Comments on: A well-reasoned moderate critique of the extreme left on the war and Israel/Palestine

By: Phil Dore

Phil Dore — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 14:46:11 +0000

Just dropping by to say thanks for plugging my “Stop the Coalition” site. Good to know some people actually read it. I’ll be taking that site down soon, but I’ve just had another article published on Butterflies and Wheels.

Since you’ve been reading my stuff, I’ve added your blog to my Livejournal syndication list so I can repay the compliment.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 15:23:41 +0000

In conversations like this the parallels between religeous belief and political belief are highlighted. There is a terribly “wet” bunch of believers out there, usually agnostics, half-hearted Christians or dreaded “new agers”, who support this view that all religions and all cultures have some innate worth that we dare not tread on, and should even protect at great expense, both financial and to our own cultural position.

My immediate response to this sort of position is to ask “Where were you when Christianity stamped all over the (far more interesting and creative) pantheistic religions of Greece and Rome?” To which, of course, the answer is “Well, I wasn’t born.” But the point is, we all happily laugh and make jokes about Zeus, Thor, Odin, Jupiter and a hundred other “dead Gods”, but I’m suddenly insensitive because I think Aboriginal children should be taught about “The Dreaming”, but also taught that it’s all bullshit?

A more confusing argument to put to these people is to ask them why they then believe what they believe themselves? If somehow we are meant to respect all cultures/religions/political beliefs equally, then what possible reason can you have for preferring your own beliefs over anybody elses?

I honest and happy enough to describe my atheism as a “belief”, along with my left-ist politics and general secular humanist position. I feel that I have chosen all these positions because they are fundamentally the best positions to hold, both formyself and for the rest of the world. As such I also feel that the world would be a better place if *everybody* adopted this same position, even if this means “destroying” any number of other cultural systems. Said like that a lot of people think this is arrogance, but I believe it is something quite different… conviction.

And if you don’t have conviction in your own beliefs, then why the hell do you hold them?

By: acb

acb — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 15:14:05 +0000

It goes beyond just Israel. For a lot of dogmatic leftists (typically adherents of various neo-Marxist belief systems), any despotism, no matter how brutal or corrupt, is better than the US/capitalism/liberalism, which is the source of all evil. You see, Robert Mugabe, Saddam Hussein or the Taliban are the authentic will of their local people, and thus vastly more democratic than the US could ever be. Also, human rights are just a capitalist imperialist social construct, which is why criticism of “totalitarianism” is meaningless.

IMHO, some forms of cultural imperialism (such as the imposition of liberal humanist pluralist values) are good, and should be supported (though not uncritically) by anyone who calls themself progressive.