March 1, 2010

On Dogs and the Middle East - Paul Eidelberg

Part I

Jews and Christians should not feel insulted when Muslim Arabs call them dogs. Actually, it’s an unwitting form of flattery!  Let me explain before you call for my head.

As everyone knows, a dog invariably wags its tail when its master returns home.  On the other hand, if its master scolds the dog, the creature’s tail disappears between its legs.

The motion of the dog’s tail reveals its inner feeling, joyful when it sees its master, unhappy when scolded.

What is more, you cannot easily deceive a dog by cooing in a friendly and welcoming voice when you’re inwardly annoyed or angry by his dirtying your Persian rug.  The dog’s tail still will go between its legs despite your friendly voice. 

Unlike dogs, human beings can conceal their feelings. In other words, a dog is a “sincere” creature, meaning, it will not happily wave its tail and yet have murder in its heart. 

The same cannot be said of a human being, who may smile at you, shake your hands, and even flatter you—only to disarm you in order to facilitate his scheme to slaughter you.

The intelligent reader may now understand why it’s so difficult to negotiate genuine peace in the Middle East.  Hence, it would be a grave mistake as well as an insult to call Muslim Arabs what they call Jews and Christians.

Part II

Isn’t it amazing that you cannot deceive dogs as readily as Muslim Arabs can deceive Jews, and Christians?  Yes, but how are we going to explain the behavior of Barak Hussein Obama—his outreach to Arab-Islamic states, even to such murderous regimes as Iran and Syria?

Alternatively, how are we going to explain the behavior of Israeli prime ministers who have not only released thousands of Muslim Arab terrorists, but have also given them arms, money, and even Jewish land?

Another enigma: We all know that Muslim Arabs have used their own children as human bombs.  But how are we to explain the fact that many seemingly civilized people are not outraged by such barbarism?  I am referring to Americans and Europeans who, in utter disregard of the Western idea of personal responsibility, blame not Islam but Israel, the original source of that idea?

Has Western civilization with all its emphasis on personal freedom and human dignity lost its bearing, has gone mad?  Is evil running amok on planet earth? 

Consider the assassination of a Hamas terrorist in Dubai. Shouldn’t decent men applause or at least feel relieved at the end of that murderous villain? Instead, the civilized world blames Israel! The Prophet Isaiah would say—in one way or another: “Woe unto them that call good evil …”

But what does Israel’s feckless prime minister say about ridding the earth of a wanton murderer in Dubai?  He denies Israel’s complicity—period!   Suppose he had said: “Sorry folks, we were a little late.”

The curious reader may ask: “What has this to do with dogs?  In Plato’s dialogue, The Republic, Socrates speaks of three parts of a just city, and he likens the guardians to dogs. Why?  Other subtleties aside, the dog represents courage and loyalty, on which the safety and survival of the city depends.  Also, a dog is wary if not hostile to strangers.  The trouble is that a dog (unlike Barak Obama!) does not readily distinguish between good and bad strangers. 

The dog represents the spirited (or “patriotic) part of the city but not its intellectual part; the just city needs both.  This applies to a human being, who needs a good heart, the seat of honor, and a good mind, the seat of wisdom (so lacking in America and Israel).

The Muslim Arab has an overweening if not pathological sense of honor.  In the place of wisdom he has an abundance of cunning.

Lacking in Arab-Islamic culture is moderation, for Plato, one of the cardinal virtues, the virtue conducive to peace. 

This is why there will be no peace in the Middle East—unless Jihadic Islam is relegated to the dust heap of history.

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