Friday, October 12, 2007
Friday Is For Cats
Not this "Caturday" nonsense. Really. Ask the Fortress's Five!
1. Population Movement.
Beyond question, the preponderance of population movement these past hundred years has been from less free to more free societies, at least when not obstructed by walls manned by soldiers with instructions to shoot emigres on sight. And economic incentives do explain a great deal of it. But this comment, found at the esteemed Travis Corcoran's site, is overly strong:
Do relative status and income matter more than absolute?If this were true, then most immigration would be from rich countries to poor countries.
It's certainly true that the immigration trend is from poor countries to rich ones, but there is some counter-immigration -- and some of that is propelled by an understandable desire to have the services of cheap labor at one's disposal.
Even menial labor is expensive in technologically advanced, wealthy societies. (If you doubt this, try hiring a teenager to mow your postage stamp of a lawn.) So he who wants to be waited upon, but doesn't command Trump-like wealth, will naturally look elsewhere for it. If he's of retirement years and has a decent amount put away, he may become a permanent expatriate for that very reason. In his case, the relative status to which he aspires -- a moneyed-gentry immigrant who can hire the locals cheaply when he pleases -- is exactly what moves him.
In other words, it takes all kinds.
2. "Political Speech."
In the midst of an otherwise fine essay, David Limbaugh tosses out a clinker that must not be permitted to go unchallenged:
If the Democrats were truly motivated to preserve our freedoms, they wouldn't be threatening the revival of the Fairness Doctrine to harness the power of government to undermine conservative talk radio in complete derogation of free political speech -- the most protected category of speech under the Constitution.
The inference about Democrats' motives is quite accurate. Your Curmudgeon's problem is with the ominous phrase "free political speech." Freedom of speech, which is guaranteed by Amendment One to the Constitution, nowhere contains the word "political." Indeed, you will search the entire text of the Constitution for that word in vain.
There is great danger in permitting the qualified phrase "free political speech" to displace the Constitutional phrase "freedom of speech." It imports both a sliding scale of rights and a governmental privilege to determine what speech is and is not "political." There can be no retreat from such a concession of power -- and it would be more dangerous than most persons who'd smile upon it would realize.
Some conservatives would love to be able to distinguish protected "political" speech from other sorts of expression they find unacceptable, particularly sexually-oriented entertainment. Virtually all liberals would love to be able to rule selectively on what sentiments are protected by such a qualified right. It's been said that whenever one contemplates a concession of power to the State, it's well to try to imagine how one's worst enemy would use it if he got hold of the reins of power. The same rule applies to linguistic concoctions such as "political speech" applied cavalierly to the Constitution of these United States.
3. Yet Another Religious Tiff.
...but this time, no Muslims are involved:
Slash-and-burn columnist Ann Coulter shocked a cable TV talk-show audience Monday when she declared that Jews need to be "perfected" by becoming Christians, and that America would be better off if everyone were Christian. Coulter made the remarkable statements during an often heated appearance to promote her new book on advertising guru Donny Deutsch's CNBC show "The Big Idea."In response to a question from Deutsch asking Coulter if "it would be better if we were all Christian," the controversial columnist responded: "Yes."
"We should all be Christian?" Deutsch repeated.
"Yes," Coulter responded, asking Deutsch, who is Jewish, if he would like to "come to church with me."
Deutsch, pressing Coulter further, asked, "We should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians?" She responded: "Yeah."
Coulter deflected Deutsch's assertion that her comments were anti-Semitic, matter-of-factly telling the show's obviously upset host, "That is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews."
This is a perfectly ordinary, by no means exceptional, Christian assessment of the difference between Christians and Jews. But Danny Deutsch smelled blood -- the blood of one of the most popular and controversial opinion writers in America -- and he wasn't about to let his opportunity pass:
DEUTSCH: Christian — so we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?COULTER: Yes.
DEUTSCH: We should all be Christian?
COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?
DEUTSCH: So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place?
COULTER: Well, you could be a practicing Jew, but you're not.
DEUTSCH: I actually am. That's not true. I really am. But — so we would be better if we were — if people — if there were no Jews, no Buddhists —
COULTER: Whenever I'm harangued by —
DEUTSCH: — in this country? You can't believe that.
COULTER: — you know, liberals on diversity —
DEUTSCH: Here you go again.
COULTER: No, it's true. I give all of these speeches at megachurches across America, and the one thing that's really striking about it is how utterly, completely diverse they are, and completely unself-consciously. You walk past a mixed-race couple in New York, and it's like they have a chip on their shoulder. They're just waiting for somebody to say something, as if anybody would. And —
DEUTSCH: I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that at all. Maybe you have the chip looking at them. I see a lot of interracial couples, and I don't see any more or less chips there either way. That's erroneous.
COULTER: No. In fact, there was an entire "Seinfeld" episode about Elaine and her boyfriend dating because they wanted to be a mixed-race couple, so you're lying.
DEUTSCH: Oh, because of some "Seinfeld" episode? OK.
COULTER: But yeah, I think that's reflective of what's going on in the culture, but it is completely striking that at these huge megachurches — the idea that, you know, the more Christian you are, the less tolerant you would be is preposterous.
DEUTSCH: That isn't what I said, but you said I should not — we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or —
COULTER: Yeah.
DEUTSCH: Really?
COULTER: Well, it's a lot easier. It's kind of a fast track.
DEUTSCH: Really?
COULTER: Yeah. You have to obey.
DEUTSCH: You can't possibly believe that.
COULTER: Yes.
DEUTSCH: You can't possibly — you're too educated, you can't — you're like my friend in —
COULTER: Do you know what Christianity is? We believe your religion, but you have to obey.
DEUTSCH: No, no, no, but I mean —
COULTER: We have the fast-track program.
DEUTSCH: Why don't I put you with the head of Iran? I mean, come on. You can't believe that.
COULTER: The head of Iran is not a Christian.
DEUTSCH: No, but in fact, "Let's wipe Israel" —
COULTER: I don't know if you've been paying attention.
DEUTSCH: "Let's wipe Israel off the earth." I mean, what, no Jews?
COULTER: No, we think — we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.
DEUTSCH: Wow, you didn't really say that, did you?
COULTER: Yes. That is what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws. We know we're all sinners —
DEUTSCH: In my old days, I would have argued — when you say something absurd like that, there's no —
COULTER: What's absurd?
DEUTSCH: Jews are going to be perfected. I'm going to go off and try to perfect myself —
COULTER: Well, that's what the New Testament says.
DEUTSCH: Ann Coulter, author of "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans," and if Ann Coulter had any brains, she would not say Jews need to be perfected. I'm offended by that personally. And we'll have more "Big Idea" when we come back.
Now, two things are quite plain from this exchange:
- Ann Coulter is unafraid to state her convictions, even when it provides others with an opening through which to attack her;
- Donny Deutsch is either stupid or venal, and quite likely both.
It's in the nature of religious conviction that one believes one's selected faith to be preferable to all the alternatives. Of course Christians believe Christianity is superior to Judaism -- and therefore, by implication too obvious to require further development, that the world would be a better place if everyone were a sincerely believing Christian. A religious Jew would believe precisely the opposite. A Buddhist would say both of them had lost the Way, and a Muslim would be sharpening his box cutter scimitar. To take offense at the obvious is the mark of one who is either too clueless to cross the street unassisted or eager to find a pretext for slander.
Let's draw the noose a little tighter around Mr. Deutsch's neck:
- Christians believe that Jews failed to recognize the Son of God as such when He walked among them, but...
- Jews believe the entire Christian creed to be founded on a fraud sustained for nearly two thousand years.
Which of these statements would Mr. Deutsch care to dispute?
It's understandable that Jews might be a little touchy about the Christian premise that Judaism was superseded by the Incarnation of Christ and His presentation of the New Covenant, but that's the inescapable implication of the Christian creed, just as the inescapable implication of the Judaic creed is that, since the Messiah hasn't come yet, every Christian who's ever lived has bought into a dangerous fraud. Inasmuch as Christians are the best friends and protectors Jews (and Israel) have at this time, they'd be well advised to moderate their prickliness when these premises and their implications are articulated.
The whole thing is a special case of the prevalent excessive readiness to take offense over matters that sensible men would pass over with a shrug. As protestations of offense are frequently accepted as the coin of the realm, at least in political interchange, we may expect this sort of nonsense to continue for some time to come.
In closing: Coulter demonstrated her Christianity by not rubbing Deutsch's nose in just how willfully stupid he was being by failing to see an obvious point -- or how venally slanderous he was being by comparing her to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would-be exterminator of world Jewry. It was a "Father, forgive him, for he knows not what he does" moment, and she rose to it in admirable style. Deutsch, on the other hand, would benefit from a good hiding; it might not cure his stupidity or viciousness, but it might make him think twice about displaying them again.
