I read an article like this one from the
August 27, 2012 National Post (a Canadian newspaper):
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Taliban beheaded seventeen party-goers, including two women dancers, in Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province as punishment, recalling the darkest days of rule by the ultra-conservative Islamist insurgents before their ouster in 2001.
The bodies were found on Monday in a house near the Musa Qala district where a party was held on Sunday night with music and mixed-sex dancing, said district governor Nimatullah. Men and women do not usually mingle in Afghanistan unless they are related, and parties involving both genders are rare and kept secret.
You can see the similarity between this and social conservatives who don't want the government to recognize same-sex marriage, right? There's a reason a lot of
progressives refer to conservative Republicans as "America's Taliban."
Yes, I know you're being sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteHowever, note that the link takes us to an article claiming that the Tea Party are Taliban, not to one that equates social conservatives with Taliban.
Big difference, of course. The Tea Party would like smaller government and fiscal responsibility and then to go home. The Tea Party is obviously as far from the Taliban as possible.
Which (again, of course) points out that the author of the link is a pure, oinking moron.
The oinking moron refuses to recognize any differences, but I am hard pressed to name ANY social conservative who would regard dancing as a criminal offense, much less a capital crime. Even social conservatives who want homosexuality illegal are mostly hoping to use that as a mechanism to drive them into the closet. (Not that it makes any sense to lock up a homosexual in a sex-segregated prison, anyway.)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd behead the sort of people who write "both genders" when they mean "both sexes".
ReplyDeleteTea Party types aren't precisely libertarians, but echoing paul a'barge, a favorite recent bon mot of the Instpundit is "Those dangerous libertarians — they want to take over the government, and then leave you alone!"
ReplyDeleteWhich just wouldn't do....
Tea Party includes a lot of social conservatives as well as libertarians and a lot of people who are simply focused on the imminent economic disaster. The common thread, however, is the imminent economic disaster.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am amused by the "take over the government, and then leave you alone," there is a legitimate concern that government performs some necessary protective functions--especially from entities that have largely become powerful and dangerous because of decades of governmental assistance.
The link is subheaded "Politics and irony". I don't think it is serious.
ReplyDeleteI see the term "America's Taliban" used to describe conservatives quite regularly, and by progressives and liberals who seem quite serious. I don't know if they seriously believe this equation, or if they are just engaged in character assassination for political purposes. Neither impresses me.
ReplyDeleteEven when I see stories like this, I believe we should get out of Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteIf the Afghanis aren't willing to defend themselves against the Taliban why should we care?
Normally I would agree that government should provide some basic protections but that is becoming hard and harder to justify. More and more often I find the government protecting its cronies from their own mistakes or crimes.
ReplyDeleteIt is like hiring a bodyguard who then proceeds to hold you down while a thief runs off with your wallet.
It isn't clear that the Afghanis are unwilling to do so, so much as unable. The other problem is there seem to be more than a few Afghanis who think that beheading for dancing is appropriate, but look a blind eye to raping little boys.
ReplyDeleteMany so-called liberals actually believe the tripe about "America's Taliban", mostly because they either (a) haven't thought much about the meaning of their words or (b) they actually believe it. Many of these folks actually believe such nonsense because they live in an echo chamber which continually reinforces such beliefs. They are, unfortunately, useless idiots.
ReplyDeleteThey are, unfortunately, useless idiots.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they contribute money and vote for their side, the old Communist era "useful idiots" words of art are more appropriate.