Interesting. An old history prof of mine from the WWII generation who was an intel officer during the war used to describe the Germans as " addicts of militarism". I wonder how much of that view was influenced by ubiquitous propaganda memes (Not that there was any shortage of evidence at the time to think ill of the Third Reich)
Moderate Muslims? Sure. Just like there were passive Vikings. It's no coincidence that Muslim armies prefer the goose-step. Then again I guess you can categorize a moderate Muslim as one who has his AK-47 set to semi-auto as opposed to automatic.
Jason, I like your definition of a moderate Muslim. In honor of that great plagarizer, Joe Biden, I'm going to "borrow" that definition as my own. Thanks.
Recent achealogical studies show that the Vikings were a lot less violent than we had originally thought. While they did have their fair share of bouts, turns out that they weren't the blood thirstday marauders we thought they were.
The Muslims are just faking us out with the whole AK-47 and suicide bomber routines. The real plan is to enslave us by education, a.k.a "The Jewish Method." Their college graduation rate in the US is 59%, as compared to a national average of 28%. Think 9/11 was bad? Wait until every Muslim has a PhD. Then you will know the meaning of fear.
Technically speaking, Jason, viking wasn't a name for the Scandinavian peoples but for the activity (and practitioners thereof) of raiding along coastlines. One can compare Muslims & Norse (the typical term for those peoples) or terrorists & vikings, but not Muslims & vikings or terrorists & Norse.
It sounds like a verb, after all. I seem to recall some translation of Beowulf (?) which used the expression "to go a-viking". To go out and do plundering and raiding. I have been reading lately a very cool volume of the Icelandic sagas. The background is that some people would accumulate wealth by trading, others by plunder. Then they would return home to Iceland, or Norway or Denmark and buy a farm and settle down. They would trade with strong foreigners and plunder weak foreigners, but the basic idea was to accumulate the wealth needed to buy scarce and valuable land to live a respectable life back home.
Root word of viking in old Norse is "vik," meaning where a stream meets a bay or lake. There's considerable debate over origin, but when the stem is right in the language, it's damned likely. "Let's go a-viking," would be the equivalent of "Let's take go down-river, out past the bay." To lower Europe, the vikings were most commonly known as the Norsemen, or the Danes. I suspect the English word "donnybrook," a big fight or fracas, is from a Danish battle cry for their flag, or "dannebroeg."
The suffix -ing in this case is derivational. The suffix -ing often refers to the offispring of someone. You see this in Old English too:
"Ond se Eþelwulf wæs Ecgbrehting, Ecgbryht Ealhmunding, Eahlmund Eafing, Eafa Eopping, Eoppa Ingilding (Ingild wæs Ines broþur Westseaxna cyninges, þæs þe eft ferde to Sancte Petre 7 þær his feorh gesealde); 7 hie wæron Cenredes suna, Cenred wæs Ceolwalding, Ceolwald Cuþaing, Cuþa Cuþwining, Cuþwine Ceaulining, Ceawlin Cynricing, Cynric Cerdicing, Cerdic Elesing, Elesa Esling, Esla Giwising, Giwis Wiging, Wig Freawining, Freawine Friþogaring, Friþogar Bronding, Brond Beldæging, Beldæg Wodening"¦"
[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 855]
Now let's all post our GRE results and settle this by seeing what ETS thinks of us.
"Moderate Muslims? Sure. Just like there were passive Vikings. It's no coincidence that Muslim armies prefer the goose-step. "
This is the most shockingly and frighteningly uninformed thing I've read since leaving the United States. My God. Go to Istanbul; Islamabad; Bombay; Almaty; Dubai; even Beirut or Cairo. Go live with a normal family in Iraq. You might be amazed to find out that in fact, it is not the entire population of Iraq that is hell-bent on killing themselves to go sleep with a virgin. Please live in each city for at least six months. Then come and post something about "moderate Muslims".
Well, as far as Islamabad and Mumbai go, I didn't see much goose-stepping. But everyone should get a chance to see the Indo-Pakistani border crossing at Wagah (near Lahore) to see some excellent stepping. This is, however, more of a British heritage thing and applies equally to the predominantly Sikh and Hindu Indian border troops. The view from the Pakistani side is better, though, since the show is at sunset.
And I think it is wise to heed Elizabeth's counsel (for all those who speak of Islam and goose-stepping): "Wenn einer eine Reise tut, dann kann er was erzählen".
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Comments to this entry
mark safranski
February 9, 2007
2:28 am
Interesting. An old history prof of mine from the WWII generation who was an intel officer during the war used to describe the Germans as " addicts of militarism". I wonder how much of that view was influenced by ubiquitous propaganda memes (Not that there was any shortage of evidence at the time to think ill of the Third Reich)
Rommel
February 9, 2007
3:19 am
"Surely some of muslims are alright?"
"Perhaps....."
Wufiavelli
February 9, 2007
4:18 pm
"surely some Muslims are alright"
"Then lets invade them and allow the moderates to come forth"
Jason W
February 9, 2007
5:57 pm
germanicus
February 9, 2007
8:12 pm
Dennis
February 9, 2007
9:03 pm
Recent achealogical studies show that the Vikings were a lot less violent than we had originally thought. While they did have their fair share of bouts, turns out that they weren't the blood thirstday marauders we thought they were.
Jason W
February 9, 2007
9:35 pm
MarcLord
February 9, 2007
10:27 pm
Michael
February 10, 2007
2:44 am
Jason W
February 11, 2007
4:21 am
Lexington Green
February 11, 2007
5:26 am
MarcLord
February 12, 2007
6:07 pm
von Kaufman-Turkestanky
February 12, 2007
7:54 pm
"Ond se Eþelwulf wæs Ecgbrehting, Ecgbryht Ealhmunding, Eahlmund Eafing, Eafa Eopping, Eoppa Ingilding (Ingild wæs Ines broþur Westseaxna cyninges, þæs þe eft ferde to Sancte Petre 7 þær his feorh gesealde); 7 hie wæron Cenredes suna, Cenred wæs Ceolwalding, Ceolwald Cuþaing, Cuþa Cuþwining, Cuþwine Ceaulining, Ceawlin Cynricing, Cynric Cerdicing, Cerdic Elesing, Elesa Esling, Esla Giwising, Giwis Wiging, Wig Freawining, Freawine Friþogaring, Friþogar Bronding, Brond Beldæging, Beldæg Wodening"¦"
[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 855]
Now let's all post our GRE results and settle this by seeing what ETS thinks of us.
Elizabeth
February 14, 2007
5:25 pm
This is the most shockingly and frighteningly uninformed thing I've read since leaving the United States. My God. Go to Istanbul; Islamabad; Bombay; Almaty; Dubai; even Beirut or Cairo. Go live with a normal family in Iraq. You might be amazed to find out that in fact, it is not the entire population of Iraq that is hell-bent on killing themselves to go sleep with a virgin. Please live in each city for at least six months. Then come and post something about "moderate Muslims".
Goose-step my ar*e.
von Kaufman-Turkestansky
February 14, 2007
8:11 pm
And I think it is wise to heed Elizabeth's counsel (for all those who speak of Islam and goose-stepping): "Wenn einer eine Reise tut, dann kann er was erzählen".