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Mailvox: atheist theology or the ignorance therein

The self-aware  Trimegistus seems to share my incredulity:

I ‘m an unbeliever (I stopped using the term “atheist” when it became a
synonym for “self-righteous asshole”) and the staggering ignorance of
other unbelievers always shocks me. I know I’m not an expert on
theology; I know history, I’ve read Lewis and Sayers and St. Augustine
but that’s about it — and yet I’m like the frickin’ Vatican Curia
compared to the general run of atheists.

One thing I’ve noticed about many atheists of the general run variety is that they cannot follow simple if/then statements. Consider these facepalm-inspiring tweets inspired by this morning’s post:

Milo Yiannopoulos ‏@Nero
Perhaps the neatest skewering of @stephenfry ever, from @voxday

#OttawaStrong ‏@Canadastani
Summary: God is real because the bible says god is real! LALALALLALAKALALALALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!! #bacon

Vox Day ‏@voxday
Your summary is false. I merely pointed out the God-concept he is attacking is not the Christian God.

Dan Sereduick ‏@Globalizer360
Your summary of the Christian god is one that exists in advanced theology, not in ordinary religion.

Vox Day ‏@voxday
The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings are NOT advanced Christian theology.

#OttawaStrong ‏@Canadastani
Your imagination is not a real place either, but that doesn’t stop your imaginary friend Yahweh.

Vox Day ‏@voxday now
Look, you can’t criticize fiction for things that are not there. Sauron is not in Narnia.

It’s not that hard. My critique of Fry holds whether God exists or not. Christian theology is very well-defined. It is explained on multiple levels, from Tertullian and Thomas Aquinas all the way down to children’s novels like the Chronicles of Narnia. And yet, Stephen Fry quite clearly doesn’t know ANY of it.

You don’t have to believe in something to know what it is. I don’t believe in the Labor Theory of Value, but I can explain it to you. I don’t believe in Keynesian Economics, but I can explain multiple variants of it to you. I am skeptical of the Theorum of Evolution by (probably) Natural Selection, Biased Mutation, Genetic Drift, and Gene Flow, but I can explain how it is supposed to work.

The Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are the core of the Christian faith. And that core is absolutely and utterly predicated on the EVIL OF A FALLEN WORLD. So for Fry to claim that the observable existence of evil somehow condemns the Creator God requires either a) perverted quasi-Calvinism or b) stupendous ignorance.

There will be war

Back in March, about a month after we launched Castalia, I contacted Jerry Pournelle with the idea of reviving his great military science fiction anthology series, THERE WILL BE WAR. He was entirely open to the idea, but he was busy and quite naturally had a lot of more important things to do than be pestered by an insignificant publisher who at the time published a single novella by Tom Kratman.

So, I gave up on the notion, contacted Tom, and we put together RIDING THE RED HORSE instead. That went rather well, as you know, and Dr. Pournelle became sufficiently interested in the project to graciously contribute two pieces to it, one fiction and one non-fiction. I was rather pleasantly surprised when, after he received a copy and had the chance to read a few reviews, he asked if I might be interested in having Castalia re-release the nine volumes of THERE WILL BE WAR in ebook format.

You can probably imagine that it didn’t take me long to indicate that, yes, we might be willing to contemplate the notion. I daresay we contemplated and cogitated at least a nanosecond or two. The result of all this cogitation was the suggestion that with war looming on nearly every horizon, it might be the right time to consider reviving THERE WILL BE WAR as an anthology series, since it had lain dormant since the end of the Cold War. Dr. Pournelle concurred, which made the timing of this Amazon review of RIDING THE RED HORSE more than a little ironic:

Should be called “There Will Be War Volume 10”, February 2, 2015
By Chris Gerrib “Author, Pirates of Mars”

Generally a very solid work, modeled after the old “There Will Be War” military SF anthologies. The difference is that there is a mixture of non-fiction and fiction in this work. I don’t agree with some of the ideas presented (others I do) but everything is thought-provoking and well-written.

On the full disclosure front, Jerry Pournelle’s contribution is “His Truth Goes Marching On” which is a classic but has been reprinted seemingly everywhere. Having said that, it’s probably Pournelle’s best short work. All in all, well worth the time and money.

I say ironic because on that very day, Dr. Pournelle agreed to revive the series with Castalia House, beginning with THERE WILL BE WAR Volume X. The two anthology series will remain entirely separate, as RIDING THE RED HORSE will consist of entirely new material while THERE WILL BE WAR, as before, will primarily consist of high-quality reprints. Tom Kratman and I will continue to edit RIDING THE RED HORSE, while Dr. Pournelle will edit THERE WILL BE WAR.

There have been a lot of military science fiction stories published since Volume IX appeared in 1989. We’re going to want to identify and feature the very best of them in Volume X, so if you happen to have any suggestions in this regard, or believe that you happen to have written one of them, please don’t hesitate to bring them to my attention.

As for the original nine volumes, we intend to release them in individual ebooks and as a set of three three-volume hardcover omnibuses, beginning later this year.

Atheism and the problem of ignorance

Although I’ve seen more than a few episodes of QI, I’ve never considered Stephen Fry to be either very well informed or very intelligent. He strikes me as a considerably messed-up actor who plays the role of an educated and intelligent man for the masses, as opposed to actually being such a creature. Of course, it’s a lot harder to sound intelligent when you’re not being fed lines through your earpiece, which explains how Fry managed to betray an astonishing ignorance of nearly 2,000 years of Christian theology and abandoning one primary atheist line of defense in the process:

Fry was being interviewed for an Irish television show called The Meaning of Life when he launched into an impassioned tirade about God’s existence. Asked if he thought he would get to heaven, he replied: “No, but I wouldn’t want to. I wouldn’t want to get in on his terms. They’re wrong.

He added: “The God who created this universe, if he created this universe, is quite clearly a maniac, an utter maniac, totally selfish. We have to spend our lives on our knees thanking him. What kind of God would do that?”

“Yes, the world is very splendid, but it also has in it insects whose whole life cycle is to burrow into the eyes of children and make them blind. Why? Why did you do that to us? It is simply not acceptable. Atheism is not just about not believing there’s a god. On the assumption there is one, what kind of God is he? It’s perfectly apparent that was monstrous, utterly monstrous, and deserves no respect.”

Now, for those whose knowledge of theology does not rise to the level of the Narnia novels, let me point out that basic Christian theology points out that while God’s Creation was initially perfect, it was His choice to give both Man and Angel free will that permitted Lucifer’s initial fall from Heaven, and Man’s subsequent fall from Grace. From these two failures entered in every form of sin, death, and evil.

Furthermore, Jesus Christ himself made it very clear that it is not the Creator God who rules the Earth. Hence his command to Christians to be IN the world rather than OF it. He specifically refers to Satan as both the prince and the ruler of the world, as one translation has John 12:31: The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out.

Fry is clearly blaming the wrong party. The utter maniac, the totally selfish and utterly monstrous being he castigates is not the Creator God. It is the usurper who rules the world, whose name is devil, Satan, Lucifer. And what makes his rant so ridiculously stupid is that all of this information is not only in the Bible, but in Milton, in Lewis, in Tolkien, and indeed, in many of the greatest works of the Western artistic canon. God is not “utterly evil”. God is good, and loving, and thank God, merciful. It is the ruler of this world, the prince of the powers of the air, who is utterly and irredeemably evil.

Ironically enough, Fry commits the same sin as that utter evil, in demanding the right of the clay to judge the potter.

Notice that Fry also insists that, contra both linguistic etymology and practically every petty Internet atheist ever, “atheism is not just about not believing there’s a god”. In other words, he is conflating atheism and secular humanism, something other atheists have tried very hard to distinguish, and for good reason, because doing so simply transforms atheism into a pallid religion that has no ability to compete intellectually or spiritually with Christianity, Islam, or paganism.

And then he descended into utter self-parody when he claimed to prefer Greek paganism: “Fry said he preferred the religion of the ancient Greeks whose Gods did not
present themselves as being “all-seeing, all-wise, all-kind, all
beneficent”.” This is rather amusing, as the Greek gods were a collection of rapists, adulterers, and murderers who were descended of a parricide and never hesitated to shed vast quantities of human blood in pursuit of their selfish objectives.

In just one interview, it can be seen that Stephen Fry is a fraud. He is not a brilliant man, but rather, an obtuse and ignorant charlatan.

UPDATE: No wonder he gets away with it. Consider his fans:

Milo Yiannopoulos ‏@Nero
Perhaps the neatest skewering of @stephenfry ever, from @voxday

Steve Skipper ‏@SteveSkipper
@Nero @stephenfry hardly a skewering, @voxday is using elements of a fictional myth to explain a fictional myth

Vox Day ‏@voxday
You’re missing the point. To intelligently criticize a myth, you must criticize THE ACTUAL MYTH.

Steve Skipper ‏@SteveSkipper
@voxday @Nero @stephenfry whatever

Sad Puppies 3: the reactions

Larry Correia has some comments on passing the Sad Puppies banner to Brad Torgersen:

These are my suggested nominations. I am under no delusions that you guys do exactly what I suggest. 🙂
(seriously, it is like herding cats!). But I would encourage you to
take a look at these, and consider nominating all of them. Everybody up
there is someone who the ELoE talked about. Many of these are deserving,
worthy types, who would basically be ignored because they don’t appease
the SJW clique. I’ll share with you some of our reasoning.

After accomplishing my goals for SP2 of getting the SJWs to have a
giant, public freak out demonstrating their political biases
(accomplished, hoo boy, was that ever accomplished!) and auditing the
vote process (accomplished, I saw zero evidence of dishonesty from the
WorldCon people) I was ready to hang it up and not do an SP3. However,
as a result of the giant public SJW come apart, I got contacted by a lot
of people, fans and creators both, encouraging me to keep going.
See, the Hugos are broken. Everybody who is sane and paying attention
realizes that it is just a popularity contest that has come to be
dominated by one tiny insular group. The Hugos are supposed to mean
something. They’re supposed to represent what ALL of fandom thinks is
awesome. Many of the regular voters still treat it seriously, but
they’re outnumbered. Hell, even the people benefitting from the Hugo’s
current state will admit that it is broken, only they do so privately,
and certainly not in front of the unwashed masses who like things like
fun or enjoyment. (that’s you guys!) 🙂

Last year, I got most of my suggested nominees on the ballot. I
basically just listed who I was voting for, and I voted based upon what I
liked. However, we all learned some interesting things from the
resulting SJW freak out. I nominated people ranging from fire breathing
right wing curmudgeons, to mushy moderates, and a few that I honestly
had no clue what their personal beliefs were. However, the SJWs
immediately labeled every single one of them as a racist, homophobic,
right wing, hate-monger of hatey-hate-hate, and how this wasn’t about me
bringing some popular relevance back to the Hugos, but rather an
attempt to keep women and minorities out of publishing. We all know that
is crap, but that’s what they ran with.

Longtime Hugo observer Mike Glynn of File 770 had a few thoughts as well, as he observed the fact that the Locus list of recommended books appeared to shade distinctly pink:

The list is always a focal point of discussion during awards season. This year it may also provide ammunition for the Sad Puppies 3 campaign because despite its breadth it contains a grand total of zero works written by —

    Larry Correia
    Brad Torgersen
    John C. Wright
    Vox Day
    Sarah Hoyt
    Dan Wells

— five writers who were on last year’s Sad Puppies slate, and a sixth, John C. Wright, who has been constantly mentioned as a writer they will endorse in 2015. Four members of last year’s slate, Correia, Torgersen, Day and Wells, made the 2014 Hugo ballot (though none was on last year’s Locus list, either).

Oh, and the current Locus list also contains absolutely zero works published by Baen Books.

Not a single book published by Baen. Probably more than a few by Tor, I’m guessing. Perhaps it is because the FASCISTS at Baen publish nothing but FASCIST SCUMBAGS, not unlike the FASCIST Jim Butcher.

Ian Sales@ian_sales
I see fascist scumbags’ve posted their ballot & they’re a force to be reckoned with which is why same few names appear lots of times on it

Ian Sales ‏@ian_sales
surprised Jim Butcher is on their list, didn’t know he was a fascist. Not that I’ve read his books or ever plan to

Actually, we’re neither fascists nor scumbags, Ian. But it’s true, we are a force with which to be reckoned.

Hoist by their own petard

I usually don’t like to see bookstores going out of business, but in this case, even the most inveterate book-lover has to make an exception and see the black humor in the situation:

San Francisco specialty bookshop Borderlands Books is going out of business. The store will close its doors no later than March 31, 2015, but may close earlier, depending on how quickly the inventory can be sold. Owner Alan Beatts explains:

The recent change in San Francisco minimum wage law will prevent the store from being financially viable no later than July of 2018 (at which point our payroll will have increased by roughly 39%). It is quite possible that the store would lack viability before that date, as wages will increase incrementally between now and then. Rather than wait, we have chosen to close now to allow us to get the most value from the businesses. Though all of us at Borderlands support the concept of a living wage in principle, the minimum wage law passed in San Francisco makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to run a viable business when retail pricing is set by publishers and our main competitors are companies such as Amazon.com.

Leftists never seem to think through even the most obvious consequences of the policies they support. What percentage of the people who will be upset over the closing of their local bookstore do you suppose support both a) central banking and b) the increase in the minimum wage law in San Francisco?

The effects of ebooks, the concomitant growth of independent publishing, and the declining power of the gatekeepers to dictate what books readers are permitted to buy is going to continue to take down bookstores and publishers alike. Some of these losses will be a pity. Others are to be celebrated. But whether we like the changes or not, they are coming.

When speech is not speech

Vox Day ‏@voxday
#SJW logic: “They seem to believe that freedom of speech includes the freedom to say anything.”  … Yes, it does.

Tanya Cohen ‏@xTanyaCohenx
No, it absolutely doesn’t. International human rights law MANDATES legal sanctions on hate speech.

Space Bunny ‏@Spacebunnyday
Hate speech being whatever #SJW’s find objectionable. Brilliant.

Vox Day ‏@voxday
Of course it does. International human rights law is anti-free speech. No hate speech = no free speech.

Vox Day ‏@voxday
Hate speech is free speech. There is no free speech without hate speech.

Tanya Cohen ‏@xTanyaCohenx
Hate speech is not free speech.

Tanya Cohen ‏@xTanyaCohenx
Hate speech is speech that violates fundamental human rights.

Space Bunny ‏@Spacebunnyday
There is no fundamental human right not to be offended or shocked, dear. Hate speech doesn’t violate any rights.

I wonder if the Left truly understands that they have now opened a door to banning Black speech, or Jew speech, or Female speech, or any other form of speech that the majority wishes to silence. The Muslims have already learned how to utilize the concept to their advantage; they won’t be the only ones. It’s time to bring back the blasphemy laws.

Rabid Puppies 2015

We of the science fiction Right do not march in lockstep or agree on everything. We span a fairly wide variety of political perspectives and we have very different opinions concerning the optimal way to deal with the corruption and ideological rot that is rife within the world of modern science fiction and fantasy. My recommendations for the Hugo Awards last year were not precisely the same as Larry Correia’s in Sad Puppies 2, nor are they identical to Brad Torgersen’s recommendations in Sad Puppies 3. But they are similar because we value excellence in actual science fiction and fantasy, rather than excellence in intersectional equalitarianism, racial and gender inclusion, literary pyrotechnics, or professional rabbitology.

What follows is the list of Hugo recommendations known as Rabid Puppies. They are my recommendations for the 2015 nominations, and I encourage those who value my opinion on matters related to science fiction and fantasy to nominate them precisely as they are. I think it is abundantly evident that these various and meritorious works put not only last year’s nominations, but last year’s winners, to shame.

BEST NOVEL

Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia, Baen Books
The Chaplain’s War by Brad Torgersen, Baen Books
Skin Game by Jim Butcher, ROC
Lines of Departure, by Marko Kloos, self-published
The Dark Between the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson, Tor Books

BEST NOVELLA

“One Bright Star to Guide Them” by John C. Wright, Castalia House (Spanish)
“Big Boys Don’t Cry” by Tom Kratman, Castalia House (German, Italian)
“The Plural of Helen of Troy” by John C. Wright, City Beyond Time / Castalia House
“Pale Realms of Shade” by John C. Wright, , The Book of Feasts & Seasons / Castalia House
“Flow” by Arlan Andrews Sr., Analog November 2014

BEST NOVELETTE

“Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” by John C. Wright, The Book of Feasts & Seasons/ Castalia House
“The Journeyman: In the Stone House” by Michael F. Flynn, Analog June 2014
“Championship B’tok” by Edward M. Lerner, Analog Sept 2014
“The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale”, by Rajnar Vajra, Analog July/Aug 2014
“Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium” by Gray Rinehart, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show

BEST SHORT STORY

“Turncoat” by Steve Rzasa, Riding the Red Horse
“The Parliament of Beasts and Birds” by John C. Wright, The Book of Feasts & Seasons
“Goodnight Stars” by Annie Bellet, The Apocalypse Triptych
“Totaled” by Kary English, Galaxy’s Edge
“On A Spiritual Plain”, Lou Antonelli, Sci Phi Journal #2

BEST RELATED WORK

Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth, by John C. Wright, Castalia House
“The Hot Equations: Thermodynamics and Military SF” by Ken Burnside, Riding the Red Horse / Castalia House
“Wisdom From My Internet” by Michael Z. Williamson, self-published
“The Science is Never Settled” by Tedd Roberts, Baen Free Library
“Letters from Gardner” by Lou Antonelli, Sci Phi Journal #3

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

Reduce Reuse Reanimate by Carter Reid, (independent)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (Long Form)

Coherence, James Ward Byrkit
Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn
Interstellar, Christopher Nolan
The Maze Runner, Wes Ball
The Lego Movie, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (Short Form)

Supernatural: “Dog Dean Afternoon”
Game of Thrones: “The Mountain and the Viper”
Grimm: “Once We Were Gods”
The Flash – “The Flash (pilot)”

BEST EDITOR (Short Form)

Vox Day, Riding the Red Horse, Castalia House
Jennifer Brozek, Shattered Shields
Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Shattered Shields
Mike Resnick, Galaxy’s Edge
Edmund R. Schubert, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show
 
BEST EDITOR (Long Form)

Vox Day, Castalia House
Toni Weisskopf, Baen Books
Jim Minz, Baen Books
Anne Sowards, ACE/ROC
Sheila Gilbert, DAW

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Kirk DouPonce
Carter Reid
Jon Eno
Alan Pollack
Nick Greenwood

BEST SEMIPROZINE

Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, Edmund Schubert

BEST FANZINE

Black Gate, John O’Neill
Tangent SF On-line, Dave Truesdale
Elitist Book Reviews,  Steve Diamond
The Revenge of Hump Day, Tim Bolgeo

BEST FANCAST

“The Sci Phi Show”, Jason Rennie
Dungeon Crawlers Radio
Adventures in SF Publishing

BEST FAN WRITER

Jeffro Johnson
Matthew David Surridge
Amanda Green
Cedar Sanderson
Daniel Enness


THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD

Eric S. Raymond, “Sucker Punch”, Riding the Red Horse
Rolf Nelson, The Stars Came Back
Jason Cordova, Kaiju Apocalypse
Kary Englis, Flight of the Kikayon

Thanks to all of the Dread Ilk who registered to participate, and special thanks to Artraccoon, who designed the Rabid Puppies logo. If you’re interested in doing more than blowing up the Hugo Awards and want to go out and sport the colors, he has a Cafe Press store where you can check out various clothing options.

I would, of course be remiss if I failed to point out that as one of the very few Native Americans active in science fiction and fantasy, it would be horrifically racist against the First Peoples in general and Native Americans in particular to fail to gift-wrap me awards in all categories for which I am eligible. Because diversity. Thank you.

Super Bowl XLIX

This would be the Super Bowl open post. I’m standing by my pre-playoff prediction of New England over Seattle.

UPDATE: 14-14 at half. New England should be winning this, but Carroll’s gutsy coaching is keeping Seattle in it. Great call with six seconds left; that’s plenty of time for a quick shot into the end zone, then kicking the field goal.

But Belichick are making Seattle pay for Lane’s injury. And Wright may be a great cover linebacker, but that’s not good enough to stay with Gronk. Bad matchups on both the Gronkowski and Mathews touchdowns.

UPDATE 2: Patriots 28, Seahawks 24. Crazy game, but fun. Seattle absolutely had it, but Pete Carroll had to get cute instead of simply doing the obvious and winning the game.

A SJW Hugo slate

JASON SANFORD IS CAMPAIGNING FOR HUGO AWARDS! I REPEAT: JASON SANFORD IS CAMPAIGNING FOR HUGO AWARDS! Call the Thought Police! Alert the Social Justice Media! Sound the Raciss Siren… oh, wait a minute… never mind, it’s all right, he’s got his SJW card.

Best Novels

  The Mirror Empire: Worldbreaker Saga 1 by Kameron Hurley. See my original review of the novel.
    
    The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu. This is why we need translated fiction! This novel, which spans recent Chinese history as it revolves around a strange case of alien contact is one of the best hard science fiction novels I’ve read in years. Can’t wait to read the next book in the trilogy.
    
    Defenders by Will McIntosh. Just when I thought I’d read every type of alien invasion and military SF story out there, along comes Will McIntosh with something new.
    
    Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor. Wow. That’s all I could say after reading this novel, which explores what happens when first contact happens in Lagos, Nigeria. I’ve always loved Nnedi Okorafor’s amazing ability to create true-life characters which both resonate with readers and stories and twist you into new directions — and Lagoon does this and far more in superb ways. Unfortunately, the novel is hard to find in the USA (I had to order a copy from the UK). The USA release is slated for later this year.
    
    Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. If I could, I’d nominate the entire Southern Reach series as one complete work. See my original review of the series.

He’s got a woman (check), a Chinese man (check), a white man (tsk tsk), a black woman with an African name (check, check, check), and another white man (seriously? Bad SJW!) Alas, poor McRapey. Too white, and for the first time in his life, too male.

But where are the Native Americans? Where are the Hispanics? Where is the transgendered handicapable lesbian Baha’ist from Papua New Guinea? Why does Jason Sanford hate Mexicans and Indians and Belgians?

Anyhow, I now look forward to seeing all the Hugo voters who pointed and shrieked at Larry Correia treat Jason Sanford in precisely the same manner. Don’t you? In the meantime, you can play SJW bingo! See if you can find all five!

  • “explores this topic in a unique and interesting manner.”  
  • “An all-too-rare fictional look…”
  • “a subgenre which until recently limited itself in unacceptable ways.”
  • “opens our eyes to new realms of possibility and imagination.”
  • “beginning an amazing journey as an author…”

My favorite part is the way Sanford uses the word “amazing” four times. But remember, he’s a PROFESSIONAL writer, people. Don’t try this at home.

    Unready for 4GW

    No one serious believed that Obama was even remotely capable of handling foreign policy, but most erroneously assumed that he was smart enough to hand off responsibility for it to foreign policy veterans. That has not turned out to be the case, as Jerry Pournelle notes Peggy Noonan’s recent column in the Wall Street Journal:

    No one thinks this administration is the A Team when it comes to foreign affairs, but this is unprecedented push-back from top military and intelligence players. They are fed up, they’re less afraid, they’re retired, and they’re speaking out. We are going to be seeing more of this kind of criticism, not less.

    On Thursday came the testimony of three former secretaries of state, Henry Kissinger (1973-77), George Shultz (1982-89) and Madeleine Albrigh t (1997-2001). Senators asked them to think aloud about what America’s national-security strategy should be, what approaches are appropriate to the moment. It was good to hear serious, not-green, not-merely-political people give a sense of the big picture. Their comments formed a kind of bookend to the generals’ criticisms.

    They seemed to be in agreement on these points:

    • We are living through a moment of monumental world change.
    • Old orders are collapsing while any new stability has yet to emerge.
    • When you’re in uncharted waters your boat must be strong.
    • If America attempts to disengage from this dangerous world it will only make all the turmoil worse.

    Mr. Kissinger observed that in the Mideast, multiple upheavals are unfolding simultaneously—within states, between states, between ethnic and religious groups. Conflicts often merge and produce such a phenomenon as the Islamic State, which in the name of the caliphate is creating a power base to undo all existing patterns.

    Mr. Shultz said we are seeing an attack on the state system and the rise of a “different view of how the world should work.” What’s concerning is “the scope of it.”

    Correct diagnosis, wrong prescription. Observe that these foreign policy experts are more than a decade behind William Lind, who described these extra-state upheavals in both ON WAR and FOUR GENERATIONS OF MODERN WAR.

    And Lind is also correct to assert that America MUST disengage from “this dangerous world”, as the very danger is primarily the result of disastrous Anglo-American meddling in the Middle East. Islam is what it is, but it would not not be resurgent and aggressively expansionary if the British, followed by the Americans, had not made it possible through their insanely inept Middle East policies.

    The West needs to adopt a siege mentality, expel the non-Westerners, and let the fire burn itself out. Continued engagement only guarantees that it will be necessary to fight an indefinite number of fires within the West itself.