Comment on The Belmont Club,"The sultans of swat"

It is a peculiar conceit of the left to spend endless energy "celebrating diversity" and "cherishing authentic native cultures" while at the same time treating human beings as interchangeable cogs. All inputs are not equal however and an edifice built from substandard mortar will collapse. Judaism or Protestantism may be essential to a creative adaptable civilization. It is certain that they can not be substituted for by Islam. The Pakistani gentry may win their war with the pastoral raiders, it is a struggle that has happened throughout human history, but I doubt it. However even if they do so to the passing profit of American academics and politicians it would not fundamentally change the construct of Pakistani culture. The Taliban are more brutal and ignorant and reject the products of modernity but the established forces they struggle against differ in degree more than in kind. Traditional forces unlike the reactionary revolutionaries of Salafism are less brutal and are willing to use the goods and trappings of modernity but have proven incapable of supporting a tolerant and creative society. They may use what is produced by Jews and Christians but they contribute little that is original.

How fitting that tonight's movie is The Merchant of Venice.