if...then

I can’t stay away from the non-fiction forever. I’ve slowed in my progress through Harafish because I had reserved The Enemy at Home at the Arlington library and it popped to the top of my queue faster than expected – I had no choice. Dinesh D’Souza authors this tirade at the liberal left and places blame for the September 11th attacks squarely at the feet of those that espouse and export pornography, homosexual acts, divorce, Britney Spears, and atheism to the Islamic world. There are a bunch of impressive quotes and verbiage thrown about, but according to D'Souza there is no other reason for the flames of hate beyond our exporting of liberal culturalism…none. I had no idea that I supported and exported such causes, or that my ‘membership’ in this vast political grouping could cause fury on such a level. D’Souza is a sitting fellow at Stanford University so I’d expect more from him than what appears to be a wholly illogical argument. It’s not his opinion that frustrates but his complete lack of any ability to support his opinion without turning back onto himself and contradicting everything he already claimed. I’d never suppose that I could understand how radical Islam sees America (I don’t think he can either) and I can’t fathom what drives anyone so deeply into religion, but I do know that I could at least frame and support a thesis much better than D’Souza. His pontificating doesn’t bother me, he’s just another ‘thinker’ that falls into that group on the commentary playground that does nothing but point at and blame others. His position would be irrelevant on any issue because no matter where D’Souza found himself standing he’d be blaming everyone else for all the woes of the world. His fame reminds me of the time during the build-up to the Iraq war when people confused brain power with smartness or common sense. I remember when people were questioning the run-up to war, mostly famous people whose voices were heard above the fray, and we ended up with those email chain letters showing up in inboxes spewing vile at anyone questioning the war. They tried to subtly point out that George Clooney didn’t go to college so how could he possibly know anything? Condi Rice DID…so she’s smart as a whip. D’Souza holds sway for the same reason – book smart, well-educated, professor at Stanford – but he couldn’t figure out how to get from Foggy Bottom to DuPont Circle on the Metro because that would require the ability to actually analyze something and come to a logical conclusion based on that analysis. I’m sure when he ended up lost he’d blame the train drivers, station managers, and his inability to figure out how to use a SmartTrip card.