Garbanzo Toons

The Rage and the Pride

I just finished reading The Rage and the Pride by Oriana Fallaci. This little book was her reaction to the terrorist attacks on 9/11. She's an Italian journalist who was living in NYC at the time. She has a lot to say. The rage comes through, but so does the pride. The rage though . . . I was going to copy some excerpts from the book, but the good ones would have been really long. She comes down hard on people who deserve it. When she writes about what a malicious thug, and vile human being Arafat was, she knows him better than we do. She met and interviewed him.

I find it shameful that many Italians and many Europeans have chosen as
their standard-bearer the gentleman (or so it is polite to say) Arafat. This
nonentity who thanks to the money of the Saudi Royal Family plays the
Mussolini ad perpetuum and in his megalomania believes he will pass into
History as the George Washington of Palestine. This ungrammatical wretch who
when I interviewed him was unable even to put together a complete sentence,
to make articulate conversation. So that to put it all together, write it,
publish it, cost me a tremendous effort and I concluded that compared to him
even Ghaddafi sounds like Leonardo da Vinci. This false warrior who always
goes around in uniform like Pinochet, never putting on civilian garb, and
yet despite this has never participated in a battle. War is something he
sends, has always sent, others to do for him. That is, the poor souls who
believe in him. This pompous incompetent who playing the part of Head of
State caused the failure of the Camp David negotiations, Clinton's
mediation. No-no-I-want-Jerusalem-all-to-myself. This eternal liar who has a
flash of sincerity only when (in private) he denies Israel's right to exist,
and who as I say in my book contradicts himself every five minutes. He
always plays the double-cross, lies even if you ask him what time it is, so
that you can never trust him. Never! With him you will always wind up
systematically betrayed. This eternal terrorist who knows only how to be a
terrorist (while keeping himself safe) and who during the Seventies, that is
when I interviewed him, even trained the terrorists of Baader-Meinhof. With
them, children ten years of age. Poor children. (Now he trains them to
become suicide bombers. A hundred baby suicide bombers are in the works: a
hundred!). This weathercock who keeps his wife at Paris, served and revered
like a queen, and keeps his people down in the shit. He takes them out of
the shit only to send them to die, to kill and to die, like the
eighteen-year-old girls who in order to earn equality with men have to strap
on explosives and disintegrate with their victims. And yet many Italians
love him, yes. Just like they loved Mussolini. And many other Europeans do
the same.

That quote while partialy the same as she wrote in her book comes from this article. She has unkind words to say about others because of their evil or their cowardice. Writing about her journalistic experiences in Vietnam allows her a blast at Jane Fonda, even though, Jane is not mentioned by name. Ms. Fallaci holds back nothing as she describes the waves of Muslim immigrants (invaders) destroying her beloved Italy, and being allowed to literally urinate and defecate on Italian Christianity thanks to the craven, politically correct politicians who are afraid of being labeled "racist". She slams all of Europe for giving in to the Muslims, who demand respect for their religion, but openly scorn native Europeans, their religion, and their society.

Of course, if you give in to the jihadi Muslim demands, if you allow them to lord over you, if you cower in their presence out of the fear of being called a racist, or an islamophobe, you probably deserve what you get. Oriana Fallaci is not afraid. She's been marked for death by members of the "Religion of Peace" and is currently be sued in an Italian court for "defaming Islam."

You can find out more about Oriana Fallaci here. A more elaborate article is here. There's a good interview with her here.

That being said, after having read Oriana Fallaci, Eric Hoffer before that, and Victor Hanson before that, it's time for something a bit lighter. I found a book called Inter Ice Age 4 by Kobe Abe at a garage sale recently. I enjoyed the other books I read by him. He's got a unique sensibility.

Labels: books, Kobe Abe, Oriana Fallaci, The Rage and the Pride

posted by Harry @ 7:23 PM