You may recall hearing that the deranged Reverend Rod Parsley (a John McCain endorser) was quoted as saying that "the United States was formed to fight the threat of Islam". If you are like me, that must have sounded so nuts that you ignored it. But here is a link to the rightwing propaganda site "Pajamas Media" that publishes dodgy GOP and neo-con intellectual rationales for war and various GOP causes. This article is intended to support Parsley's claim. Well, okay, not for a fight against Islam as the reason for the founding of the United States, but the author claims it was the basis for the creation of a strong central government and the Constitution.
Anyhow, here is what purports to be our national heritage as fighters against Islam. "The shores of Tripoli" and all that. I rather suspect that the local ruler's invocation of Islam as the rationale for his piracy was self-serving, rather than a deeply-held religious belief. The reason WHY they were pirates probably was that it was a highly lucrative business endeavor, not that it was in any sense something they did as a religious duty.
There is some interesting information there, though how much of this to take on face value is always a question. The site is linked to "Vets For Freedom" a 527 set up to support Republican candidates and rally support for the Iraq War. Not exactly a neutral source. But if you want a preview of themes that may pop up in the future, here they are. It may be too early to argue that McCain is a proponent of an Endless War of cultures between the Christian west and the Muslim east, but don't bet against that theme surfacing during his campaign, either overtly or in "dog whistle" fashion. And isn't that an interesting term? I kept hearing it without really understanding it, but what I finally realized is that it is what used to be called "code words". Reagan used "states rights" as a code when he was talking in the south and what he wanted his listeners to hear was "we're gonna keep those negrahs down for you". Lovely guy, the "gipper". One of nature's noblemen, who by all accounts was deranged enough to tell visitors that he helped liberate concentration camps, though his only WW II service was in a pr wing of the army. Amazing. Everyone knew Reagan was nuts and did nothing about it.
Anyhow, back to the term "dog whistle". It refers to high-frequency "silent" dog whistles, that only a dog is able to hear. It means a candidate can say certain things that only their red-meat partisans can understand, while to others the reference or term used sounds a bit odd, but fairly harmless.
Wikipedia says the same thing and gives an interesting history of the terminology, tracking its first use back to Australia.
Arthur
Anyhow, here is what purports to be our national heritage as fighters against Islam. "The shores of Tripoli" and all that. I rather suspect that the local ruler's invocation of Islam as the rationale for his piracy was self-serving, rather than a deeply-held religious belief. The reason WHY they were pirates probably was that it was a highly lucrative business endeavor, not that it was in any sense something they did as a religious duty.
There is some interesting information there, though how much of this to take on face value is always a question. The site is linked to "Vets For Freedom" a 527 set up to support Republican candidates and rally support for the Iraq War. Not exactly a neutral source. But if you want a preview of themes that may pop up in the future, here they are. It may be too early to argue that McCain is a proponent of an Endless War of cultures between the Christian west and the Muslim east, but don't bet against that theme surfacing during his campaign, either overtly or in "dog whistle" fashion. And isn't that an interesting term? I kept hearing it without really understanding it, but what I finally realized is that it is what used to be called "code words". Reagan used "states rights" as a code when he was talking in the south and what he wanted his listeners to hear was "we're gonna keep those negrahs down for you". Lovely guy, the "gipper". One of nature's noblemen, who by all accounts was deranged enough to tell visitors that he helped liberate concentration camps, though his only WW II service was in a pr wing of the army. Amazing. Everyone knew Reagan was nuts and did nothing about it.
Anyhow, back to the term "dog whistle". It refers to high-frequency "silent" dog whistles, that only a dog is able to hear. It means a candidate can say certain things that only their red-meat partisans can understand, while to others the reference or term used sounds a bit odd, but fairly harmless.
Wikipedia says the same thing and gives an interesting history of the terminology, tracking its first use back to Australia.
Arthur
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