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d429c40
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"At least two important conservative thinkers, Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss, were unbelievers or nonbelievers and in any case contemptuous of Christianity. I have my own differences with both of these savants, but is the Republican Party really prepared to disown such modern intellectuals as it can claim, in favor of a shallow, demagogic and above all sectarian religiosity? Perhaps one could phrase the same question in two further ways. At the last election, the GOP succeeded in increasing its vote among American Jews by an estimated five percentage points. Does it propose to welcome these new adherents or sympathizers by yelling in the tones of that great Democrat bigmouth William Jennings Bryan? By insisting that evolution is 'only a theory'? By demanding biblical literalism and by proclaiming that the Messiah has already shown himself? If so, it will deserve the punishment for hubris that is already coming its way. (The punishment, in other words, that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson believed had struck America on Sept. 11, 2001. How can it be that such grotesque characters, calling down divine revenge on the workers in the World Trade Center, are allowed a respectful hearing, or a hearing at all, among patriotic Republicans?).
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|
2001
2003
american-jews
atheism
ayn-rand
biblical-literalism
christian-fundamentalism
christian-right
christianity
creationism
democratic-party-united-states
evolution
fundamentalism
jerry-falwell
jesus
jews
leo-strauss
pat-robertson
politics
religion
republican-party-united-states
sectarianism
september-11-attacks
united-states
us-elections-2000
william-jennings-bryan
world-trade-center
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Christopher Hitchens |
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bb5c5f7
|
When she thought of New York City now, the place where she'd lived for most of her life, the only home she'd ever really known, she realized the city was like a person who now oftentimes struggled to stand proud because both its legs had collapsed in a sea of dust, fire and scattered office papers.
|
|
new-york
new-york-city
september-11th
september-11th-attacks
terrorism
twin-towers
world-trade-center
|
Rebecca McNutt |
|
9af3712
|
Red rain, white-striped towers and a clear blue sky, it was like America's flag exploded everywhere that day.
|
|
manhattan
new-york
patriotism
september-11-attacks
september-11th
september-11th-attacks
twin-towers
world-trade-center
|
Rebecca McNutt |
|
ead9b0f
|
People don't look like people anymore after they've fallen from over a hundred floors above the ground.
|
|
disaster
fall
gore
ground
people
september-11-attacks
september-11th
twin-towers
world-trade-center
|
Rebecca McNutt |
|
6d95d6b
|
The Twin Towers stood out like an enormous number 11 looming over New York City, a familiar icon coupled with the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State building and the Statue of Liberty. Those towers were like the soul of lower Manhattan, alive in their own right.
|
|
brooklyn-bridge
empire-state-building
icon
landmark
manhattan
skyscraper
statue-of-liberty
twin-towers
world-trade-center
|
Rebecca McNutt |
|
6f35fe4
|
"She fought the urge to scream, feeling desperately like she needed to run, that she needed to go as far away from Manhattan as possible and never even give it so much as a backwards glance, but she was frozen to the spot like a wind-up toy that had finally given out. "This city is falling apart!" she shouted in cheerful trauma, her voice shaky and muddled by anxious, messy laughter as it resounded in her head. In a coping sort of euphoria she skipped lithely through the dust and debris as though it were falling snow on a winter day."
|
|
nervous-breakdown
new-york
new-york-city
posttraumatic-stress-disorder
september-11-attacks
trauma
twin-towers
world-trade-center
|
Rebecca McNutt |
|
b4d2d3f
|
New York City is a phoenix rising from the ashes.
|
|
new-york
new-york-city
phoenix
phoenix-rising
sad
september-11-attacks
terrorism
world-trade-center
|
Rebecca McNutt |
|
a2c2f3d
|
"One man, an investment banker from Cantor Fitzgerald, took her to see the viewing deck like a good Samaritan since he felt sorry for her, and... and it was like flying, she could see the entire city, she could see the top of the clouds and the ocean, the pink and purple of the late sunset, and he told her, "it's the closest we can ever get to heaven! These buildings connect everyone together like a big community!" "If this is the closest place to heaven, are you an angel investor?" she'd asked curiously."
|
|
cute
heaven
investor
september-11-attacks
september-11th
twin-towers-angel-investor
world-trade-center
|
Rebecca McNutt |