We drove through parts of Brittany (Bretagne) yesterday.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
President Trump called the perpetrators of the Manchester attack \u201closers.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That seems to me, frankly, the kind of insubstantial thing that a teenager might say to express hostility\u00a0and anger, but it also seems to reflect a poverty of vocabulary.<\/p>\n
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The British prime minister described the attack as \u201ccowardly.\u201d<\/p>\n
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But that seems to me clearly false. \u00a0Whatever else he might be, a suicide bomber doesn\u2019t appear to be especially \u201ccowardly.\u201d<\/p>\n
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There are lots and lots of other adjectives that might be more suitable and accurate in characterizing the mass murder of young girls at a pop music concert: \u00a0\u201cDisgusting\u201d comes to mind. \u00a0As does \u201cdepraved.\u201d \u00a0As do \u201cimmoral\u201d and \u201ccontemptible.\u201d \u00a0\u201cEvil.\u201d \u00a0And so forth. \u00a0(Are we losing the language of unashamed moral condemnation?)<\/p>\n
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I also need to admit that I simply don\u2019t see the point of such despicable killings.<\/p>\n
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When attacks happen in Islamic and\/or Middle Eastern countries, I understand that the attackers hope to drive Westerners out, to topple pro-Western regimes, etc.<\/p>\n
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But the British won\u2019t be driven out of Britain.<\/p>\n
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Is it merely a violent expression of rage and hatred? \u00a0Thuggery given a veneer of supposed high purpose? \u00a0Sometimes, it seems so. \u00a0I can see no plausible \u201cpolicy\u201d angle, no specific and achievable political result.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If these repulsive people had set out purposefully to poison the image of Islam among non-Muslims, to destroy its appeal to decent outsiders, to make it a synonym in many minds for nihilistic evil, they couldn\u2019t possibly have done so any more effectively.<\/p>\n
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Posted from Pontorson, Normandy, France<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 President Trump called the perpetrators of the Manchester attack \u201closers.\u201d \u00a0 That seems to me, frankly, the kind of insubstantial thing that a teenager might say to express hostility\u00a0and anger, but it also seems to reflect a poverty of vocabulary. \u00a0 The British prime minister described the attack as \u201ccowardly.\u201d \u00a0 But that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":42339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>