I realized today that no dKosopedia entry for Michael Scanlon quotes existed, so I made sure to go over there and add the one where he calls the conservative Christian base "wackos". You remember, this one: "Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them. The wackos get their information form [sic] the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet, and telephone trees."
Anyway, that got me to thinking, "Maybe I should try to write some letters to the editors of Christian publications to give them the heads-up on being used cynically by the right wing." So, I looked up "Christian magazine" on Google and got a bunch of links. I skipped the progressive ones.
I came across an article called, "The Middle East's Death Wish--and Ours".
Link: http://tinyurl.com/...
"Well," I thought, "this ought to be interesting."
The article starts with a honest, if insouciant, short paragraph: "Conflict in the Middle East is nothing new. In fact, it is a chronic state of affairs. But developments in recent days may foreshadow a level of regional conflict that has not been seen in decades, if ever."
The author, David P. Gushee, goes on to give a brief explanation of the conflict.
Then, he... er... drops the first bomb: "It is not clear, but it has been intimated, that the Hamas kidnappers and the Hezbollah kidnappers are functioning under a central leadership. And it may be... the government of Iran."
Holy crap! I wonder if he is planning on sourcing that claim! Scanlon was wrong. It's not that Christians are being used unwittingly to promote the Bush administration's policies; it's that they are often entirely complicit tools of that policy.
He then goes on to take a shot at the U.N. while playing with nuclear scare tactics regarding Iran: "But it is doubtful whether the lumbering mechanisms of the United Nations can outrun Iran's apparently urgent efforts to enrich uranium and, quite likely, to develop nuclear weapons."
He then admits that "Iraq is riven by sectarian violence, and the great majority of U.S. military forces are tied down there at this time--and may be for some time to come" but refuses to blame the Bush administration for this, as if this war were something that had befallen our poor president. He simply claims that this unfortunate happenstance will "limit what the Bush administration can do to intervene" in this new conflict.
Now, here comes the bizarre hypocrisy.
He starts discussing Freud and his theory regarding a destructive human tendency that ole' Sigmund labeled the "death instinct." Gushee claims that we all have this instinct and this instinct is directed largely at our adversaries. He claims that this is what drives the Iranian government, Ahmadinejad in particular, to antagonize Israel.
Here is his proof. Behold, the money quote: "Disturbing reports out of Iran reliably suggest that Ahmadinejad may in fact be motivated by an apocalyptic form of Islam that envisions such massive destruction as a prelude to the return of the Hidden Imam who will then guide all humanity."
He then goes on to describe Ahmadinejad as a "messianic president" who "believes that apocalyptic destruction is a precursor to global salvation". He then goes on to say that he hopes for peace and that our government can help their governments avert total war.
George Bush, of course, doesn't believe anything like that messianic, apocalyptic, destructive salvation crap, right? Of course not. In fact, Gushee has faith, I'm sure, that Bush is, as always, on the job, seeking peace.
Scanlon may not have been right about right-wing Christians being "wackos", but they sure could use a little reflection.
Also, about the Scanlon quote, they don't seem to care. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/...