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FJORDMAN SPEAKS THE TRUTH ON EDWARD SAID: A HALF ASSED PROPAGANDIST…………..

FJORDMAN SPEAKS THE TRUTH ON EDWARD SAID: A HALF ASSED PROPAGANDIST…………..

By KGS13 years ago2

This was first published at Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch. KGS

Fjordman: The Flaws of Edward Said’s Orientalism

[…] Summed up, it is obvious that Mr. Said was a grossly dishonest writer with a poor grasp of history. His book is so deeply flawed both in its fundamental premise and in its execution as to be practically worthless as a serious historical work. What surprised me when reading it for a second time is not that it is distilled ideological propaganda; that I already knew. What struck me the most was that it’s not very good even if judged purely as a piece of propaganda.

I can think of a number of writers, for instance the Communist author Bertolt Brecht, who supported ideas that I disagree with or even actively dislike, but who I will grudgingly admit had some linguistic talent. I cannot honestly say that about Edward Said, though. Not only was he a poor thinker; he was also a pretty poor writer. He does not know how to hide his ideological shortcomings or seduce his audience with clever anecdotes, witty remarks, linguistic elegance, personal charm or a sense of humor. He possessed few of these qualities.

What I see when reading Orientalism is the unattractive self-pity of a privileged man claiming to be underprivileged, a man with many harsh words for the alleged evils of Western imperialism but hardly a single critical comment for the Arab and Muslim one, possibly the most brutal of all imperialisms if you believe V. S. Naipaul, which has already wiped out numerous nations and is currently very close to eradicating Said’s people, too. If somebody paid me a lot of money and I ignored any moral scruples, I am fairly confident that I could have written as better work of anti-Western propaganda myself, based on real events such as the Opium Wars or the transatlantic slave trade. The Middle East must really be thirsting for anti-Western propaganda if Edward Said’s Orientalism was the best they could come up with.

Read it all here.

Written by KGS

2 Responses

By rohit Jul 14, 2011

An enjoyable read Orientalism by Edward Said . loved the way you wrote it. I find your review very genuine and original, this book is going in by “to read” list.

Leave a Reply to rohit Cancel reply

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There’s No Common Cultural Legacy For The Alt-Right

Still, is there something to it? Is there a common heritage that will cover El Greco and Hume and Dostoyevsky? Is there one that can include the Jacobites and the Jacobins? There is, but it is not racial, and white supremacists reject it because it rejects them. The unifying heritage of Europe is religious and philosophical. It is Jerusalem and Athens, in one famous formulation. Christian religion and Greek philosophy, filtered through Roman law and culture, are the foundation of European culture. The tensions, agreements, developments and settlements between these have shaped the Western world, and these roots of Western civilization are not congenial to white supremacy.

Christianity is universal in its message and Jewish in its origins. For centuries after its founding, Christianity’s center was the Mediterranean world, including Asia Minor and North Africa. Christianity has never been defined by race, and locally-grown racist heresies are only sustainable among those ignorant of Christianity’s teachings, origins and history.

Greek philosophy is likewise ill-suited to serve as a basis for white identity. It is either too universal (addressing the human condition in general) or too local—none of us live as citizens of an ancient Greek polis. Later philosophical developments in Europe, such as the philosophies of the Enlightenment, likewise tend to be too universal for white supremacists seeking a tribal identity. As for the scientific revolution that developed within Western culture (albeit with much borrowed from outside Europe), math doesn’t care what color someone is.

War is being waged against Western culture from within which is in essence a war against Christianity and its moral origins in the Hebrew Bible. By attacking these Biblical foundations in the name of reason and human rights, the culture warriors of secularism are sawing off the branch on which they sit. The only way to defend Western civilisation is to reaffirm and restore its Biblical foundations. My argument is a development of ideas I first explored in my 2012 book The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.

We are living in an era which extols reason, science and human rights. These are said to be essential for progress, a civilised society and the betterment of humanity. Religion is said to be their antithesis, the source instead of superstitious mumbo-jumbo, oppression and backward-thinking.

Some of this hostility is being driven by the perceived threat from Islamic terrorism and the Islamisation of Western culture. However, this animus against religion has far deeper roots and can be traced back to what is considered the birthplace of Western reason, the 18th-century Enlightenment.

Actually, it goes back specifically to the French Enlightenment. In England and Scotland, the Enlightenment developed reason and political liberty within the framework of Biblical belief. In France, by contrast, anti-clericalism morphed into fundamental hostility to Christianity and to religion itself.

“Ecrasez l’infame,” said Voltaire (crush infamy) — the infamy to which he referred being not just the Church but Christianity, which he wanted to replace with the religion of reason, virtue and liberty, “drawn from the bosom of nature”.

Perfecting society

But this Enlightenment did not remove religion so much as pervert it. It took millenarian fantasies, the idea that the perfection of the world was at hand, and it secularised them. Instead of God producing heaven on earth, it would be mankind which would bring that about. Reason would create the perfect society and “progress” was the process by which utopia would be attained.

“I think that we should correct the vocabulary that we use, and call a spade a spade. It is all about Jihad, the Islamic effort to spread Islam globally”:

Terrorist attack – should be called Military Jihad.

Incitement – Media Jihad.

Al-Jazeera – Media Jihad Channel.

Imposing Sharia law – Judicial Jihad or Legislative Jihad.

Boycotting Israel (BDS) – Economic Jihad.

Emigration to EU and US – Emigration Jihad / Hijra Jihad.

Building mosques, Islamic education institutions – Cultural Jihad.

Halal food – Dietary Jihad.

Hijab or Niqab – Clothing Jihad.

Activity of MSA – Academic Jihad.

Activity of CAIR – Political Jihad / Public Jihad.

Collecting money for Islamic “charities” – Financial Jihad.

Political correctness – Submission to Jihad.

J Street, Peace Now, JVP and their likes – Jewish Useful Idiots who Serve Jihad.

Iran deal – Western Support for Nuclear Jihad.