rigidity, not politcal structures. As I said in a message to Mike, their issue is not a nationalistic one. The ulema objects to the idea that 'truth' is in any way debatable. Think Oliver Cromwell or Savanorola, not Trotsky or Mao.
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.