For Your Consideration
The BBC notes that Ayatollah Fadlallah tributes divide opinion
A Shia cleric dies in Lebanon and a CNN journalist gets fired for her tweet praising him while a British ambassador is made to apologise for eulogising him on her blog.
…His writings often sought to justify the use of violence, starting with the preface to his 1985 book, Islam and the Logic of Force.
“Civilisation does not mean that you face a rocket with a stick or a jet-fighter with a kite, or a warship with a sailboat,” he wrote.
“One must face force with equal or superior force. If it is legitimate to defend self and land and destiny, then all means of self-defence are legitimate.”
…
Well, obviously a terrorist talking about self-defense, not a reasonable statesman like US politicians –
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
Barry Goldwater, acceptance speech as Republican candidate for President, 1963
Ummm … Never mind….
2 comments
But… but… Barry Goldwater was WHITE! And Fallalala was *BROWN*, and had a name that sounded like a Christmas jingle too!
No racism here, nosiree… ;).
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
Gee, I wonder why a Shi’ia cleric in Lebanon would be concerned with self-defense in the 1980’s. You don’t think there might have been something going on then?
Everyone knows that brown people have no right to get upset when white people overthrow their governments. arm their enemies, fire shells the size of Volkswagens into villages, etc. Brown people are just supposed to understand that it is for “their own good”.