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To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (13692)	1/19/2002 3:32:50 PM
From: Terry Maloney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

DJ, the author's paradigm of Jihad vs McWorld was new when he coined the phrase some 10 years ago. <g> That was in an Atlantic article, but this 'refresher' is from the Nation, and yes, the passage you re-translated survived it's journey intact: "It is the new democratic realist who sees that if the only choice we have is between the mullahs and the mall, between the hegemony of religious absolutism and the hegemony of market determinism, neither liberty nor the human spirit is likely to flourish. As we face up to the costs both of fundamentalist terrorism and of fighting it, must we not ask ourselves how it is that when we see religion colonize every other realm of human life we call it theocracy and turn up our noses at the odor of tyranny; and when we see politics colonize every other realm of human life we call it absolutism and tremble at the prospect of totalitarianism; but when we see market relations and commercial consumerism try to colonize every other realm of human life we call it liberty and celebrate its triumph? There are too many John Walkers who begin by seeking a refuge from the aggressive secularist materialism of their suburban lives and end up slipping into someone else's dark conspiracy to rid the earth of materialism's infidels. If such men are impoverished and without hope as well, they become prime recruits for jihad." thenation.com Best, Terry

To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (13692)	1/19/2002 7:21:12 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

<when market relations and commercial consumer attitude are colonizing one aspect of our lives after another, we celebrate it as a victory of "freedom". How is that possible? > Freedom is being in a volitional state. Mullahs, democracy, and dictatorship do NOT offer freedom. They are all in the same basket of enslaving individuals to the state; they control people in all sorts of ways which are not protection of third parties. They take money from some people and give it to others. They aren't about freedom. Materialism is an option for people to choose if they are free to. Many people choose that. Materialism doesn't colonize our lives. We choose it. Democracies circumscribe our choices and cannot be said to offer freedom, despite Americans being confused about their situation and beating their chests about their freedom. They are not free. They will make the claim that they are much more free than people were in the USSR and most other places. However, a better comparison would be with what is possible rather than what is bad, which is like a sprinter comparing themselves with a one-legged person and boasting about their sprinting capacity. Mqurice