Sigrid Weidenweber's Blog, page 5

Requiem for Burnahuddin Rabbani

Today I read in the Wall Street Journal that Burhanuddin Rabbani, a negotiator for Hamid Karzai, was killed by a suicide bomber, a Taliban, who carried a bomb in his turban. He was allowed into Rabbani’s presence under the guise of peacemaker, a Taliban working on reconciliation. He greeted Rabbani in Allah’s name, shook his hand, set off the bomb and blew up himself, and the man who believed he was an instrument of conciliation for his war-torn country. But you cannot reconcile with the devil—for the devil only loves destruction.

Of course you would not know who Rabbani was. I, however, knew him. Not well, I met him only once, cursory. We talked through an interpreter, and most of the conversation was with my husband. That event took place in 1983. My husband I were in Pakistan, representing American Aid for Afghans, carrying humanitarian supplies. He represented the Northern Alliance, for which his son-in-law Massoud, “the lion of the Panshier,” was fighting the Russians.  Most of what I know about Rabbani I heard from others. They say he was decent man that he cared about Afghanistan. He fought against the Russians, was an ally of Mojaddedi’s, and early on, was president of Afghanistan. His presidency lasted only a few months and was destroyed by the Taliban. The Taliban and Alkaida do not operate under any honor systems evolved in modern society. No, to the contrary, their belief and honor system is set in the old cultural norms and societal mores dating back to 700 BC. They believe that treachery and deceit is honorable if it furthers your cause.

Having killed Rabbani the Taliban has accomplished one their greater goals, which are to make it impossible for any government other than a Taliban government based wholly on Sharia law to govern Afghanistan.  The idea that women can play any role in society is abhorrent to those Muslims, for their total domination over all things female is uppermost on their slate.  A thinking, educated woman working in society would preclude that she can be enslaved as these men want her to be.

Burhanuddin Rabbani is the fourth important, moderate Muslim person in Afghanistan that I personally knew, or had indirectly worked with, who was assassinated through treachery. Massoud, was killed by two thugs working for Osama bin Laden, posing as photographers for a large newspaper. Mr. Hashmatullah Mojaddedi, first president of Afghanistan, was almost killed with his entire family, by a stinger missel taking off the cone of the airplane, as the plane came in for a landing at Kabul airport. The editor of the Kabul Free Press, who had relocated in Peshawar after the Russian invasion, was assassinated at his desk one day after my husband I had visited the delightful, urbane man. I was young and cried. His crime: he had written about the wish, voiced by the populace, for the king to return and assume leadership.

We should sing requiem for Rabbani and all the moderate Muslims, for they will need our support and good will in the brutal world of psychopaths they must survive in.

September 11, 2001

Ten years ago I lived in another state and my son was still alive on the morning when the unimaginable happened. I will never forget my son’s shout for me to come to family room where he was watching television. It was morning, I remember. I thought my son had hurt himself and I flew into the room as he cried out, “Look mom, oh God, look!” It was thus that I saw the second air plane fly into a tower of the World Trade Center. It looked like a scene from a movie set, as the enormous air plane flew straight into the huge building, punching a hole through concrete and steel. Parts of the plane emerged on the other side and plunged toward the ground. The other tower, I now noted, looked like a wounded, bleeding arm, reaching for the sky.

My knees gave way. In horrible bewilderment I sank into a chair. “What? What is this?” I wondered. “These are attacks on the World Trade Center,” said Michael, who had already heard a few snatches by the commentators. I remember tears spilled from my eyes as I watched the horror. I did not notice them then. Visions of my WWII early childhood in Germany came to the fore: bombs falling, houses disintegrating, craters erupting before us as we ran through streets. War—I had hoped never to be in another.

As the day wore on we heard the details of the assault, heard who the perpetrators were and that there had been other targets. I attended somnambulistic to chores. I think I fed people and cleaned up, but none in my family was ever far from the television, seeking for information.

The day before, I had baked German Pflaumenkuchen, (plum cake,) sheets of it, because I expected guests on this day that had turned horrific. It was my day to host our neighborhood book-club of about fifteen women. The first call came from a friend now dead. “Will you still have the club at your house today?” she asked. I said yes, I would. “I will be damned if I alter my life to the dictates of terrorists.” “I cannot come,” said my friend and there were tears in her voice. “I cannot quit crying and I am sick to death by the whole thing.” “You must come,” I coaxed. “If you don’t you are fulfilling their desire to scare us, to isolate us—to mess with our lives. We must talk about this. Examine what this means for us in the future, but most of all we must comfort each other, for we all hurt.”

I said these same words many more times on that day. Some of the women held the same view as I and felt as I did. They required no coaxing. In the end, all the women came. We cried, we talked, examined the horror spread by mind-set of the seventh century, talked about rabid Islamists and their abhorrence of freedom, especially women’s freedom. We ate Pflaumenkuchen heaped with heavy, sweet whipped cream and drank coffee. Nothing removed our pain and anger, nothing could make it well again, but underneath, deep in our soul a small spark began to make us realize that the perpetrators of such crimes would never be able to find us such an easy target.

More on the Writing of Books

My last blog concerned itself with the responsibility of the author to create characters of worth. Since then I have received pithy critiques on the home front. “Why should an author have the responsibility to raise the reader’s moral standard?” asked the other half of the household. “Stendhal once said, “the novel is a mirror going down the road of life. Isn’t that what it is about? What about anti-heroes? Is your approach not too simplistic?” Well, no, I think, because if you go down the road of life in your story, as Stendhal does, then you, as the writer, always come to the cross-road where you have to make a moral decision. You can either allow the louse of a being in your story get away with murder, indulging in psychological excuses for his passion to hurt and maim, while glowing with perverted excitement, or you can allow the creep to fall into the hands of righteousness, ending the story with a grand vision of evil exterminated.

As to anti-heroes, some authors, whose works I truly enjoy, had anti-heroes, upon whose despicable deeds and characters, very funny, hilarious moralizing occurred. (I am thinking of the Flashman series by George McDonald Fraser and the German Till Eulenspiegel.) These are great works, teaching moral conduct by showing asocial behavior in the anti-hero, who is doing really well, and then, wittily and sarcastically condemn him by exposing his flaws and schemes.

So, in the end, what it comes down to is this: Do I have the moral obligation to moralize or am I free to write, uplifting immoral heroes as in the school of hedonism? Hugh Heffner is a great example of the genre. I believe, in the end, every author stands for his works. If, for example, a writer believes that a pimp selling under-aged girls is doing nothing wrong, then he/her will defend this point of view. I have come across this type of writing in the novels of J.M. Coetzee, who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. In one of his books, I think it was Disgrace, I read several and can’t be sure at the moment, he writes about the rape of a lesbian woman by several black men. He handles the entire occurrence rather matter of fact. It was, after all, just a release of pent up anger against the white oppressors and, therefore, just tit for tat. That the woman’s car is stolen, her dogs, source of her business, are killed and her property usurped by the rapists—it all seems to matter little—no moral outrage there. After all, the lesbian now carries the rapist’s child—the bridge to the new future of the country. In all of this Coetzee seems to forget that Nelson Mandela had called for forgiveness, for a higher moral road than the one often trod by the Boers and other whites. And he forgot, in my opinion an important tenet, “two wrongs never make a right,” although he makes it seem to be so.  

Who has read a great book lately?

I would like to get a comment from any of my readers on a great book they have read lately! The reason I am writing this, is the utter dearth of books that would emotionally engage and entertain me, while teaching me profound human concepts at the same time. William Faulkner, one of America’s great authors once said in his 1950s Nobel Prize speech that only the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself alone can make good writing. “..the old verities of the human heart, the old universal truths,” he writes, without which a story is lacking. He believes, as do I, that it is a writer’s and a poet’s duty to write about great ennobling things---the spirit, the soul, compassion, love, honor, sacrifice. Included therein, there must be a willingness by the author to denounce moral decay and sophistry with its pernicious lies for political and material gain. The author must be willing to put up a fight to combat the base, the unwholesome and destructive impulses of his/her heroes and heroines and, thereby, giving the reader the courage to confront his daily temptations and travails. Only by lifting man’s spirit, by inspiring goals to strive for and ennobling the heart is an author’s purpose fulfilled. All else is pulp and not worth the paper it is printed on.

Having said this I will only add that I am sick and tired of politically correct books that tell the reader what he is allowed and not allowed to think. As the German poet Hoffmann von Fallersleben said in an incomparably beautiful poem:

“Die Gedanken sind frei, wer kann sie erraten. Sie fliegen vorbei wie naechtliche Schatten. Kein Mensch kann sie wissen, kein Jaeger erschiessen. Es bleibet dabei, die Gedanken sind frei.”

Translation:  The thoughts are free, no one can guess them. They fly by like night shadows. No man can know them, no hunter can shoot them. The truth stands, our thoughts are free. (I hope that I do the poem justice by translating it thus.)

In conclusion: I would rather everyone has ten thoughts of his own, even in error, than one that has been implanted into his brain by per force of society. Think free—live free!

 

WHY ALL POLITICIANS SHOULD RECEIVE A CLASSICAL EDUCATION BEFORE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO RUN FOR POLITICAL OFFICE!

You are well aware that our great country is beset with problems caused by a political class bent on keeping their power and privileges to the detriment of the country and its people. It becomes ever more apparent that the elected, most, but not all of them, are lacking in virtues and honor, as well as in education.

I can state this with a great fortitude, for if they had been led through the educational regime of our forefathers, they would, at least, have an inkling of history and its teachings. Take for example Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman, philosopher, lawyer and political theorist, who described for his own declining republic correctly what also ails our own country today.

Cicero:  The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, the public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled. Assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. The mob should be forced to work and not be dependent on government for sustenance.

Wow! Does this not grab your attention? How could anyone state our current situation better than this great statesman and orator did more than two thousand years ago? He faced in Rome the dissolution of the republic for a democracy, or better kleptocracy enabling the politicians to keep their hands in the public till. For this, and his many oratories against outrages committed by politicians and other accusations against Roman would be tyrants he was killed by assassins in 43 BC. His teachings on the republic were part of the ground work that prepared our constitution. The Founding Fathers of the United States greatly valued his understanding of the republic and the cupidity of most politicians. To summarize: Would it not behoove every politician to study history, Cicero and especially our own constitution, which they seem to not know or seemingly have forgotten.

What has Happened to Legible Handwriting?

Because my blogs always deal with things that I am concerned about I must tell you this one will be no exception. My adorable grandsons wrote me lovely notes to thank me for a great vacation that I had prepared for them. Hikes in the mountains, explorations in a river, rides on ski lifts for grand views, which were followed by snow-ball-fights in August and of course very good food—you bet they had a lot to write about. Of course, the text was great, but the handwriting was execrable. What is wrong with schools today that teachers do not insist on students applying themselves to the discipline of writing?
I belong to a generation when your handwriting and signature proclaimed your state of study invested in all subjects. I cannot help myself but look at a terrible scribbled note and think that the writer does not take serious his/her business relationship with me or others.
Psychologist have discovered a few important truth: that repeated writing, until the letters flow easily and legibly, is a wonderful way of learning discipline besides forging new neural connections. Writing, learning to recite poetry by heart and commit profound prose to memory, together with art and music forms our brains, making them receptive to all the great things our culture has to offer. Therefore, I urge you—teach your children to write well-the computer will not all-ways be their companion.
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

To the Readers of this Blog

I just looked over comments to see if my material is relevant and interests readers. Among the spam I find often funny, charming and helpful comments.  Yes,  to you guys who asked about spam problems, I get a lot of it. I try to clean the slate but I there are thousands to go through. I haven't got the time. To those of you who asked about face-book, I have a page. If you want to comment, leave the comments below this blog I will place them on site. To those, who asked for help getting a blog started with proper outline, get a web-master. It costs, but it is worth it. I suggest my guy David Henson dhenson@cerifiednetworks.com. Nice guy, easy to work with, patient. He has a varied clientel from business people to movie-stars, authors, and guys running businesses out of a garage. He helps all of them.

To those of you, and you know who you are, who leave me these cute, kind and encouraging notes, I give my best thanks. You keep me writing. I will be taking a break for a while, until then, have a lovely summer. Sig

Islam's Virgins

Having researched the subject of marriage from an anthropological point of view, I knew of course that in many countries the ugly custom of child marriage persists. A large part of the world still views women, as in time not long ago, whole populations of humans in slavery were regarded. They were people without rights; people without courts for redress of crimes directed against them, people forced to obey the often most atrocious, disgusting whims of their masters. Slowly things have changed in the world. We pride ourselves with the delusion that slavery has been abolished. However, slavery of women is alive and well in many countries. The selling of very young women and female children into sham marriages is still a very lucrative business.

I know of course that in many Islamic countries, for example the Sudan, Somalia and others in the region, the old custom of selling, or contracting as brides female children in the cradle was still going on. Despite the laws against such customs and the voices in the halls of the United Nations rogue countries still persist with the custom. What utterly blew me away though, was a report on Palestinian Hamas guerillas. These men in their twenties to thirties were rewarded for their deeds with “virgins.” Oh my, I cringed when I saw the pictures of the rouged, made –up little girls in their white dresses. They were between the ages of eight and thirteen, trotting beside the huge grown men holding their little hands. So, these were the virgins.

Then, very recently, I read in the Wall Street Journal a report by Angus McDowall and Summer Said discussing the fatwa of Grand Mufti Sheik Fawzan. The cleric hails from Saudi Arabia—our ally and business partner. He decreed, that it was allowed for fathers to marry their cradle-bound baby-daughters to older boys or men. Now, one has to know that this cleric is one of the most important holy men in Saudi Arabia, a Grand Mufty, for God sakes. He positioned himself against the reformers in the Justice Ministry, who were ready to regulate the marriages of pre-pubescent girls and men. The Grand Mufty, in issuing his fatwa, based his ruling on “the laws of God,” thereby conveniently ignoring that the culture of sexual slavery is a cultural, not a divine institution. In his writ he states that it is permissible to marry the babies, but it is not permissible for their husbands to have sex with them--and here comes the real kicker—until they are capable of “being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the men.”

Oh, really? I know of perverts in our prisons who agree with the Grand Mufty on all counts. What is an acceptable age to force a child into sexual relations? When is her body strong enough to endure the sexual assault of an adult man? Oh, I know that the prophet married a six-year-old and was gracious enough to wait until she was nine-years-old before he had sex with her.

So why are the Islamic clerics in such a fury about laws that allow girls to have a childhood and grow to the age of reason, of perhaps seventeen and eighteen? It is quite easy to figure out. Such a one would be difficult to control. Such a one would not be quite the willing slave the men in these cultures have become used to. An Iranian friend of mine said jokingly, “Men lead the good life in Iran. The imam will allow you four wives, all young to be trained, and as many concubines as you wish. The women all jump when you clap your hands—what a great life. Our Iranian girls in the USA are witches. They don’t listen and try to make you suffer for all the sins of men back home.” (I think he got it, although he jokes.)

The horrors of the child-brides are well documented by doctors who work in Islamic and other countries with child-sex-slavery. The small brides often do not live through the first months of their marriage, quickly being replaced with another “virgin.” They suffer from urinary fistulas which, because of the constant dribble of urine and the accompanying smell, make them unacceptable to the families of the men. The poor children bear children much too early. They die in childbirth, bleeding to death or are left with pro-lapsed uteri. The latter is another reason for the woman to be pushed from the family of the man. Often they do not have a family willing to take them back. Eventually women in physical trouble find themselves in the street, earning a living as prostitutes. If they do not find a Western medical station willing to help they are doomed.

 

Will the Great Play of Western Civilization be Nothing but a Great Flop? (Part Five) Warning: this is a blog not for quick perusal.

So, how is it possible that the great Western Civilizations, and especially exceptional America—home of the brave, the just, the most giving country in the entire history of this planet, is teetering on the brink of destruction? How is it possible that the magnificent heroine in the play of Western Civilization is now lurching across the stage of history like a painted whore on crack cocaine?
One of the reasons is our new perception of ourselves as good, almost god-like creatures that can change the destiny of any man. History previously viewed man as a flawed, being in need of restraining by guilt, in need of chastisement to civilize his intrinsic cruel and selfish nature. Nowadays many people believe themselves to be good, and from this view, they project onto to criminals a believe of simple human erring, ignoring the old thoughts about evil expressed in psychopathy. This view skewed our perception of the responsibility for our own actions and the actions of others. In effect we abrogated our responsibility to hold others to their responsibility for their own bad choices and actions.
Our artists, too, have failed us. Instead of leading with inspiring, exciting art, for people to be uplifted, they served us “mockery, archness and irony”. John Armstrong in his book “In Search of Civilization” chastises the likes of Warhol, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons for serving up “provocation and newness as their only criteria.” He calls them a decadent cultural elite that insists on feeding us straw without nourishment. He also comments on our failing believe in our own righteousness—greatness, if you will, by stating, “It is possible to inherit a great civilization, without possessing the will to defend its ideals.”
Well, here we are: are we willing to defend the ideals of Western Civ., of America? I believe that, with very broad strokes of the writer’s brush I outlined some of our problems. Add to that, a new total disregard for the constitution that so ably served previous generations and you can see why America (and Europe) is embroiled in an enormous drama, a historic crisis, which unresolved, will lead to the end of the civilization we know.
Crushed by financial debt, yesterday our country’s credit rating has been downgraded for the first time in seventy years from triple A to double A+. Our schools, our laws and our security are in peril as we are beset by enemies on the inside and beyond our borders. We are morally, socially and ethically bereft. Yet, before we sink into an abyss of despair, let us take heart—we do have valiant heroes among us who still can rescue our flawed, teetering heroine. This is a unique moment in the drama—will these heroes be able to change the course in America? I personally believe Europe to be lost. But here, in this former bastion of exceptionalism, great men still reside. I see them seizing the opportunity to save the soul of what made this country great.
It is up to each and every one of us to cheer them on, support them and give them the moral strength and tenacity to overcome the enormous obstacles standing in their way. Beyond providing support to the heroes on the political stage, all of us are called to change the course of history by working together for a better, morally and spiritually healthier tomorrow for our children and grandchildren. Like the people in the "good" the healthy family, we, too, must uplift and help others. However, we must help everyone to assume their own lot, to become responsible for their own successes and their failures. In short we need to return to the simplicity of sanity, thereby ensuring that our grand play does not become a gigantic flop!

 

 


 

Will the Great Play of Western Civilization........(Part four) Warning: Not for quick perusal.

I know that I will get plenty of flak from the apologists for today’s teaching methods of behavior in the schools and the homes of Americans and Europeans. To them I quote a letter by Prof. David C. Rose, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis. In this letter he comments on the poor return from Bill Gates’s education effort. According to Prof. Rose, and I agree, “everyone who goes to school today is exposed to the same set of bad ideas.” He states that even private schools “teach in a manner that would be considered absurdly fanciful by ordinary teachers just a generation ago.” He names, as pernicious the idea taught to children, that the truth is “a mere social construct.”

As you remember I have commented on that fact of a flexible measure of truth earlier. To that we can add that once we have provided the basis for really bad behavior, we do little to discourage it, because we do not punish severely when needed. The British prison doctor and psychiatrist Anthony Daniels, better known under his pen-name Dr. Dalrymple, author of more than dozen books, states that our average convict when asked why he steals: “is like asking you why you have lunch.” Meaning, that the thief sees something he wants and he takes it. To that he adds, “And since in Britain, the state, does very little to discourage or incarcerate them when they are caught, the question is not why there are so many burglars, but why there are so few.” Dalrymple calls this phenomenon “the toxic cult of sentimentality.”

Yes, we do have a toxic brew of sentimental emotions, ranging from churched do-gooders to liberals, who would like to see every criminal, even the most horrible, evil creatures, rehabilitated. The thing that is hard to understand is, why these people cannot deal with hard facts right before their very eyes. I have tried to understand this kind of thinking and come up with two justifications for their belief system.

1.      One believes that goodness can overcome everything, because of the feel-good effect of being involved in the rehab of the awful wretches. The churched proponents for the rehabilitation of criminals bring a real dilemma to discussion. Did not Jesus say, forgive them seve times seventy? Yes, but he meant that in a spiritual not a physical sense. He would forgive many trespasses, but he also said give onto Ceasar what is Ceasar's do. Meaning, you follow the social and cultural dictates. If they mean incarceration--so be it!

2.      One has broken the law on occasions and dislikes the prospect of harsh punishment if found out or, failing that, one has a close relative or especially a child, who is a law-breaker, for whom long prison terms or the death penalty looms.

These are the only two reasons that I can come up with to excuse or, better illuminate the thinking of rehab-crowd. To those who argue everyone deserves a second chance I say, “Yes, everyone can fail and needs a second chance, but not the third, fourth and fifth. So, whence arises the above mentioned sentimentality in our society? It began with Dr. Freud who, despite some great insights into the psyche, also brought along a plethora of excuses for our short-comings. I mentioned Nietzsche, who did away with God and left bereft of strength any number of people who had withstood injustice, terror and deprivation through their spiritual connection to God. Furthermore, deprived of guidance by their churches, a false emotionalism combined with an unhealthy, sanctimonious apologia arose.

In Germany I noted this trend arising with the death of Chancellor Conrad Adenauer. The great old states man had reformed and shaped West-Germany after the war in a way-both forthright and self-examining. Yes, Germany repented for not having protected its minority, for allowing Nazism (Nationalsozialismus, National Socialism) to overtake the country. However, the country did not fall during this time into the abject emotionalism and the endless and totally unconstructive mea culpas of the following years. Guenter Grass’s, author of “Die Blechtrommel” (The Tin Drum,) is the perfect example of this trend. Unfortunately, one cannot weep one tear more for a cemetery of dead as one can for just one.

Oh, and then, at the turn of the century, we received the new crop of the “New Intellectual.” They are best described by having acquired a special, usually narrow, field of knowledge; and after receiving their PhD they feel free to regale the rest of us with their comments on all aspects of modern life. Of course, they feel entitled to comment on things they have no real knowledge of. Thus, they foam at the mouth on issues like child-rearing, teaching, justice—making it not a matter of right and wrong anymore, but a win for the lawyer most able to conceal and obscure the facts. They preach the new morality, lecture on health and nutrition, on the perils of being religious, culture, multi-culturalism—you name it, they know it.

Over the last forty years I have recorded, with pleasure, that these arrogant voices are usually wrong. On multi-culturalism, for example, they have just been rebuked by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who tersely remarked that the experiment of multiculturalism does not work. Similar comments came from French President Sarkozy and other European leaders. Never mind that theprogressive minds, advocating multiculturalism, are usually proven wrong, because they ignore sensible reasoning, but they also have endowed themselves with exceedingly large amounts of superiority, enabling them to survey with obvious contempt the plebeians—us—the herd so much beneath them.

They can do this without the benefits of studying a broad field of academic wisdom. Their one-sided eminence also entitles them to a sense of indignation. An indignation that allows them to criticize, label and tear down the achievements of others, not belonging to the fraternity of the Ivy-League or the academic left. The ideology emblazoned upon his psyche by the new-progressive professor, clothes him in with a mantle of superiority. People, more erudite than I, have evaluated their shallow veneer and found it wanting in substance. Marshall Mc. Luhan labels this arrogant attitude thusly, “It endowed the idiot with dignity.” Well put Marshall.

The aloofness of these contemporary intellectuals and politicians from the mob, their snobbery and readiness and to dictate their terms to the mindless electorate—us—was predicted by Friedrich Nietzsche in his writings. He promised a flood of irony, contempt and cynicism of intellectuals. For our country, his daunting outlook came true in the way of intellectuals, reformers and socialist politicians, who slavishly though, are trying to this day to emulate the snobbish, sneering sophisticates of Europe. They could never admire a Winston Churchill or a Margaret Thatcher, but never lost their lust for the stale, lukewarm brew of socialist thinking. Might I remind you here, that Hitler, too, was a national socialist?

These intellectual “leaders, “ the chaff of our academic elite, unable to follow a straight line of thought, still hang onto the tenets of defunct Europe with lolling tongues. Yes, they would love for great, astounding America, the envy of the entire world to fall into the same ditch that Europe has dug for itself. God help us should they succeed.

P. S. I just read this morning in the WSJ that Germany is now underwriting the entire default of Europe. Will I see my ex-countrymen finally demonstrating in the streets??? I doubt it! They have been castrated a long time ago!