The Curmudgeon seeks an answer to the question: Why Do They Hate Us?
[T]o hate a country is an exercise in abstraction. To do it properly, one must discern the philosophical basis for the country, separate out the critical threads, and find a rationale for condemning them. This is beyond the mental powers of most on the Left. They prefer to hate something concrete. Americans who love and defend their country are their usual choice.So, at bottom, what do they hate? His answer is inevitable as well as illuminating. Posted by Vanderleun at April 24, 2004 9:22 AM | TrackBackBut why?
It's not about patriotism. There are a lot of patriots in the world. The only variety the Left excoriates are American patriots.
It's not about armament. The Red Chinese, the Iranians, the Saudis and others are all straining to become serious nuclear threats to the United States. None of these nations has received any criticism from the Left.
It's not about warfare. The Left has never condemned the wars initiated by socialist dictatorships. The Soviet Union's incursions into Afghanistan, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and East Germany were perfectly okay with them. Castro's deployment of thousands of heavily armed "advisers" into Angola didn't cause them a moment's alarm.
It's not about racism, sexism, or any other collectivist perversion. Collectivism is the Left's lifeblood. Racism is just fine with them, as long as it's directed against their political enemies. And you've never seen sexism like that on the Left, whose street activists invented the idea of "chicks up front": men shielding themselves from the police behind rows of women.
It's not about "compassion." No one who understands the word could rationalize the brutality routine to the Palestinian terror brigades, Castro's prisons, or North Korea's concentration camps.
