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THE NEW BLAME AMERICA FIRSTERS. Is it just me or does it seem like conservatives, since losing the Congress, have become even less tethered to reality than usual? First, we have George Will arguing that the appropriate minimum wage is $0, and then Michael Ledeen posts an exclusive "scoop" on the "death" of Ayatollah Khamenei. (Whoops -- I guess he must have been writing in the fantasy tense.) And now there's this upcoming forum at the Heritage Foundation:
The Enemy at HomeThe Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11 Speaker: Dinesh D�Souza....Dinesh D�Souza provocatively posits that the cultural left and its allies in Congress, the media, Hollywood, the nonprofit sector, and the universities are the primary cause of the volcano of anger toward America that is erupting from the Islamic world. He argues that the cultural left is responsible for 9/11 in two ways: by fostering a decadent and depraved American culture that angers and repulses other societies � especially traditional and religious ones � and by promoting, at home and abroad, an anti-American attitude that blames America for all the problems of the world.Muslims and other traditional people around the world allege that secular American values are being imposed on their societies and that these values undermine religious belief, weaken the traditional family, and corrupt the innocence of children. D�Souza contends that it is not �America� that is doing this to them, but the American cultural left. What traditional societies consider repulsive and immoral, the cultural left considers progressive and liberating.Taking issue with those on the right who speak of a �clash of civilizations,� D�Souza argues that the war on terror is really a war for the hearts and minds of traditional Muslims � and traditional peoples everywhere.Yeah, if only people in "Congress, the media, Hollywood, the nonprofit sector, and the universities" would adopt a more Taliban-like stance toward women and families, we could solve that pesky al-Qaeda problem. Good to know! It's not like Islamic states have any of their own internal conflicts over modernity or anything, or as if organized U.S. government policy in the Middle East has any impact on things. And certainly a stalwart right-wing institution like the Heritage Foundation couldn't be sponsoring an America-bashing forum -- heavens no! -- because everybody knows that liberals aren't real Americans.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
