I must say that I find all the fuss over the supposed humiliation of ex-mass-murdering-fascist-dictator Saddam Hussein because his ENT exam was shown on tv to be quite curious. In all my years of having doctors peer at my uvula with the aid of tongue depressors I had no idea that I was undergoing something that should only be spoken of in whispers, and that the very memory of having my throat and teeth examined should now bring a blush of crimson shame to my face. As I said in the comment section of the above-linked post, you would think that Hussein had been stripped naked and displayed in a public square in Baghdad.
But I can identify this ostentatious display of compassion on the part of Cardinal Martino and others: I believe it has to do with something the Christians call "pride." Remember that? "I'm better than you," these caretakers of Hussein's human dignity are saying. "I'm so full of love for humanity that I even refuse to feel anything but pity and sorrow for mass murderers! Beat that, Americans/Righties/Warmongers/Whatever!"
I also find this concern over Hussein's sensibilities amusing in a culture which seems to have othewise consigned human dignity to the landfill. Suddenly the same "liberal," "progressive" forces that want to have sex ed in kindergarten and are up in a fuss because some woman in Texas got arrested for selling a dildo also seem to be behind this new prudery concerning a ruthless fascist dictator's feelings. Can you spell "hypocrites"? I knew you could.
Update: Lee Harris (no relation) on moral instinct versus moral imagination. Via Instapundit.
Second update - I just can't get enough: Hey, compassion junkies, is this better? (Via Damian Penny.)
Posted by Andrea Harris at December 18, 2003 06:52 AMHEY! Who gives a flying star-spangled fuck if Saddam was embarrassed? I mean really? Who gives a damn about the feelings of a freakin' mass-murdering dictator? He had children killed and piled into mass graves with their dolls!
Dear Lord...
[Read the above in a Sam Kineson shoutfest form.]
Posted by: Yahmdallah at December 18, 2003 at 11:38 AMIf the people who display compassion towards Saddam have also displayed an equal amount of compassion towards each and every one of his victims, then I would sympathize with them.
If they haven’t displayed much sympathy towards his victims, then I’d assume that they’re just elitists who are afraid of losing power and respect the way Saddam has.
It seems to be a completely selfish reaction. Love of humanity has absolutely nothing to do with this.
Posted by: mary at December 18, 2003 at 08:15 PMGreat post, Andrea. The trick of people like this Cardinal is to pretend (to themselves and others) that they are exhibiting traditional virtues (humility, compassion, etc) while actually indulging in traditional sins (pride, arrogance, wilful ignorance)...
Posted by: David Foster at December 18, 2003 at 08:54 PMI think this Cardinal has done more harm to the Catholic Church's image that he can even fathom. I mean what a total bloody idiot. I have to admit that I actually lol at that comment.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge at December 19, 2003 at 08:22 AMDid Americans like it when the Somalis took the corpses of American soldiers and dragged them through the streets?
Does the Geneva convention expressly prohibit such actions?
If we ignore Geneva conventions that are the simplest to follow, why should the terorrists avoid non-military targets?
If Aliens came down and told Bush he had to disarm or American would be invaded, and they would start the war with a special missile strike at wherever they thought Bush was hiding, Bush would fail.
Why? Because the US DoD does its own audit and it is usually off by ONE TO TWO TRILLION DOLLARS.
And we expect an impoverished, corrupt dictatorship to keep track of every weapon he ever produced or destroyed?
Brzezinksi told Saddam to invade Iran.
April Glapsie told Sadam he could invade Kuwait.
The human rights abuse stuff comes from the day when Bush's father was VP, not now. You can't pretend that he had WMD, since they there is no record ON EARTH of him having any since NINETEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO.
The sanctions, under Bush, Clinton and Bush, were a mad lie, as was this sick, greedy war.
NEW DICTATORS WE WILL HAVE TO DESTROY LATER, MEMBERS OF THE COALITION OF THE WILLIING: AZERBAIJAN... former Communist ruler's son is now President, elected fraudulently. UZBEKISTAN... former Communist ruler wins with 95% of the vote, ERITREA, fun fun fun in the Horn of Africa sun!
Posted by: Josh Narins at December 20, 2003 at 07:09 PMOh Josh, you're so cute. But you're not posting your shit here. Say bye-bye, Josh.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at December 20, 2003 at 09:08 PMApril Glaspie did not tell Saddam he could invade Kuwait. She told him we would not take sides in an inter-Arab dispute. Since the Arab League has a rule that members must not attack each other, this sophisticated, experienced diplomat seems to have naively thought that the dispute would remain peaceful. Saddam, ignorant of the outside world, took it as a green light to invade, just as the Commies in 1950 took Adlai Stevenson's failure to mention Korea as part of our defense perimeter as a green light to invade.
Incidentally, one to two trillion dollars is up to half or more of the entire US Federal budget, of which the DOD part is about 15%. That would make their arithmetic even worse than that of liberals counting votes, which I doubt.
When are lefties going to grow up, not just grow older?
Posted by: Michael Lonie at December 21, 2003 at 11:22 PM