September 19, 2003

WHICH NIGHT? IS IT THE NIGHT THEY LEFT FOLLOWING MOSES OR THE NIGHTS THEY LEFT FOLLOWING ANTI-SEMITIC RIOTS, OR THE NIGHT THEY LEFT AFTER A "MAD" POLICEMAN KILLED SEVEN ISRAELI TOURISTS AFTER THE CAMP DAVID AGREEMENTS? OR, ARE THOSE MODERATE PEACE LOVING ARABS FILING SEVERAL SUITS?

These sentiments, quite pathetic really and so anti-Semitic they might have been thought up by Goebbels, makes me think of two Highland proverbs.

IS MALL ADHART NA LEISGE
Slow is the progress of the lazy.
and
NI DROCH DHUINE DAN DA FHEIN.
A bad man makes his own destiny.

This fantasy-lawsuit against the Jews being planned by Dr. Nabil Hilmi and co. sounds like a nationalist diatribe from a MECHA or Chicano-nationalist- off the deep end website. In extreme "Chicano" circles "Chicanos" become (a complete lie and fabrication) "indigenous" Americans to whom all Spain, England and especially the deep pockets of the USA owe reparations. By such logic, I as the descendant of fugitive Celts, deserve restitution from the English Crown, Italy and why not Germany and Austria. I am just happy my ancestors managed to survive and these countries are beginning to acknowledge the Celtic ASPECTS of their heritage (as opposed to becoming "Celts" and denying their mixed heritage.)

But wait! If the Egyptians invoke the ancient Jewish presence in the Near East they might strengthen the "Zionist" claim to the Holy Land! Well at least over there somebody is acknowleges how long the Jews have been around. How about acknowledging that the Jews have succeeded as a people -historically- and the Israeli state presently because of their courage, hard work, intellect, strong faith and ability to educate and transmit values under the most difficult of conditions over centuries?

If the Jews are rich, independent, well-educated and free and export grapefruit to Germany from land that was arid desert 60 years ago this has nothing to do with "stealing" silver and gold thousands of years ago. That would be like saying that Spain's modern economic success was based on the silver of Guanajuato and Potosi when in fact it is based on the fact that Spain did not begin to modernized UNTIL it lost its obsolete empire and its present "wealth as a nation" has very little to do with its colonial empire.

Richard John Newhaus has written (FIRST THINGS OCTOBER 2003):
"The tragedy of the Palestinians, including their "refugee" status is chiefly attributed to a corrupt leadership that has exploited them as pawns in the service of Arab states set upon the destruction of the Jewish state..."

The truth is that the Arabs are in general very lax in applying the factors of production and investing in human capital. They make the Mercantilists of the 18th century seem like the greatest entrepreneurs of history! The truth is the Arabs are, in the words of Auld Pop, who saw them first hand in Egypt and Palestine, NON-PRODUCERS. Complainers, yes, producers no. You sweat you get, you snooze you lose! Or as the Highlanders said "Slow is the progress of the lazy". Instead of debating "lost treasures" that probably never existed those Arab gentlemen should immigrate to Australia (or Antartica) and work for a living. But of course it is easier to complain, drink coffee and be waited on by charges of the opposite sex. The Arabic countries will continue to decline in influence as long as they remain behind Greece in the number of translated books. Modern, prosperous Spain translates more books every year than have been translated in the ENTIRE HISTORY OF ISLAM into ARABIC. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that Gaelic cultures have translated more books than Arabic countries. The Aeneid, for example, was translated into Gaelic 1000 years ago and NYU alone, as I recall had hundreds of Gaelic books (though most were not translations).

A bad man makes his own destiny and a lazy people remain second rate students, second rate merchants and third world countries. Just wait till the oil runs out.
If Israel can survive the Age of Petroleum they just might be all right because the Arabic countries will implode into revolution, starvation and civil war after which they can immigrate to Brooklyn and start all over again as Mormons. At the rate they are going it's their only hope. In other words if you love your culture and religion, boys, GET A JOB and stop whining about the "rich Jews". I have no patience for people who hatefully blame others for their own shortcomings.

Great minds discuss ideas;
Average minds discuss events;
Small minds discuss people.
~ ~Eleanor Roosevelt

MUNRO's COMMENTARY:
> 'Tis true that Mrs. Roosevelt's quotation is pithy but is it true? Is it
in fact a great quotation, a memorable quotation?
> 'Tis true, perhaps, that small minds and small souled men and lassies
> endlessly reminisce and gossip.
> 'Tis true that average folk read the papers, listen to the news and watch
> O'Reilly to learn the events -and weather of the day- things that could
> affect their business and personal safety and are they not wise to do so?
> The run of the mill folk must attend to daily affairs with much greater
care
> than great ladies of the commonwealth such as Mrs. Roosevelt who have
> servants and secretaries to tend to their every need and comfort and to
> raise or help raise their children who may not raised as well, as
personally
> and as lovingly as they should be. People make choices and it is
> interesting and instructive to discuss what choices people make and
evaluate
> their choices.
> (Oh, here I am discussing PEOPLE AND THEIR CHARACTER AND THEIR
DECISIONS...
> but I fear not being called a small minded individual, I fear not making
> judgments.)
> 'Tis also true that men and women of mature independent mind discuss ideas
> and perhaps contemplate the mysteries of life, creation, civilization and
> what may come after it. Those who discuss such ideas need not be "great
> minds" nor "original thinkers". They merely must be in contact with the
> "great books" the great ideas and the "great minds" who created them. And
> ,perhaps, they might just put in their "two cents worth." Never
> underestimate the practical common sense and wisdom of the men and lassies
> of the world who build the world, nurture the world and when necessary
bear
> arms and lay down their lives to defend it.
> There is a lot to be said about the perspective and empirical wisdom of
the
> "trenches".
> It has been said that no one even considered the armored "tank" and its
> possibilites until a veteran soldier serving in a Scottish regiment, Sir
> Winston Churchill, serving in the front lines of "Plugstreet" in 1916,
came
> to the conclusion that the generals should try something else besides
> massive artillery barrages followed by unsupported infantry frontal
assaults
> across the no man's land against the murderous fire of concealed and
> fortified German long range automatic weapons firing at a rate of 500
rounds
> per minute.
> Churchill came to the conclusion after extensive discussion and
coversation
> with the men as well as officers he served with and their knowledge -based
> on their experiences and observations- and their suggestions helped him
> create the concept for the first armored assault vehicle called the
"tank".
> Like many new ideas this creation and its pracitical application -for
> Churchill knew little about mechanics- was the result of the work and
effort
> of many minds working together. "All God's children have a place in the
> choir, some sing low and some sing higher", as the old Scottish saying
goes
> and we should not denigrate the contributions of either the "hairst"
> lassies -the workers- nor the base laddies who put in their two cents
worth
> and who do more than their share of heavy lifting.
> An empirical acquaintence with current facts and real situations, perhaps
> unperceived, as yet unknown or unpublished, as opposed to stale facts and
> half-truths, rises to a scientific knowledge of facts as soon as the mind
> discovers beneath the multiplicity and ever-changing complexity of the
> challenges and problems confronting the individual and his or her group
> effort the most important fact of all: not all things can be known and all
> human experience and knowledge is by necessity flawed, imperfect and
> incomplete. Wisdom we know is better than wealth. But is it better than
> health and survival?
> Wisdom is knowledge, of course, made our own and properly applied is a
> powerful card indeed, but wisdom, like Sergeant Death, ought not to be too
> proud.
> There are things greater and stronger than death and likewise there are
> things greater and stronger than the human mind (and body). It is the
> supreme wisdom it to know ourselves and what we really are. We must be
aware
> to be truly wise, in my view, of the simple fact of our mortality, our
> imperfections, our tendency towards selfishness and sin, our
> short-sightedness, our relative deafness, our love of pleasure and rest,
> our -as yet- untamed instincts and desires of our animal nature.
> So human an animal we are, godlike in power to the lesser animals and our
> friends the dogs and the cats but far less than gods. We may have been
made
> in the image of God but we are petty mortal creatures here today and gone
> tomorrow. "Vanity of vanity, all is vanity' sang the wise maker of songs.
> "Now clad in gold, now in ash" sang the bard contemplating the same theme.
> We are just mere players on a great human team across the centuries and
the
> enduring achievements of the team, as a team, over time, the survival and
> success of the team -our community- our nation- our line, our "race" and
the
> transmission of knowledge, values and wisdom are more important than the
> thoughts or efforts of any single individual no matter how "great". In the
> final analysis we are all just "Jock Tamson's Bairns"; we are all under
God,
> we are all God's born ones, soon to grow and soon to die. "As the
> generations of leaves so are the generations of mankind."
> We conclude by returning to the original statement.
> 'Tis true that Mrs. Roosevelt's quotation is pithy, but is it true?
> I would conclude that Mrs. Roosevelt's statement is sophistic rhetoric and
> not especially wise nor original though the sequence of categories, ideas,
> events and people is interesting.
> My AP students know that is equally important to know people as to know
> chronologies, events and the influence of ideas on the same. All the
> ingredients of the Olla Podrida, the Potpourri add to the flavor and
> substance of the stew. Some rise to the top and some stir the pot up but
> the entire heterogeneous mixture may melt in the end to create a create
> hybrid vigor or a tasty harmonious hotchpotch of the first degree. And
who
> can claim to be the indispensable ingredient?
> No 'tis far truer to say that GREAT MINDS ARE CREATORS.
> GREAT MINDS FORGE AND CREATE IDEAS NOT MERELY DISCUSS THEM.
> GREAT MINDS COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS AND ALLY THEMSELVES WITH DOERS.
> The greatest minds, the trained minds, though not preoccupied with gossip,
> are glad of human intelligence and human cooperation wherever they can get
> it.
> Even from a high born well married lady, the descendant of Dutch rose,
> cheese and slave merchants.
> :o)
> RKM