Friday, July 01, 2005
A Man is Known by the Enemies He Keeps
There is evidence that the newly elected “president” of Iran was one of the terrorists who kidnapped American diplomats in 1979 and held them hostage for over a year. Newscaster Brian Williams has been derided by many in the blogosphere for saying:
“What would it all matter if proven true? Someone brought up today the first several U.S. presidents were certainly revolutionaries and might have been called 'terrorists' by the British crown, after all.”
The complaints about Mr. Williams’s stupid comment seem based on his equating our Founding Fathers to modern Muslim terrorists. Mr. William’s statement is typical of the “moral equivalency” and multicultural argument that every culture is equal. I don’t think the fundamental flaw in his thinking is his equating our Founders with current Islamic radicals. I think his flaw is the idea that anyone’s accusation that someone is a “terrorist” is equally valid.
Consider who he says might have called Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, etc. terrorists. He says “the British crown.” At the time that was tyrant nutjob King George the Third! It should be a great honor to be considered a “terrorist” by such a monarch. What red blooded American wouldn’t aspire to be such a thorn in the side of an enemy of liberty like King George III. I would be honored if the enemies of liberty and petty tyrants of today feared me enough to label me a “terrorist.”
Consider who now calls Iranian “President”-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a terrorist? It is the free press of the First World. It is the diplomats of our Republic, who were captured in our embassy in Iran and recognize him as one of their kidnappers. Who is it that considers the radical clerics running Iran to be terrorists? It is the majority opinion of the Free World.
The flaw in Mr. William’s comparison is that he considers the word “terrorist” to have the same derisive meaning regardless of who utters it. He hasn’t just compared our Founding Fathers to Iran’s fanatical tyrants. He has compared the general opinion of Americans to the rantings of the mad monarch King George III. He equates the press, diplomats, and citizenry of our great Republic to a tyrant who “plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” The fact that Brian Williams walks among us untarred and unfeathered is a testament to the Christian charity of the American people.
“What would it all matter if proven true? Someone brought up today the first several U.S. presidents were certainly revolutionaries and might have been called 'terrorists' by the British crown, after all.”
The complaints about Mr. Williams’s stupid comment seem based on his equating our Founding Fathers to modern Muslim terrorists. Mr. William’s statement is typical of the “moral equivalency” and multicultural argument that every culture is equal. I don’t think the fundamental flaw in his thinking is his equating our Founders with current Islamic radicals. I think his flaw is the idea that anyone’s accusation that someone is a “terrorist” is equally valid.
Consider who he says might have called Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, etc. terrorists. He says “the British crown.” At the time that was tyrant nutjob King George the Third! It should be a great honor to be considered a “terrorist” by such a monarch. What red blooded American wouldn’t aspire to be such a thorn in the side of an enemy of liberty like King George III. I would be honored if the enemies of liberty and petty tyrants of today feared me enough to label me a “terrorist.”
Consider who now calls Iranian “President”-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a terrorist? It is the free press of the First World. It is the diplomats of our Republic, who were captured in our embassy in Iran and recognize him as one of their kidnappers. Who is it that considers the radical clerics running Iran to be terrorists? It is the majority opinion of the Free World.
The flaw in Mr. William’s comparison is that he considers the word “terrorist” to have the same derisive meaning regardless of who utters it. He hasn’t just compared our Founding Fathers to Iran’s fanatical tyrants. He has compared the general opinion of Americans to the rantings of the mad monarch King George III. He equates the press, diplomats, and citizenry of our great Republic to a tyrant who “plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” The fact that Brian Williams walks among us untarred and unfeathered is a testament to the Christian charity of the American people.
