Freedom's Fidelity

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Brilliance Dressed as Glib

Over at Dean's World, Aziz Poonawalla posts an excerpt from this essay by Michael Grant:

We need someone to remind us who we are. The Bush administration keeps telling us we're safer than we were five years ago. I don't feel safer. There's this huge sword swinging around. Our leadership, with all its display, is acting just like the terrorist wants us to act, then suggests we are dead wrong if we disagree. It makes all of us out to be acting just like the terrorist wants us to act. But we're not that way. I watched the buildings burning on Sept. 11, and at some point got on email and messaged everybody I knew that we should think what the terrorists would want us to do, and then do the opposite thing. Nobody objected, or disagreed. So it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know how to fight a terrorist. We just all need to be brought together in this quiet, firm, fight, and quickly.

He then declares the essay brilliant and encourages us all to read the whole thing. Well, as I commented over there, I read the whole thing expecting brilliance and all I got was a chuckle.

So the terrorists actually wanted us to topple the Taliban taking away OBL's base, remove Hussein from power, nurse democracy in Iraq, and press the wider Middle East towards democratic reform? Now that is some kind of reverse psychology Al-Qaeda pulled on us huh?

Please.

Oh, I also just love this:

I watched the buildings burning on Sept. 11, and at some point got on email and messaged everybody I knew that we should think what the terrorists would want us to do, and then do the opposite thing. Nobody objected, or disagreed.

So, no one that he 'got on email' with on 9/11 disagreed, therefore doing the opposite of what Al-Qaeda wants must be the blindingly obvious correct course to take? That is some sophisticated strategy!

Or maybe his email list that he 'got on' is just wanting.

Yeesh. As usual another glib post from Aziz which is further magnified by his unwillingness to respond or expound on his characterization of Grant's essay as brilliant. The post did generate a very good discussion in the comments though, I do encourage you to read them all. If nothing else the essay united the Dean's World commenters!

posted by Paul  permalink | |