Reductio ad absurdum
Bill Lind predictably argues that the Ft. Hood shootings represent 4GW on American soil. His list of policy recommendations:
I am amazed that Lind contradicts himself so quickly. In one breath he recommends preparing to outlaw some religions and in the next he recommends reducing the intrusiveness of the state. Of course he would counter that he only recommends outlawing religions that challenge American traditional culture, but therein lies the rub.The Establishment will attempt to label the massacre at Ft. Hood an “isolated incident.” On the contrary, it is just a foretaste of many more such actions to come. How might states reverse that trend? Three things might help:
1. Stay out of Fourth Generation wars overseas. Intervening in areas of stateless disorder imports their disorder.
2. Be prepared to outlaw violent alternative primary loyalties, including some religions (which in the case of the U. S. would require Constitutional amendments). To those who argue that religious tolerance must be unlimited, I ask, would we tolerate the re-establishment of the Aztec religion, with its demand for ceaseless human sacrifices, on American soil? Of course not.
3. Strengthen the legitimacy of the state, which in Western societies usually means reducing, not augmenting, the power and intrusiveness of the central government. Nothing undermines the legitimacy of a state more effectively than attempts to “re-make” a society according to some ideology’s demands, as is now happening in the West in the name of cultural Marxism, aka “multiculturalism.” A legitimate government defends its society’s traditional culture, it does not assault that culture.
Which leaves me asking: what is the difference between Lind and this guy?
The difference is that Lind can have, on occasion, rare moments of sanity where he does offer an interesting point of view that is different than the mainstream. But like Ralph Peters, the rare moments are separated by long rants of wild claims and exaggerations.
Comment by J. — November 12, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
J,
True, but Lind’s signal-to-noise ratio is asymptotically approaching 1. I’ve lost patience.
W
Comment by Wiggins — November 12, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
Agreed. I don’t go over to DNI to see his posts anymore, they’ve lost relevance. But he has, in the past, had a few good ideas - now lost amongst the trash heap he keeps building.
Comment by J. — November 17, 2009 @ 11:30 am