November 13, 2005

On the "Trial of the Century" So Far

JEANNE DEVOTO OF bitter sanity doesn't post daily, but when she does....

A few predictions
I've been thinking that it's only a matter of time before mainstream thought in this country begins the process of lionizing Saddam Hussein. With his trial beginning, the tone of media coverage is starting to bear out my worst fears. (You wouldn't think it would be possible to admire someone who has done what Saddam has uncontestably done, but in a country where people wear Guevera t-shirts without hiding their faces, I suppose just about anything is possible.)

I predict:...


* The words "defiant", "strong", "canny", and "independent" will become de rigeur in all stories concerning Saddam's trial. * The meme that the trial is "illegal" (because not blessed by "international-law experts") will spread. Shortly, it will be routine to refer to the "illegal trial" in editorials, and to "the trial, whose legality is disputed" in news coverage. * If and when he is executed, the television news coverage will feature somber voices.On the day, no Iraqis who were victims themselves or who lost family will be quoted. Only Baathist voices will be heard, mourning "the great lion", and so on. * Editorials will announce that since obviously the Iraqi people mourn Saddam Hussein, his execution will only increase the "Iraqi" "insurgency". * Within two months, Saddam's daughter Raghad will be the subject of a sympathetic television interview, perhaps by Barbara Walters. The interviewer will not ask her what kind of a tree she would be, but will ask how she felt "the day you lost your father". * Raghad will do a lecture tour of the US, and will be invited to speak at several prominent universities. * None of the victims of Saddam Hussein will be invited to speak in any of these venues, then or in the future.
One would like to think that all of this is a fantasy, but in a culture whose secular philosophical position has become to be more than "half in love with easeful death," Devoto is far more likely to be right than wrong.
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Posted by Vanderleun at November 13, 2005 11:45 AM | TrackBack
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AMERICAN DIGEST HOME
"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

The Left has made Che and Mumia icons, why not Saddam?

In 2007, ALL the cool kidz on the quad will be wearing Saddam T-shirts! They are worth at least a .5 increase in your GPA.

Posted by: Mumblix Grumph at November 13, 2005 1:43 PM

"Secular philosophy", huh? Saying most of the US was "in love with easeful death" sounds like a bigoted way to characterize mercy towards a woman whose brain had rotted away.

Quit acting like religious folks have the moral high ground. For example, it wasn't the lib'rul media who ignored, then hid and then excused tens of thousands of incidents of child sex abuse; it was the Catholic Church.

Scumbags are scumbags, whether they're religious (the Taliban) or not (Che Guevarra).

And if you don't think Believers can support, or even perpetuate injustice, then who do you think is suicide bombing civilians from Israel to Iraq to Indonesia? Secular humanists? College kids? The "MSM"? Left-leaning journalists? No. It's some of the most devout folks on earth, in action.

Posted by: Joe Grossberg at November 13, 2005 7:14 PM

"it wasn't the lib'rul media who ignored, then hid and then excused tens of thousands of incidents of child sex abuse; it was the Catholic Church."

I'm not sure how many over how long a period it was, but would you like to comment on the many, many cases perpetrated by non-church persons, and ignored by or covered up by liberals? I could cite the pervasive sexual abuse of children by UN Peacekeepers and officials, covered up by the UN bureaucracy, and almost entirely ignored by the liberal press because they don't want to harm the reputation of their darling UN. Ditto the abuses perpetrated by Mao and Daniel Ortega and other heroes of the liberal "intelligentsia." But then, any social class that can, still today, honor and idolize a monster like Che Guevara has definitely got problems. Express admiration for Mao and liberals will find you intelligent and sophisticated. Express admiration for George Bush and watch your free time skyrocket as your liberal "friends" cease to invite you to parties while, behind your back, they sadly comment on your descent into fascism.

Posted by: pst314 at November 14, 2005 8:24 PM

It's already begun. Listen to the news anchors whenever they run footage of his trial.

Posted by: Yehudit at November 15, 2005 1:48 AM

pst:

I hear you on the intolerance of the oh-so-"tolerant" left, and I've blogged about the UN outrages and their scant coverage:
* http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/001478.html
* http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/001840.html

And the abuse cases in the Boston Archdiocese were in the tens of thousands over the past half-century.

Like I said, scum is scum. My point was that the implication that secularism -- or even siding with the husband in the Schiavo case -- is to blame for immorality.

Posted by: Joe Grossberg at November 15, 2005 11:06 AM

Whoa, I think she nailed it.

Posted by: Jane at December 1, 2005 6:41 AM
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