Infinite Monkeys

Contrasts

I haven't heard anyone say it yet, but it's interesting to contrast the attacks with the Live8 concert. Watch what people say. I think it's absolutely striking how different in motive and operation these two events were; both were meant to influence policy. One, for all its failings and egos, affirmed art and life; the other celebrated death. Cynics could argue that neither will have much of a chance of really changing policy, but the spririts of each were so different that this is absurd. One was selfish, the other meant to help others. Watch for some hard-core lefties to miss this point, and say that both highlight the need to help the desperate. Ignore those idiots. Live8 might have seemed like lefty idealism, but it was idealism deeply rooted in classical Western values.

I'm reminded of something William F. Buckley used to say during the Cold War; to paraphrase for modern circumstances: saying there is moral equivalence between Western governments and terrorists is like saying that someone who pushes an old lady out of the way of an oncoming bus and someone who pushes an old lady in front of an oncoming bus are both people who push old ladies around.