The Case For The Crusades

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, it became fashionable to speculate as to why such attacks would be perpetrated against the United States.  In the search for a motive to these atrocities, much of the media and academia identified the Crusades as the culprit for much of the animus that Muslims have towards the West.   

Such speculation had a particular attraction to those on the political left, as they are forever searching for ways to blame the West for any perceived injustice alleged by other cultures. But many self described conservatives also parrot the same assumptions embraced by the left concerning the motives fueling Islamic terrorism.  In his new book titled,"God's Battalions", Dr. Rodney Stark asserts that this is simply not true.  Dr. Stark argues persuasively that the Crusades were NOT unprovoked, nor did they represent an early foray by Europeans into colonialism. They were in fact a belated response to Muslim aggressions into historically Christian lands that had been occurring for centuries.  

 The Crusades began with Pope Urban II, outside the French city of Clermont, urging soldiers of Christ to aid in the restoration of the city of Jerusalem.  What is conspicuously absent from this narrative is the fact that Jerusalem had been overrun by Seljuk Turks.  The Eastern empire of Christendom, and its capital city Constantinople where also under constant threat from the rising Turkish onslaught. Dr. Stark's, "God's Battalions", makes clear that the Crusades simply cannot be used as a justification for the Islamic terrorism that the Western world is grappling with today. This tomb is an excellent guide for exploring the forgotten history that preceded the Crusades and helps to clarify its real causes.  

Weekend Warrior Break #1

The Last Confederate

I had the pleasure recently of viewing this little known movie set during the tumultuous years of the Civil War.  The Last Confederate tells the true story of a soldier torn between the love of one women,  and the duty to ones country.   It is a bit of an understated film compared to the current Hollywood fare, but that is what I personally found most appealing about it. Not many explosions or CGI to be found here.  It didn't resort to the common vilification all who fought for the Confederacy.  Nor did it couch the war as strictly one fought to end the institution of slavery.  Instead it approached it from the perspective of a soldier who was fighting for home and hearth.

Live Free or Die

Glenn Beck has a new documentary about the origins of totalitarianism,  and its attendant crimes committed during the 20th century under the guise of progressivism. One of the real strengths of his program is the exploration of the events of history and the consequences of  these ideas, in the shaping of modern America.  Much of the focus has been with the progressivism of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt and how policies championed by them have led to the centralization of power. While it is important to shine the light on these administrations, it would also be instructive to cast our gaze to the Lincoln administration during the WBTS. It was, of course, Abraham Lincoln who championed an indivisible union divested of state autonomy.  This gave rise to the modern consolidated state.While I do not intend to make comparisons between Hitler and Lincoln, it is however instructive to compare the views of both in regards to the union   It might surprise some to learn that Hitler found much to like in Lincolns version of the American union. In regards to the union Hitler stated:

 "The individual states of the American Union...could not have possessed any state sovereignty of their own. For it was not these states that formed the Union, on the contrary it was the Union which formed a great part of such so-called states."

  So, perhaps it it is time to look back a little further to the 19th century for the origins of American nationalism, and the birth of the American Caesar.

Haiti: Is the price tag too steep?

 

Kosovo....The other side of the story.

Came across this documentary film titled "Can you imagine", recently.  It concerns the present situation in Kosovo following the 1999 NATO bombing.  I have yet to see the film, but the preview is most compelling, and  shows a dimension to the story not familiar to most of us who follow Western media.  Having been to Kosovo recently,  I can believe in the veracity of the evidence presented.  The expulsion of Christian Serbs is (unfortunately) the likely outcome of severing the region from Serbia.

The Avett Brothers

Here is some music from one of my favorite bands.  They are an up and coming band from my home; the Tarheel state.