Lapdancers, or F-16s I am beginning to think that the west's greatest armaments - gyms, lapdancing and general decadence - may be of limited use in the coming conflict. Let me explain. I have always believed that the west need not fight wars; that history is on our side; that the allure of Hollywood, holidays in Ibiza, gleaming cars, barbeques on a well-watered lawn, that glorious capitalism can soften any radical nationalism, or fanatical religious belief; that sooner or later, they will all come around to the western way. Detente did more than Star Wars to bring down the Soviet bloc; as soon as travel and communication were relaxed sufficiently for east Europeans to see how far they had been left behind, the economic case for communist government crumbled, peacefully. Vietnam turned capitalist, and would have much earlier had the US just let events take their course. Call it zen capitalism: surrender, and win. And this is why I am worried now. The Arab terrorists who attacked the twin towers and the Pentagon had tasted the west. Some had spent years in Germany and other western countries, and spoke proficient English. At least one had an engineering degree. And, most disturbing of all: they, or their sympathizers, buffed up at high-end fitness gyms, and relaxed with lapdancers [see below]. Why disturbing? Because the militants tasted the west - wealth, safety, education, vanity, sex - and resisted. And, if seduction does not work, destruction may be the only answer. Suspected Terrorists Worked Out In Local Gyms AP: lapdancing BBC: Bin Laden's middle class killers Washington Post: Heineken, adult video stores, Chinese takeaways Agents of terror leave their mark on Sin City / Las Vegas workers recall the men they can't forget#
friday, september 21
Blaming the victim I have been outraged less by the attack on the twin towers than the self-hating liberal western apology for the actions of Islamic radicals. After all, the suicide bombers were at least true to their cause. From the start, it was ludicrous to call them cowards. It was an audacious attack which may well serve their purpose: humble the west, radicalize the moslem world, and sharpen the clash between civilizations. For deeply suicidal behavior, look no further than the woolly-thinking western liberals who have rushed to blame the west for its own suffering. Islamic radicals see no division between church and state, hate gays and subjugate women, and extinguish dissent. They despise every liberal value, and it is extraordinary that any liberal would expend more energy in understanding Islamic radicals' motives than in defending the liberal cause. Love thine enemy is a fine motto; understand thine enemy is a fine policy; but some of the woolly-thinkers are taking sympathy to the point of self-hatred, and self-hatred to the point of political suicide. Some context: first the column in the Guardian that first set me off on this rant; then Amos Brown, the Bay Area politician who used a memorial service for one of the victims of last week's attacks to blame US policy; and a couple of excellent retorts, one from Christopher Hitchens, a real liberal, the other from The Economist. A taster, from Hitchens: "Loose talk about chickens coming home to roost is the moral equivalent of the hateful garbage emitted by Falwell and Robertson, and exhibits about the same intellectual content. Indiscriminate murder is not a judgment, even obliquely, on the victims or their way of life, or ours." Guardian: They can't see why they're hated SF Chronicle: Heaping insult onto injury Economist: The roots of hatred Christopher Hitchens: Let's not get too liberal#
Zeitgeist Some strange pattterns in internet search terms, and purchasing patterns. Nostradamus still top of the Lycos top 50 search terms. More interestingly, people began searching for Nostradamus immediately after the attacks on the twin towers, according to Google's zeitgeist statistics. Well before the email hoax became widespread. People are also looking for information on "american flag" - where to buy one, I presume. And, interestingly, Cantor Fitzgerald, the securities firm that was devastated by the attack, made the Lycos top 50.
Russians warn of Afghanistan’s perils Alexander Lebed, general-turned-politician, remembers Russia's own war in Afghanistan: "For every town annihilated, perhaps one mujaheddin was killed. The rest were innocent. The survivors hated us and lived with only one idea — revenge. They are wolves, these people.”#
Reconstruction of the twin towers Sent by a friend, an image of the proposed reconstruction of the twin towers as a light structure. Supposedly the front cover of the coming issue of New York Magazine. A counterpoint to the black on black image of the buildings on the New Yorker.#
tuesday, september 18
Transparent New York A beautiful interactive map of Manhattan, and its development, from Skyscraper.com. Click the 1965-75 button to see the Twin Towers go up.#
Richard Dawkins, fanatical atheist, on religious fanatics "Given that they are certainly going to die, couldn't we sucker them into believing that they are going to come to life again afterwards? Yes, testosterone-sodden young men too unattractive to get a woman in this world might be desperate enough to go for 72 private virgins in the next."#
Urban Legends: Did Famed Seer Nostradamus Predict the World Trade Center Attack? In these crazy times, some normally rational friends of mine have described the uncanny echoes between the attack on New York and some of the prophesies of Nostradamus. Under the surface, we're all so superstitious. I usually snort, but the ever-useful urban legends site has debunked this modern-day Nostradamus myth.#
Bin Laden 'share gains' probe If true, genius. Trading on insider knowledge of impending terrorist attacks. Of course the US government could also make a killing, so to speak. How about buying up stocks of heroin ahead of the attack on Afghanistan, source of much of the world's supply of the drug.#
The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town Rebecca Mead - the New Yorker's resident weblog correspondent since she wrote You've Got Blog - writes on the aftermath of the New York attack.#
Lapdancers, or F-16s
"Loose talk about chickens coming home to roost is the moral equivalent of the hateful garbage emitted by Falwell and Robertson, and exhibits about the same intellectual content. Indiscriminate murder is not a judgment, even obliquely, on the victims or their way of life, or ours."![](http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/nostradamus_graph_sm.gif")
