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| Britain |
| Winston Didn't Like Moose Limbs, Either |
| 2004-09-18 |
| A blunt but erudite word about a major threat to civilization, Islam. "How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. "Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome." |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #4 We need another one these now, please. Of course, his drinking would disqualify him from the job today. |
| Posted by: VAMark 2004-09-18 2:27:57 PM |
| #3 Damn I am impressed! I always figured WSC should have been named Times Man of the Century. Reading now Meacham's Franklin and Winston, good stuff. Good long quote from Ike at Casablanca aluding to Churchill's ability to quote new American street slang and Donald Duck in a speech. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-09-18 11:49:32 AM |
| #2 AC - you shook hands with Winston Churchill?!?1? I'm forty-eight kinds of impressed. |
| Posted by: Matt 2004-09-18 11:14:34 AM |
| #1 This quote is from The River War, young Churchill's eyewitness account of the 1898 Sudan campaign against Islamic fanatics who had seized the territory in 1885. The climax was the Battle of Omdurman, near Khartoum, in which the Islamozoids learned the hard way about "the strong arms of science," in the form of the Maxim machine gun and quick firing artillery. Believe it or not, I met Mr. Churchill in 1956, when I was seven years old. He came to our school for a visit and shook my hand. Our teacher had told us that he was the most important person in the world, the Queen not excepted, and that we should behave accordingly or face dire consequencesTM. I remember that he seemed very old and had a ruddy complexion. I blurted out that my dad had been in the RAF during the war and gave him the squadron number. Mr. Churchill said he had visited there and he correctly named the station and my father's commanding officer. I was impressed even then, since it had been 11 years and he must have visited hundreds of airfields and squadrons and met thousands of RAF men. He asked my dad's named, looked pensive for moment when I told him, and then apologized for not being able to remember him. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-09-18 3:02:48 AM |