Cricket Man: A Lesson in Politics

Fire of Liberty

In yesterday's edition of The Chicago Sun-Times, I came across another wonderful column by the ever talented Mark Steyn. Steyn notes in a similar vein as VDH and Lee Harris, that the riots in Afghanistan was partially stimulated by the faulty Newsweek reporting and the "Gotcha" culture of the MSM but also by key individuals in the region who know how to use such information to stir up the emotions of the people in the region. In particular, Steyn points out the rabble-rousing in this half of the World by the World famous Cricket star turned Pakistani politician, Imran Khan. Just read a little sample:

And even these riots wouldn't have happened if Imran Khan hadn't provided the short fuse between Newsweek's match and those explosive mobs. Imran is a highly Westernized, wealthy Pakistani who found great fame and fortune in England. He palled around with the Rolling Stones, dated supermodels and married Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of billionaire businessman Sir James Goldsmith. Jemima was hot but of Jewish background and therefore, like much of Imran's stereotypical playboy lifestyle, not particularly advantageous when he decided to go into Pakistani politics. So, having demonstrated little previous interest in the preoccupations of the Muslim street, Imran then began pandering to it. I doubt whether he personally cared about that Newsweek story one way or the other, but he's an opportunist and that's why he went out of his way to incite his excitable followers.

It's not the mobs, so much as the determination of the elites to keep their peoples in a state of ignorance. The most educationally repressive form of Islam, for example, is funded and promoted by Saudi princes who, though not as handsome as Imran, also spend a lot of time in the West -- gambling, drinking, womanizing and indulging other tastes that even the wildest night on the tiles in Riyadh just can't sate. Whereas most advanced societies believe that an educated population is vital to the national interest, many Muslim elites seem to have concluded than an uneducated population is actually far more useful. And, when you look at Saudi funding of radical madrassahs in hitherto moderate Muslim regions from the Balkans to Indonesia, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that they're having great success de-educating hitherto relatively savvy parts of the world.

It's funny that people like Imran Khan will literally move heaven and earth to express their outrage when there's a mere whiff of a Muslims being offended in the West but if a 100 to a 1,000 Muslims die at the hand of Islamic terrorists you never see these politicians expressing their outrage. I guess that's what happens when your society is ruled by radical individuals like this who would rather raise a fuss than do something effective to improve their society.