Category Archives: The Zeitgeist

And Then There Were Three: David Yeagley Interviews Peter Brimelow

America, Ann Coulter, Ilana Mercer, The Zeitgeist

I was the first to be interviewed by Dr. David Yeagley, who has “invited several nationally known conservative and independent writers to offer their perspective on American Indians.”

It was both an honor and an interesting experience. (I also gained a friend.) Now none other than Ann Coulter has given David an interview. Congratulations, David!

You can read the Coulter interview here. The Mercer interview, “Patriotism, Nationhood, and the American Indian,” is here (and here, if you prefer to read it on David’s site).

Updated: Peter Brimelow has given Yeagley “An English Assessment.” Read it here.

Updated: Rotten Reporting Again (About Those 650 Thou Dead in Iraq)

Iraq, Journalism, Media, The Zeitgeist, War

The Associates Press (via Rational Report) reports that:

A “controversial new study contends that nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died in the three-year-old conflict in Iraq—more than 10 times higher than other independent estimates of the toll.”

Dubya and his Oh-What-A-Wonderful-War contingent dispute these figures. And so they should.

The latest Lancet report has never claimed 655,000 civilian deaths total, but rather that, “An estimated 655,000 more Iraqis have died as a consequence of the March 2003 military invasion of Iraq than would have been expected in a non-conflict situation.”

What we have here, once again, is rotten reporting. When the first Lancet report appeared two year ago, mainstream press also fudged the facts. I think I was the only writer who made the necessary distinctions. I explained:

“In the final days of Saddam’s reign of terror, i.e., in the 15 months preceding the invasion, the primary causes of death in Iraq were natural: heart attack, stroke and chronic illness. Since Iraq became another neocon object lesson, the primary cause of death has been violence, according to the report.
Since March 2003, Iraqis have suffered from an excess of deaths, if you will. As Dr. Les Roberts, author of the study, told BBC News, ‘About 100,000 excess deaths, or more, have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.’
According to the study, “The relative risk, the risk of deaths from any cause was two-and-a-half times higher for Iraqi civilians after the 2003 invasion than in the preceding 15 months. But ‘the risk of death by violence for civilians in Iraq is now 58 times higher than before the U.S.-led invasion.”

Update: My thanks to Bob Murphy and Sean Mercer for demanding further clarification: My point is non-ideological; I’d simply like to see accurate reporting. The 650,000 figure would include deaths due to a greater incidence of heart attacks, cancer, strokes, stress and displacement-related deaths, deaths associated with a lack of health care and potable water, etc. Thus, silly journalists build doubt into the report because they give the impression that this many people died directly because of the war. Rather, the figure represents both direct and indirect casualties of the invasion, which is why it’s believable.

It goes without saying that the report is a criminal indictment of the invasion. If not for the invasion, the leading cause of death in Iraqi would still be natural, as it was during Saddam’s suzerainty.

‘Respek,’ Andy Rooney

Celebrity, Hollywood, Media, The Zeitgeist

Have just finished watching “Da Compleet Second Seazon of Da Ali Gi Show,” on DVD. Great stuff.

I’ve never cared much for Andy Rooney, but I have some “respek” for him after watching how angry he got over Ali Gi‘s English. Remember, all the interviewed believe that the interviews our gangsta from the streets of Staines conducts for the benefit of his audience—the urban youth of the U.K—are “for weal.” And so politically correct are they that few dare protest Ali Gi’S abominal ignorance and English. Except for Rooney. Good for the “geezer.”

“I is here wit’ none other dan my main man Andy Rooney,” to which Rooney replies: “I am here; I am here, I am here.” Ali tries again, “Does you think that…” To which Rooney, raging like Rumpelstiltskin, retorted: “It’s ‘do you think, do you think.'”

Still, Rooney ought to develop a funny bone. I mean, when Ali feigned hurt over Rooney’s rudeness—”‘is it ‘cos I is black,’ (even though he is quite obviously not)—Rooney should have cracked up. On the other hand, this culture has deteriorated to the extent that it’s not easy to tell whether the Ali Gis of the world are “for weal” or not.

Remember, in Ali Gi, Sasha Baron Cohen—the comic genius who’s also behind the Borat and Bruno characters—is lampooning a creature whose utter illiteracy has been cultivated by the establishment as a form of authenticity. All his guests, with few welcome exceptions, are quite polite and rather accepting of his unabashed idiocy.

I can’t wait to see Cohen’s new feature film: “Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

The Lapdogs & The Elites

Media, Neoconservatism, Politics, The Zeitgeist

In “America’s Open House,” I said about Tamar Jacoby (among other things) that she “squints at flesh-and-blood Americans; to her, America is a mere proposition, nothing but an idea.” I then demolished her assertion that [cop killer] Quintero’s illegality was irrelevant to his crime. You can read the one-liner that did her in.

Paul Gottfried, a brilliant scholar, once an active participant in American political discourse, wrote to warn me that, “After this insensitive invective against… TJ you’ll no longer be invited to neocon cocktail parties.”

Of course he was pocking fun at my popularity among the official thinking class. However, I missed the subtlety. Despair over politics and culture in this country occasionally (not often) takes a toll on my sense of humor.

The occasion was as good as any to ask him if the burlesque that is American politics doesn’t cause him to despair. Here we are, years after the fact, and the “elites” are only now discussing Iraq as a not-so-swell idea vis-a -vis terrorism, and the Bush administration as the less-than heavenly outfit Fox News said it was. Meantime, the prevalence in national discourse (conducted on cable) of “good looking” illiterates grows (and the book deals these incompetents get), while the demand for truly bright, principled, interesting people diminishes. Does this not cause him to despair?

I received this wise reply: “At my age I have ceased to despair but simply try to keep going. The liberal-neocon media won’t ask our opinions because we’ve been branded extremists, at least by the standards of permissible, sensitive views. All of this belongs to an historical process that neither you nor I can influence any more. Whatever the elites do or do not do is perfectly OK with the PEOPLE, as long as they get social programs, consumer goods, and instruction about what they should believe.”