by Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n
Private Papers<\/em><\/p>\n A<\/span>cceptance of a double standard has always been a sign of inferiority.To let someone behave according to one set of principles or values while demanding that you be subjected to others is to validate a claim of superiority that justifies the inconsistent and unfair behavior. A double standard can also reflect incoherent thinking, a failure to apply consistently a principle that presumably has universal validity. In the West\u2019s struggle with Islamic jihad, doubts about the superiority of Western values have coupled with a breakdown in ethical reasoning. The result is the appeasement of jihadist aggression and the confirmation of the jihadist estimation of the West\u2019s corruption.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why many Muslims demand from Westerners a hypersensitivity to Islam, all the while that Christians and Jews in Muslim countries are subjected to harassment, assault, and the looniest kinds of slander and insult. In the West, respect for Muslim ways such as the veil for women is supposed to be granted as a self-evident right beyond argument or debate. Yet Western ideals and values, such as the equality of the sexes, are derided, disrespected, and rejected as self-evident evils. The worst inconsistencies, however, involve the violation of core Western ideals, most importantly free speech. Many Muslims demand the right to deny the Holocaust, recycle Nazi-era anti-Semitic drivel, characterize Christianity as polytheistic idolatry, and excoriate a decadent, corrupt Western civilization. But no such criticism of Mohammed or Islam is tolerated, but it is, in fact, met with violence and threats.<\/p>\n The past few years have seen numerous examples, from the riots over the extremely mild political cartoons featuring Mohammed, to the uproar over the Pope\u2019s quotation of a Byzantine emperor. The exercise of free speech in all these cases is met with rage, violence, and hysterical demands of \u201crespect\u201d for Islam, but there is no reciprocal respect for Western values. And for the most part, we in the West go along with this double standard, and thus accept the logic of the jihadist position: we are weak and unsure of our beliefs. Our craven behavior is a sign of our inferior status and our justified subjection to those who passionately believe in the rightness of their faith.<\/p>\n L<\/span>et\u2019s be clear on the roots of this cowardly response \u2014 the West has lost its faith. We have created John Lennon\u2019s juvenile utopia in which there is \u201cnothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.\u201d Shorn of transcendent validation, now all our beliefs are contingent and negotiable, easily traded away for security or comfort. At the same time, the therapeutic mentality bestows on the non-Western \u201cother\u201d a finely calibrated sensitivity to his culture, no matter how dysfunctional, all the while the West refuses to extend such consideration to its own. Why would it? Haven\u2019t generations of Western intellectuals and artists told the world how corrupt and evil the West is? Having culturally internalized this self-loathing, we are vulnerable to those who are filled with passionate intensity about the rightness of their beliefs and the payback due to us for our various historical sins such as colonialism or imperialism or globalization. And then we wonder why the jihadist considers us ripe for conquest, and destined to be subjected to the superior values of Islam.<\/p>\n Consider the following cautionary tale, from San Francisco State. Last October the College Republicans held an anti-terrorism rally during which posters painted to look like the flags of the terrorist gangs Hamas and Hezbollah were walked on. Since those flags have the name of Allah in Arabic, a complaint was filed in which the College Republicans were accused of \u201cincitement,\u201d \u201ccreation of a hostile environment,\u201d and \u201cincivility.\u201d The complaint is now headed for trial before one of those campus star chambers created to monitor and police student behavior.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to be a Constitutional scholar to see that this investigation is a gross violation of the students\u2019 First Amendment right to free speech. This sort of institutional intervention creates what the ACLU\u00ad\u00ad \u2014 which never seems to make a peep about this sort of \u201cprogressive\u201d censorship \u2014 likes to call a \u201cchilling effect.\u201d The Vice President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Robert Shilbey, has pointed out the obvious: \u201cAt a public university, stepping on a flag \u2014 even burning an American flag \u2014 is without question a constitutionally protected act of political protest. The right to protest is at the very heart of the First Amendment, and means nothing if only inoffensive expression is permitted.\u201d<\/p>\n H<\/span>ere\u2019s where the double standards and incoherence of much politically correct behavior comes in. On any college campus in this country, every day, inside of class and out, you can encounter speech that is \u201cinsensitive,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cuncivil,\u201d or \u201chostile.\u201d But of course, this speech is directed towards Christians, or \u201cconservatives,\u201d or Israel, or Republicans, or \u201cstraight white males.\u201d Nobody attempts to censor this speech or haul people before tribunals to answer vague charges such as \u201cincivility,\u201d which will be defined according to the subjective standards of the complainants. And if someone does complain, the faculty and administration will immediately go into high dudgeon mode and start preaching the glories of unfettered free speech no matter how offensive. In other words, free speech for me but not for thee.<\/p>\n But the ill effects of this hypocrisy are nothing compared to the damage done when the institution caters to the unreasonable demands of those Muslims who, convinced of their spiritual superiority and righteousness, are active enemies of the West and think they are justified in imposing their standards on everybody else, even if those standards violate a core political value such as free speech. And when the appeasement comes from the university, which supposedly exists in order to foster what Matthew Arnold called \u201cthe free play of the mind on all subjects,\u201d the message is quite clear: we don\u2019t really believe in all these goods we profess and benefit from, but we will abandon them at the first threat. And if we don\u2019t believe in them, why should the jihadist?<\/p>\n \u00a92007 Bruce Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How our therapeutic thinkers threaten Western values by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers Acceptance of a double standard has always been a sign of inferiority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,761],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1qR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":936,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/koran-burning-and-destructive-double-standards\/","url_meta":{"origin":5509,"position":0},"title":"Koran Burning and Destructive Double Standards","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine The riots and violence in Afghanistan over some accidentally burned Korans are following a script that by now is all too drearily familiar. As we have seen over the years with the riots over the Mohammed cartoons, Pope Benedict\u2019s comments about violence in Islam,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5245,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/muslims-have-desecrated-bibles-and-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":5509,"position":1},"title":"Muslims Have Desecrated Bibles and Churches","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 29, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"So what is all the mob angst over the Koran? by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The images of Muslims rampaging over rumors and unproven allegations of \u201cKoran abuse\u201d are troubling \u2014 but not because of the behavior of the mobs. What else should we expect from fanatics whose religion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5211,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/an-honest-missive\/","url_meta":{"origin":5509,"position":2},"title":"An Honest Missive","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Zawahiri boasts strategy for \"victory of Islam.\" by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The website of the\u00a0Director of National Intelligence\u00a0just published\u00a0a letterfrom Al Qaeda\u2019s number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head-terrorist in Iraq. This document repays careful reading, for it explodes much of the received wisdom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1226,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/jihadists-get-the-veto\/","url_meta":{"origin":5509,"position":3},"title":"Jihadists Get the Veto","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton RightNetwork.com The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity\u00a0\u2013 Yeats, The Second Coming Florida pastor Terry Jones called off his Koran-burning after President Obama and others in his administration joined the chorus of Americans asking him not to go through with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5468,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/murder-in-gaza-why-israel-and-not-fatah-is-demonized\/","url_meta":{"origin":5509,"position":4},"title":"Murder in Gaza: Why Israel and not Fatah is Demonized","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers In Gaza the fighting between Fatah and Hamas has escalated to the point of all-out civil war, replete with dead women and children, kneecapping, and handcuffed prisoners thrown from roofs. Meanwhile in Lebanon, the Lebanese army continues to shell a Palestinian refugee camp, with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5530,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-sage-and-the-sword\/","url_meta":{"origin":5509,"position":5},"title":"The Sage and the Sword","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Jihadists see West's tragic flaw in blinkered tolerance by Bruce S. 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