Wednesday, July 6, 2011

On Second Thought...

In light of Fatah's partnership with Hamas, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler has thought the better of his invite to a ex-partner for peace. From the Jewish Tribune:
JERUSALEM – Mount Royal MP Irwin Cotler has rescinded his invitation to Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas.
“The terms have changed,” Cotler told the Jewish Tribune at the recent President’s Conference in Jerusalem.
Last February, Cotler had invited Mahmoud Abbas to speak with the Jewish community in Canada. Cotler had informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about his invitation. Cotler hoped that Netanyahu would be allowed to address Palestinians living in Ramallah.
But Cotler said that his invitation was extended to Abbas before the Fatah leader embraced the Hamas terrorist organization...
Yeah, because prior to his embracing Hamas Abbas was, like, totally legit.

2 comments:

Carlos Perera said...

Recently, in anticipation of a trip to Minnesota, I re-read Laura Ingals Wilder's "Little Town" books, set in DeSmet, SD (which we did in fact visit; I heartily recommend the visit to all fans of the books to make the pilgrimage if they can). On this re-reading, I was struck by the insistence with which Caroline ("Ma") Ingalls suppressed incipient tendencies toward vanity and self-importance in her children. This was the exact opposite of the self-esteem enhancement approach that has dominated modern pedagogy since the mid-20th century.

Consider the result of the Ingalls' child-rearing practices: Their children grew up to be self-reliant _and_ solicitous of others' needs, polite without obsequiousness, communitarian without collectivist coercion, and tolerant of others' foibles without thereby excusing their own faults. Contrast this result with the self-absorbed monsters that the self-esteem movement has produced, with their unbounded sense of entitlement, their unwillingness to contribute voluntarily to the common weal, and their exquisite sensitivity to the smallest perceived slight (not to mention the feral behavior in which this expresses itself in the lower socio-economic reaches of society.

We have performed the social experiment. The traditional ways of child-rearing produced commendable results. The self-esteem enhancement approach has produced generations (yes, plural!) of narcissists. You'd think we would have learned by now.

scaramouche said...

CP--I think you meant to comment in the post below. No worries. As always, your comments are on the money--and most appreciated.