There are basically two kinds of people in this world.\u00a0 Those who learn from their mistakes and those who don\u2019t.\u00a0 Everyone has successes and failures.\u00a0 But it is the response to failure that really counts.\u00a0 People who learn from their mistakes are the ones most likely to succeed.\u00a0 For example Thomas Edison was not exactly the smartest person trying to develop an electric light bulb.\u00a0 He just did the most experiments.\u00a0 Finally, one of them worked.\u00a0 But there is another kind of person, that does not learn from their mistakes.\u00a0 These people go through life bitter, disappointed and angry.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because they are not able to recognize their own mistakes, they are doomed to blame others.\u00a0 \u00a0Sometimes there are entire classes of people like this.\u00a0 They are often referred to as a victim class.\u00a0 The victim class expends most of its energy at expressing anger toward the people they blame for their failures in life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While doing some recent research it became obvious to me that the biggest victim class of all is the Islamic World.\u00a0 Anyone who studies history quickly learns that virtually all of the major achievements in art, music, education, science and industry have come from the West for hundreds of years.\u00a0 The Islamic world is well aware of this.\u00a0 They are envious of the success of the West.\u00a0 But, it goes beyond simple envy.\u00a0 It has morphed into hatred.\u00a0 Some of the most important leaders in the Islamic world believe that their culture and history was stolen from them.\u00a0 They view the West as an evil force that used its military power to dominate the Islamic world, take its culture and history and use it against those who created it.\u00a0 This was bad enough, but then the West discovered oil.\u00a0 They plundered the oil from the Islamic world and used it to become even more powerful while their citizens became fat and wealthy.\u00a0 That is why they hate us so much.\u00a0 They consider themselves the ultimate victim class and we are the ultimate villains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The following speech was given [T1]<\/a>\u00a0on Radio Islam by Iman Khamenei on April 21, 2001.\u00a0 This was about 4 \u00bd months prior to 9-11.\u00a0<\/p>\n http:\/\/radioislam.org\/khamenei\/message.htm<\/a><\/p>\n He believes that wealth of the Islamic world has been plundered:<\/p>\n Today the wealth of the Islamic world is plundered. The precious sources of intellectual and cultural heritage are hidden by the propaganda of those who attack Islam. Under the false propagation of cultural attacks, young talents and minds are taken out, or their energy is wasted in political and military conflicts. Carelessness and moral irresponsibility are spread to people’s lives, education and sports, using the most advanced means of communication. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This is not just envy of Western prosperity, it is a conviction that this prosperity was gained by the plundering of the Islamic world.<\/p>\n Read the following article by Charles Krauthammer with this world view in mind:<\/p>\n The fruits of weakness<\/strong><\/p>\n By Charles Krauthammer<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2010\/05\/20\/AR2010052003885.html<\/a><\/p>\n Nor is this retreat by inadvertence. This is retreat by design and, indeed, on principle. It’s the perfect fulfillment of Obama’s adopted Third World narrative of American misdeeds, disrespect and domination from which he has come to redeem us and the world. Hence his <\/span><\/strong>foundational declaration at the U.N. General Assembly<\/strong><\/a> last September that “No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation” (guess who’s been the dominant nation for the last two decades?) and his dismissal of any “world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another.” (NATO? The West?) <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Just a few days ago, at the nuclear arms summit, Obama said the following:<\/p>\n “It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because <\/span><\/strong>whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower<\/span><\/strong>, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them,” Obama said. “And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both <\/span><\/strong>blood and treasure<\/span><\/em>.”\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Some of us have wondered why Obama has apologized for the U.S. all over the world.\u00a0 Most of us are proud of our country.\u00a0 We are proud of our prosperity.\u00a0 We are proud of our freedom.\u00a0 We are proud of our military strength that has been used to spread freedom and democracy around the world.\u00a0 We make no apology for success and we cannot understand a President who does not understand that.<\/p>\n But Obama clearly does not share that view.\u00a0 It is becoming increasingly apparent that he is embarrassed by our military strength.\u00a0 He considers our military superpower status to be a burden.\u00a0 He does not believe that any nation can or should try to dominate another nation.\u00a0 He does not appear to believe that the American way of life is in any way superior to other world views.\u00a0 Perhaps this explains why he has hesitated to even bring up human rights violations.\u00a0 It explains why he warms up to people like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, while he ignores and insults our allies like Great Britain and France.\u00a0\u00a0 He has ignored the subjugation of women in the Islamic world.\u00a0 He demands that we support the right of people to follow Islam, but has never suggested that the Islamic world tolerate\u00a0the freedom to consider Christianity, or any other religion other than Islam.\u00a0 But perhaps it is more than not wanting the U.S. to dominate the world.\u00a0 Perhaps he believes, as does Iman Khamanei, that our military strength itself is unacceptable because it obtained by unjustly plundering the Islamic world?\u00a0<\/p>\n It does not end with military superiority.\u00a0 Obama is also embarrassed by our economic superiority:<\/p>\n http:\/\/afp.google.com\/article\/ALeqM5h-wpxs1Re-8vx2Zk5xnYygW1W67w<\/a><\/p>\n Most of us are proud to live in a country where the American dream is a real possibility.\u00a0 We love the fact that ordinary working people can afford to buy that SUV, they can afford to eat as much as they want and they can afford to keep their homes at a comfortable 72 degrees all the time.\u00a0 Obama, on the other hand, finds this disgusting:<\/p>\n “We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,”<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n Obama is implementing a strategy that he admits will result in skyrocketing energy costs:<\/p>\n http:\/\/newsbusters.org\/blogs\/kerry-picket\/2008\/11\/02\/obama-energy-prices-will-skyrocket<\/a><\/p>\n Obama:\u00a0 \u201cWhen I was asked earlier about the issue of coal\u2026under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket\u2026even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I\u2019m capping greenhouse gasses, coal power plants, natural gas\u2026you name it\u2026whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retro-fit their operations.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Obama says that he is doing this to protect us from global warming.\u00a0 But perhaps the real reason is that he believes that the United States has unfairly exploited the rest of the world to obtain that American lifestyle.\u00a0 He is embarrassed by our prosperity.\u00a0 This also is consistent with the opinion of Iman Khamenei.\u00a0 The following excerpt is from the same speech cited previously:<\/p>\n The resources of the people are turned to increasing the wealth of inimical oil companies and treasuries. The enemies get fatter each day, while in the heart of the Islamic world and in various parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, the lashes of cruelty of the are felt by millions of Muslims. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n We do not know Obama\u2019s core values.\u00a0 We know virtually nothing about what the man really believes.\u00a0 The only thing certain is that his personal background is very different from that of most Americans. \u00a0Because of that, we must try and determine his core values by his studying his decisions. Regardless of his motivation, Obama\u2019s policies are rapidly reducing the strength of our military.\u00a0 His economic policies are also quickly bringing the American lifestyle more in line with the rest of the world.\u00a0 What is the real impact of refusing to drill for oil, refusing to build nuclear power plants and banning the use of our coal resources?\u00a0 Although Obama is na\u00efve and inexperienced, even he must understand that there is no chance that wind, solar and biotech sources of energy can supply enough energy to support the American lifestyle.\u00a0 The result of his energy policy will be to make foreign oil more and more valuable.\u00a0 While our lifestyle and economy declines, the oil rich Islamic world will prosper.\u00a0 I would hazard a guess that Iman Khamenei would consider this to be a good result.<\/p>\n TDM<\/p>\n There are basically two kinds of people in this world.\u00a0 Those who learn from their mistakes and those who don\u2019t.\u00a0 Everyone has successes and failures.\u00a0 But it is the response to failure that really counts.\u00a0 People who learn from their … Continue reading
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