Hawking Up Hairballs

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

A Life of Luxury

So, I’m sitting there watching some nothing show on the History Channel. A promo comes on for an upcoming feature about Osama Bin Laden. The announcer says that we may not know where he is, but we know where he’s been. A talking head then comes on and says that Bin Laden was living a life of luxury while conducting a war. He is presumably talking about the mujahedeen war against the Soviets.

At first I thought nothing about this but, when the promo came on a second time, I got to pondering what was being said. I have no idea what they mean when saying that he lived a life of luxury but, since he is of Arab extraction, and because we’ve all been taught what those Oriental types are like, we’re obviously supposed to conjure up visions of dancing girls, rich food, and fine wines. It’s supposed to suggest that he’s a corrupt and depraved individual. Now, for all I know, Bin Laden may well be corrupt and depraved, but think about it. Doesn’t the American president lead a life of luxury?

Dancing girls? Well, ask old Bill Clinton about that. Rich food and fine wine? The White House has a chef, and I doubt that old George and Laura do any cooking themselves at the ranch in Crawford, unless he’s grilling steaks during a photo op. Remember old George Senior? He was fascinated by the scanning device at a supermarket that he visited during a campaign appearance. He’d never seen one before because he’d never had to shop.

The fact is that anyone who has servants is leading a life of luxury. They don’t necessarily have to party down and screw like bunnies. Just ask the Pope. If anyone leads a luxurious life, he does, and he’s not exactly known for his parties.

What this all points out is how brainwashed we Americans have become. Without a second thought, some talking head can say that Bin Laden was living a life of luxury while conducting a war, as though that were sufficient in itself to condemn him. I doubt that there were many who saw that promo who thought that there was anything at all ironic about it. But then, if the Busheviks are to be believed, to think too critically is to give aid and support to terrorists.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

bin laden is depraved, but not because he's living the high life. he's a stoic & a murdering wacko even by wahab standards. he'd kill you in a heartbeat, in your distain for gwb, try to stop short of purporting moral equivalency or you become a bin laden apologist by default. is that what you really want to be? remember how the natzis used ezra pound.blinded by hated you become the thing you claim to hate cockeled by your cleverness.

11:30 PM  
Blogger David Matthews said...

I don't see any purport of moral equivalency between Bin Laden and Bush. Rather, the point seems to be that Bin Laden's lifestyle , whether one of luxury or that of an ascetic, is of no particular relevance to his crimes. This kind of sloppy thinking, ad hominem attacks and so on, gets us nowhere. Conversely, it is quite possible and legitimate to take on the administration for its misdeeds (I deliberately understate here) without purporting moral equivalency with Bin Laden.

9:34 PM  

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