One of the things I've learned since 9/11 is the relevance of the Muslim Brotherhood and its founder, Sayyid Qutb, to the current state of jihadi thought. Apparently he was completely shocked by the liberal social conditions of Greely, Colorado in 1949 and went back to Egypt to found fundamentalism. In perhaps his only good political move, Nasser had him killed.
Now, Greely was a dry town made up of solid, conservative citizens. Pornography was banned, there was no legal abortion, profanity especially in front of women was rare, and a tremendously high proportion of the populace believed in God. This article blames the color line for some of ol' Kiljoy's hostility, but as an Egyptian Arab Moslem Fundamentalist the idea of social and legal barriers between ethnicities would not have shocked him.
Now this particular bit of his writing gets me:
"The American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs -- and she shows all this and does not hide it."
Well, first of all, who does not know that? I mean is this some unique American knowledge picked up through the McGuffey Reader and/or Uncle Miltie? I've been all over the world and pending my next Yurt inspection or the igloo housed sororities of the Yukon I think the cat's out of the bag on this one pretty much everywhere. Second of all "she shows all this and does not hide it?" In 1949? Apparently my photos of the period have all been photochopped. Also, even though I figure most girls know this, old Sayyid is projecting a bit. In general experience its very difficult for an attractive girl to remember every moment of the day the effect she has on men. Men never forget, except during playoff season.
But back to my main non-salacious point. We are being attacked by people who think Sayyid here has an accurate view of American history and who think American cultural norms circa 1949 were too loose and lascivious. Now I would be perfectly happy if our entertainment and cultural/sexual legal and social atmosphere were exactly as they were in 1960-64, but if you are willing to kill to avoid the over sexualized culture milieu of 1949 Greely, you need help.
But why isn't the Left raising the alarm here? Plunk me down in 1949 Greely Colorado and I'm going to be ok (especially if I can find one of Sayyid's rocking parties and a flask):
"They danced to the tunes of the gramophone, and the dance floor was replete with tapping feet, enticing legs, arms wrapped around waists, lips pressed to lips, and chests pressed to chests. The atmosphere was full of desire..."
But you put Jean Garofalo, Kos, Barney Frank, Michael Moore or any member of NOW back there and it would kill them. Every Rock Musician, Feminist, Gay Warrior, vegetarian, journalist and college professor ought to be four square against the ideology we are fighting. Why aren't they?
hat tip to the crazy guy Harry Hutton
2 comments:
I was in Greeley 25 or so years ago, but the only fundamentalist-type thought I could come up with was that it was hot as hell. No gramophones either, and forget about the milieu.
Of course, my parents were with me so maybe they set off the Decency Siren before we hit town.
So you're telling me that the spawn of Islamic fundamentalism is line dancing? And I always thought that it was disco.
JWT
P.S. Welcome back, Dave.
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