Friday, September 23, 2005
Thank You Sir. May I Have Another?
Following up on Dave's thoughts below (so read that first): Why can't the Post make like the Times and put their columnists behind a firewall, so guys like David Ignatius would vanish from the online discourse?
I've had a lesson in our unpopularity in Egypt, where I've been hearing anti-American broadsides from activists who should be thanking the Bush administration for its pro-democracy stance. These are people who, but for the administration's pressure over the past few years on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, might well be in prison. But do they appreciate President Bush's help? Not on your life.
Along with Mike Reagan's column, this seems to be turning into a mini-trend for the Right. Hated? Mistrusted? Blamed? Fuck no, we should be congratulated. And if they can't take a joke, fuck 'em.
Ignatius is either disingenuous or stupid if he thinks the rabidly anti-U.N. Bush administration ever wanted to be "loved" by anyone but the Jeebus-lovers here at home. His main point is that the U.S. should not worry about its unpopularity abroad (a convenient psychological defense mechanism for the terminally unpopular--one with obvious domestic implications) and simply pursue its policies regardless of how badly it alienates allies, sows discord or subverts those policies' stated intentions. Well, maybe I'm paraphrasing a bit. Ignatius actually suggests that we should emulate the "cool disdain", "haughtiness" and "brutal indifference" empires like Britain, France and Soviet Russia showed to their satellites. Um, can anyone point out the historical flaw here?
I've had a lesson in our unpopularity in Egypt, where I've been hearing anti-American broadsides from activists who should be thanking the Bush administration for its pro-democracy stance. These are people who, but for the administration's pressure over the past few years on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, might well be in prison. But do they appreciate President Bush's help? Not on your life.
Along with Mike Reagan's column, this seems to be turning into a mini-trend for the Right. Hated? Mistrusted? Blamed? Fuck no, we should be congratulated. And if they can't take a joke, fuck 'em.
Ignatius is either disingenuous or stupid if he thinks the rabidly anti-U.N. Bush administration ever wanted to be "loved" by anyone but the Jeebus-lovers here at home. His main point is that the U.S. should not worry about its unpopularity abroad (a convenient psychological defense mechanism for the terminally unpopular--one with obvious domestic implications) and simply pursue its policies regardless of how badly it alienates allies, sows discord or subverts those policies' stated intentions. Well, maybe I'm paraphrasing a bit. Ignatius actually suggests that we should emulate the "cool disdain", "haughtiness" and "brutal indifference" empires like Britain, France and Soviet Russia showed to their satellites. Um, can anyone point out the historical flaw here?
# posted by Cole Moore Odell @ 9/23/2005 
