Sofa - "so good" is Richard Landes' site

Submitted by jennifer solis (United States), Apr 24, 2008 at 03:42

Hello Sofa Sogood,

I enjoy your posts as well.

Thanks again for the site. I won't go so far as to compare it to Daniel Pipes - quite stellar shoes to fill - as I have only just begun to view Richard Landes. So far, he's quite interesting.

I first read "Paris Notes, Summer 2004" - what spoke volumes to me was this illustration - quoting Landes-

"As one Tunisian cab driver told me: 'I wasn't anti-Semitic in Tunisia. It wasn't until I came to France and saw what the Jews are doing to the Palestinians.' And when I asked him if these were images on Arabic satellite news, he responded, 'No, French TV. French News.' "

After reading "Anti-Zionism as Cultural AIDS and it's Cure", I'm more than ever convinced of the arrogance of the French. While Landes is making a point here that the anti-Semitism is arguably responsible for the blindness of the French, and I agree, to a point - I still think general arrogance, toward everything and everyone outside the French "bubble", lies at the heart of France's particular peculiar ailment. Anti-Semitism is a horrid bi-product.

What feeds arrogance?

I'll cite some of Landes' own quotes -

"Compared to the Palestinian "Left", the European Left actually look pretty good." Of course he's pointing to the attitude of the French - and this attitude feeds the French arrogance.

"Indeed, they'd rather plead guilty to neglecting the Arab, than to misjudging the Israelis." Admitting error on their part for misjudging Israelis would require humility, the antithesis of arrogance. Guilt towards the poor and impoverished Arab involves false humility, a key component of arrogance - another way to describe this is self-righteousness. False humility is only employable towards those less fortunate.

The French can feel "self-righteous" towards Muslims. They naturally refuse to acknowledge "demopathic" belief among something that feeds their ego - arrogance, when strong enough, trumps any reality.

Which leads me to this very interesting Landes quote -

"In the biblical narrative of the Exodus, Pharoah only listens to the bad news about having to let his slaves go when it really hurts. And as soon as the pain abates, like some power addict, he goes back to his fix. How many plagues before the French release the Israelis from their moral chains?"

When I read the first lines, I thought he was refering to the "warning signs" of the Paris riots, "No-Go Zones", incidents of Muslim crimes against Jews in France (reported or not), Muslim demands for the burqua, etc., and that as soon as the initial "pain" is over, France goes back to embrace the "plague", which of course the French do not see as such - again, because it feeds their arrogance.

But then the last sentence, "How many plagues before the French release the Israelis from their moral chains?

Personally, I don't think France will ever "release" their anti-Semitism. You cannot feel sorry for Jews. They have survived thousands of years of consistent persecution, efforts of extermination. Are they bitter? NO. As no other race, they have "risen above". They have been and are among the most brilliant people on Earth.

BUT THEY ARE NOT FRENCH.

Whether and when the "plagues" will force France to realize their folly of supporting Islam is a good question.

Another very revealing quote from Landes: "Attacking the most powerfull is not courageous, especially when the most powerful is a friend and ally who will not strike back. Attacking enemies who will punish you violently for any affront, that is civic courage."

The French "attack" America out of arrogance. Arrogance contains fear. Namely, fear of losing your superior vision of yourself; which leads to rationalisation, marginalisation of those who pose admirable traits surpassing that your own.

Courage in facing, confronting, the enemy - well, France is not known for this.

Sign in a French gun-shop window - "Rifle for Sale. Once Dropped, Never Fired."

Landes starts his last paragraph with this sentance -

"Historians like to argue about whether things are inevitable or the product of choice."

Landes states he prefers the latter.

With the case of France, I believe it depends on whether you're looking past and present.

WWII was a different "mettle" America - think of the tough, anything-but-spoiled American soldier, comming out of the Great Depression (these guys lined around city blocks, across the U.S., to enlist).

Think of Patton.

During WWII, I think it's fair to say, France was not a product of their choice; the Allied Forces saved them.

This time around, THERE IS NO ONE to "save them from themselves". Not to the degree of WWII.

Hate to sound pessimistic, but France alone will reap what they've sown, and it will not be pretty.

"Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves."

- a great quote, from a great Book.

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