"Guilty on All Counts"

"How hard it is for intellectuals, in particular, to shed the illusion that all conflict is the result of misunderstanding or ignorance! In fact, of course, if the jihadis got to know us they would hate us even more. It is not because of what they don't know about us that they want to kill us but because of what they do know, namely that we are a liberal society inclined to tolerance towards other religions, respectful of individual freedom and privacy in matters of sexual practice and insistent on the full humanity of women and their rights of citizenship. As a recent YouGov poll in Britain discovered, a third of British Muslims were prepared to agree with the proposition that "Western society is decadent and immoral, and Muslims should seek to bring it to an end."

Boy, have they got us pegged! It's true, we are self-indulgent, frequently immoral (or at least more open and unashamed about our immorality than they are), addicted to mindless entertainments, and lax in our religious observance. Above all, at least in the view of such a traditional society as the Muslims have been able to preserve, we are shockingly lewd about exposing our bodies in public. Everything about us proclaims that we are infidels -- and not only to the fanatics but to ordinary Muslims as well. But the only conciliatory gestures likely to placate the fanatics in the slightest -- our conversion to Islam, for example, or the compulsory return of women to domestic tasks only -- are unthinkable."--James Bowman

August 4: And dig this snappy comparison from the NRO. Great minds. http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/goldblatt200508040833.asp