Psycho Analysis

Unfortunate editorial by William Dalrymple in the Sunday LA Times. Turns out the 150th anniversary of the great Indian Rebellion against the East India Company reminds him of Iraq. Since anti-war stalwarts are reminded of Iraq when anyone blows his nose, I'm not surprised.

The whole story of the British in India is pretty much the opposite of what we're doing in Iraq, but I'm not going to argue that again. I just want to note a few things in Dalrymple's argument.

First, he attacks those who disagree with him as "Old-style Orientalists." Actually, as proper research shows, even old-style Orientalists weren't "old-style Orientalists." Not unlike the overused "neocon," this is simply a cheap catch-all that means little but implies all sorts of sinister things (including, especially, racism).

It's Dalrymple, ironically, who uses the trope that reduces our enemy to less than humans--they're simply responding in predictable fashion to what we're doing. Actually, countries--in the Middle East and elsewhere--have been invaded (usually not to bring down a dictator and introduce elections) from time immemorial, and they've responded in numerous ways. One of the rarer reactions is a bunch of people blowing themselves up among innocents.

Listen to him: "Today, suicide jihadis fight what they see as a defensive action against their Christian enemies, and West and East again face each other uneasily across a divide that many see as religious war." Guess what William, we don't need you to tell us how they see what they're doing--we know, they've told us. What we would like is you to follow up this sentence by noting the jihadis are wrong to believe something this ugly and stupid, and that they are blowing up people in the hopes of denying Iraqis basic freedom and democracy, and thus must be opposed.

Here's his actual follow-up: "As ever, it is innocent civilians who are slaughtered." Look at the cowardly way he hides behind the passive voice. Just who's doing almost all the killing, and ensuring the slaughter continues? The terrorists and theocrats who would like to kill us.

But saying that would be too judgmental. Dalrymple believes in reserving judgment--except when he has a chance to condemn the West, especially America.