Comments on: Around The Right-Wing Blogosphere in 80 Links!

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 03:39:48 +0000

So when leftists – especially the communist sympathizers ‘round here – talk about banning religion as if it were a bad thing that only right wingers would think of…well…you’ll excuse me if I guffaw. Te he… He said Communist sympathizers… boy, that takes me back. I’v noticed an increase in the old Commie slur being bandied about lately. It makes me giggle every time I hear it because it is inevitably some blinkered Conservitive trying to pick a fight with some Amorphous Lefty, just as if the last fifty years of geopolitcs had never happened.

By: pj

pj — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 23:45:18 +0000

It sure is possible to ban islam. The soviets did it in Afghanistan, Chechneya and a few other places. It worked very well. We should definitely follow that example.

By: abb1

abb1 — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 21:37:02 +0000

FreeRepublic? You’re approaching this from the wrong end, I’m afraid. Think Dr. Daniel Pipes, Charles Krauthammer, Judith Miller, Cal Thomas and dozens of other “respectable”, “mainstream” intellectuals and opinion makers.

By: yabonn

yabonn — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 18:43:11 +0000

Decidedly no. I don’t think the banalisation of racism towards muslim we see now on the right side of the blogosphere could have happened without some complacency from its more mainstream components (i realize bearstrong may be an exception in that). So, if these critics are welcome, they remain above all weak, late and easy. No cheering for me.

By: john b

john b — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 17:43:57 +0000

Actually, I lose: the comments system doesn’t like my characters. Either that or MT is sentient and has right-wing sympathies. Erm, “Supporting Marx is not equal to supporting Kim Il Sung; supporting socialism is not equal to supporting Soviet totalitarianism, etc.” And sharing someone’s nominal ideology doesn’t preclude you from thinking they’re an idiot.

By: john b

john b — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 17:40:46 +0000

Alpha – Marx != Kim Il Sung. Marxism != Soviet totalitarianism. Having socialist ideology !=> supporting gulags for enemies of the state. You lose, thanks for playing.

By: alpha

alpha — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 16:02:49 +0000

I think it is equally disturbing that someone thinks it would even be posible to ban islam. Hey, plenty of people on this very site think it was a great idea to ban private property, just badly implemented. And the communists also attempted the abolition of all religion. Haven’t you read your Marx? Religion is the opiate of the masses. Get with the program. All religion was banned in the USSR, the PRC, Vietnam, North Korea, etc. And given that this site regularly compiles lists of the greatest Marxists, I know you haven’t entirely repudiated that ideology. So when leftists – especially the communist sympathizers ‘round here – talk about banning religion as if it were a bad thing that only right wingers would think of…well…you’ll excuse me if I guffaw.

By: Skip

Skip — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 14:30:36 +0000

Robert Wright has posted a series of fascinating interviews with some of today’s major thinkers on the ‘big’ questions at http://meaningoflife.tv. One of the interviewees is Omid Safi, a muslim who is a professor in the Religion and Philosophy Department at Colgate University. For those in need of an antidote to the Coulterian view of the world, Safi’s wisdom, intelligence, and humanity offer enormous pleasure and some hope. The interviews run 35-65 minutes and can be listened to whole, or broken up by discrete subject matter.

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 13:27:09 +0000

Belle, thanks for responding, and I understand. Attacking Volokh for his response, however, seems a bit over the top. As I read it, he’s agreeing with Staerk. Is your objection that he’s so polite and measured about it (the old Goldwater view that “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue”)? That’s in keeping with 90% of what he writes on his weblog, though; he almost never gets sharper than that.

By: Sebastian Holsclaw

Sebastian Holsclaw — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 07:20:42 +0000

Hmm, I don’t consider them to be a part of the right, but likely enough to be mistaken for the right that we should take responsibility for trying to change their minds and/or shut them up. Maybe it isn’t strictly ‘police your own’, but those of us on the right should try to influence those who will listen. Though I have to admit they are a lost cause when they call me a Communist. :)

By: nick

nick — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 07:09:47 +0000

Way to help encourage the right to be self-critical. Actually, Sebastian, I wouldn’t consider the kind of people leading the shouts of ‘ban Islam’ to be part of ‘the right’. More like ‘right off their rockers’. Which you should take as a compliment, since it means that I’m not asking you to disavow any association with those spittle-flecked nutjobs, because I don’t believe such an association exists. However, I don’t extend that definition to those, such as Reynolds, who consistently offer ‘yes, but—’ responses that accuse Muslims of just not doing enough to avoid being subject to such unabashed bigotry.

By: Sebastian Holsclaw

Sebastian Holsclaw — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 04:56:02 +0000

Way to help encourage the right to be self-critical.

By: cw

cw — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 04:35:49 +0000

I think it is equally disturbing that someone thinks it would even be posible to ban islam.

By: Adam Kotsko

Adam Kotsko — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 04:32:19 +0000

I agree with tom t. I think that the lack of self-criticism on the right/Republican side of things has led them into the mess they’re in now, with a shitty president who has shitty advisors and shitty congressional leadership. The mere fact that they’ve managed to “play the game” well enough to get elected is kind of a hollow victory when all they know how to do once they’re in power is fight wars and run the federal government into the ground. And if Bush gets re-elected, it’s just going to mean that the conservative movement is going to be even more discredited once this whole fiasco blows up in our faces. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. I’m just trying to help.

By: Gary Farber

Gary Farber — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 04:14:14 +0000

Hello? Why do I have the feeling this is posted because of being seen on Instapundit, which Glenn only posted because of my e-mailing him, but, well, I can't divulge the contents of e-mail. But he ended up only linking to Bjorn, and not my post, for a reason you can figure out if you look. Doubly cranky now. And you didn't even link to Giblets.