The Crusades

In the wake of the Holy Father's recent talk I would offer the following points to be meditated upon by those in the Muslim world still upset over the Crusades. First of all, the last crusade ended in 1204. That's right 802 years ago. I think it's time to get over it. Second, you won! Nobody likes a sore winner. Last, you really don't have the moral high ground on this. There's no question but that Muslim armies were a threat to the Christian world. After all, Muslim armies had destroyed Christian North Africa, including Hippo where St Augustine was Bishop and well as the churches founded by St Paul in Asia Minor and the great monastic communities in Egypt. Muslim armies also invaded and occupied Spain for quite a while and tried to attack the rest of Europe but were stopped. Attacks from the east continiued thereafter. If Muslims were the victim of lthe Crusades Christians were victims of the Muslim armies.

Goldwater

Interpretation is a necessary part of the art of writing history; in fact it's what seperated good historians from mere clerks. However, there appears to be a growing tendancy to re-interpret history to suit the political views of the historian. Perhaps Marxists historians are most guilty as they attempt to posit all history in terms of class struggle. What set off this particular rant is the recent HBO special on Barry Goldwater. Recently, the Senator has become something of an icon of the left/liberal contingent as is bandied about as something of an indictment against the "neo-cons". This special made the reason for that pretty clear. Barry favored abortion rights, had no problem with gays in the military and hated the "religious right". If there's anything that sums up the core values of the modern democratic party it's abortion, gay rights and anti-religion.

So there you have it. Never mind that he opposed all civil rights legislation, never mind that he considered the use of nuclear weapons in Viet Nam to be legitimate, and never mind that he favored states rights when that was still a psuedonym for bigotry. Barry was OK with abortion and for your modern democrat that's all that matters. As a result, Barry is no longer a bad guy.