Young Britt Douglas Murray Explains Neo-Conservatism To David Horowitz's Freedom Center Breakfast Club Here's a .wav file of Friday's 8/11/06 67-minute talk. According to the Aug 10 email:
I arrive at 7:30 a.m. Robert Spencer is already hitting the coffee. I bury myself in Tova Reich's comic novel Mara. When the help eject me from my seat outside, I stroll in and pour myself a steaming cup of green tea. The water tastes of coffee grinds. Discouraged by the lack of protein options, I plough through three sweetrolls, two plates of fruit and one cup of orange juice. Thus fortified, I look around at my social betters and start a conversation about the unsuitability of homosexuals as protagonists in novels for vulgar heteros. "...Mexicans coming over our borders," says Janet Levy and I snap to attention for a minute before receding into my carbohydrates-induced fog. Then there's a terrible mix-up and the little Pommie clerk walks behind the lectern and starts mumbling about neo-conservatism. He's got a plumby upper-class accent and he swallows his words. Those of us not trained in lip-reading are in big trouble. I finally realize that this bloke talking about going after terrorism on the front foot (a cricketing term) is author Douglas Murray. He gets terribly philosophical for somebody born in 1979. He says Leo Strauss is the modern founder of neo-conservatism. He says there are no Muslim countries where non-Muslims enjoy equal rights. I jot down notes. "Israel builds bunkers to protect its citizens. The other side builds bunkers to protect its missiles." "Tuesday was all Ned Lamond. Where was Ned Lamont yesterday morning?" "The four bombers [in London July 7, 2005] received collectively 250,000 pounds in welfare." "A few days after the bombing, there was a story about a man in full Muslim regalia carrying a backpack boarding a train in London. Everybody froze until a young man went over and pushed the Muslim off the train saying, 'Not today, mate.'" "The Brazilian who was shot by mistake July 21 is better known in Britain than any of the 54 victims of the July 7 bombing." Murray recommends bulldozing mosques that teach sedition. He gets his only spontaneous applause of the day. Douglas mentions a British communist party whose campaign slogan was, "Vote for us and you'll never have to vote again." He said we are not in World War III. Sure, that feels dramatic and important, but even if you had a 9/11 every month, that would still be nothing like the conflict of 1939-45. "There's a vanity to be living at the end of time." "If we are only given guilt, and not given pride, we will build a demoralized generation." Douglas noted that due to fear of Islamic assassins, nobody is going to make fun of Mohammed to the degree Jesus is mocked. "And if you were to write about Mohammed's sexual shenanigans, you wouldn't even have to make them up." Wednesday Morning Club director Michael Finch has grown a goatee. He must be auditioning for tough guy roles. I see him playing Steven Seagal's buddy in various anti-terrorism action adventure flicks with Horowitz's secretary Elizabeth along for fun. There was a time in my life when I pondered the great issues of life. Now I just surf my neural transmitter tides of whimsy and bludge. Liberty Film Festival founders Govindini Murty and Jason Apuzzo (they're married) arrive near the end of Murray's talk. She's so freakin' gorgeous it makes me forget entirely Jason's Ph.D. in Germanic Literature from Stanford University. Besides, he's an entirely average looking bald chap. He better thank God he's not gay or he'd be in for a long dry spell. No conservative gathering can legally disperse until a little old lady raises her hand and protests the "New World Order," and the U.N. and one-world government. Thus we were sent on our way at 10 a.m. |