U.S. Ambassador and three others killed in Libya.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Here's an ad we're running in Pakistan:



This video shows the American delusion at its worst. "Look how enlightened we are, we have these wonderful principles", blah blah. It's like inventing exclusive rules of etiquette and fashion so that you can take pride in being more polite and civilized than other people. It's not true enlightenment, it's BS, and everyone knows it, who the hell do they think they're kidding. It isn't true today and it certainly wasn't true "from the very founding of our nation"; the colonial rebels had a lot in common with these protesters.

We don't reject people who denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Comedians who make a living doing that are celebrities. And the fact is the essence of some branches of religion involves a huge drive for conversion and reform, and tolerant pluralism strikes right at the heart of those religions. You can't redefine religion as "something people are no more than moderately passionate about".

"Riot all you want, but keep off our property", that's all that needs to be said here. The vain, ignorant, and laughable self-glorifying should be ditched completely. It's pathetic and I'm really skeptical that it does anything but backfire.

The number one thing we need to do as a country is to abandon the rhetoric of free speech, liberty, religious tolerance etc that we use to feel good about ourselves. The news on these protests is a farce: "religious tolerance makes America the best!" "No, free speech makes America the best!".

It would be completely acceptable for the average American to be ignorant about other countries and cultures if the "intelligentsia" would grow up and face the truth instead of using ideology and tradition as a crutch for their fragile egos.