The hypocrisy of the left

There's an article on Frontpage Magazine that is well worth a read. In the article, Gerald Honigman ponders something that has been bugging me for some time too.

Nationalism is a dirty word in the minds of the left wing liberal progressive establishment - and English or British nationalism is considered the very embodiment of racist evil by the likes of Ken Livingstone.

And yet, Ken and his ilk are very supportive of other nationalist causes - like Palestine. As a nationalist myself I can quite understand that genuine Palestinians would like a recognised nation of their own. As an Englishman, I'd quite like a recognised nation of my own rather than have it broken up into several meaningless regions.

But the particular brand of nationalism displayed by the various Palestinian factions has been a violent, racist nationalism which goes beyond all rational support. The Hamas position on acquiring a nation state is to obliterate the existing state and purge the lands of non-Arab influence and culture. As Honigman observes

Turn the clock back three decades.

Some things change, others never will - such as the acceptance of anyone else’s political rights in a multi-ethnic region that most Arabs see exclusively as "purely Arab patrimony." That's the Arab-Israel conflict in a nutshell; but it is also the core of the Arab-Berber, Arab-Kurd, Arab-Black African, Arab-Copt, Arab-Assyrian, Arab-non-Arab Lebanese conflicts, as well, among others. The Arabs' Anfal Campaign against the Kurds and their actions in Darfur and the rest of the southern Sudan are just a few of many examples of Arab genocidal actions against all who might disagree.

Wherever there are Arabs (or Islam) there is conflict. The conflict is often drawn not just along religious or national lines - i.e. Islam versus Coptic Christianity or Syria v Israel - but often along racist lines - Arab v Jew, Muslim Arab v Muslim black.

But the left love the Arabs. Red Ken happily hugs gay hating, wife beating supporting Muslim clerics even though they are fervently racist nationalists. Could you imagine Hizonner inviting Nick Griffin on to the stage with him and giving him a big hug? No I can't either - and I'd imagine Griffin wouldn't take too kindly to it either. Griffin's views and the policies of the BNP - from what I've seen - are a lot more reasonable and considerably less violent than those of Hamas or Hezbollah, but I can't see the lefties marching through the streets with "We are all BNP now" banners.

That's the hypocrisy of the left for you. I know - or at least I thought I knew - what the left were "against", but I could never quite work out what they are "for". Whenever I tried to examine their support for something, I would always come across an example where they were against that same something which they would normally be in favour of - they despise British, English or Israeli nationalism, but love Palestinian nationalism. They are for women's rights, but it's OK to beat your missus if you are a Muslim. They want an end to to discrimination and are prepared to discriminate to get it. They demand tolerance and refuse to tolerate dissent.

The only thing I have ever managed to find any consistency in from the left is one thing they are always opposed to - western culture. The left are not "for"anything in particular, they are for anything that is generally anti-Western.