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September 15, 2006 1:17 PM
ORIANA by Michael Ledeen
[Michael Ledeen remembers his friend Oriana Fallaci.] Yeah, we knew she was sick, we’d known it for a long time, but we somehow figured she’d overwhelm it, that the combination of cigarettes and her own abundant bile would drive out the “alien,” just as she overwhelmed Khomeini, Kissinger, Qadaffi and Carillo. So it was a shock to hear she’d left. Oriana was one of those bigger-than-life personalities who dwarf everyone around them, and there wasn’t much grey in her world, things were always sharply defined. This made friendship a challenge, since at any given moment you were either dearly beloved or this week’s dolt. But it didn’t really matter, since she prized friendship, and last week’s idiot was invariably destined to return as tomorrow’s beloved; you had to accept that it would happen, and it would pass, and we were fortunate to know her and be provoked, stimulated, embraced and insulted. She was a hell of a lady. She was a hell of a writer, too, one of the greatest of our generation. Her tirades against Islamic Nazi-fascism appeared in thirty different languages and sold more than three million books. In hard cover. And her earlier books, especially the incredible interviews in which she managed to provoke powerful, brilliant, and evil people to totally expose themselves, are still must-reads. You just can’t comprehend the history of the past thirty years without Oriana’s guidance. And she was a hell of a woman. I only knew her when she was older, and marked with the deep lines of her long fight against the “alien,” but she was still a vivacious and flirtatious gal who delighted in the flow of her powerful pheremones and very much enjoyed being around men who appreciated her considerable charms. Just look at some of those photos from her younger days. Wow. She was a freedom fighter to her core, having descended from a proud line of such people. She had an anarchist grandfather and an anti-fascist father (once scheduled for execution) and a mother tough as nails. Oriana ran secret missions for the anti-fascist resistance inTuscany, while still a teenager. I have no doubt that she spent her entire adult life carrying out a very well defined mission to prove herself worthy of her name. She certainly succeeded. She was one of the all-time great nonconformists, she fought tyranny wherever she saw it and she challenged evil, especially in the hands of hypocrites, as soon as she detected its rotten odor. She had a rare mixture of that amazing feminine sixth sense for phonies, and a ruthless objectivity that forced her to recognize positive qualities in even the most evil people, as when she spotted a kind of elegance and brilliance in the Ayatollah Khomeini. Those who know Italy will recognize Oriana as the quintessential Tuscan, right out of the texts: tough, intellectually brutal, brilliantly and eloquently disparaging of anyone who doesn’t meet impossibly high standards, utterly loyal to “the cause.” Tuscans were the worst fascists and the worst communists, uncompromising, cruel and dogmatic. Happily for us, Oriana’s cause was the pursuit of truth, whatever the political and social consequences. Once considered a fashionable leftists, she positively reveled in her ostracism in later years by her old admirers. She immersed herself in the words of her critics much more than in those of her allies, because she wanted to be able to demolish the criticism. I once spent half a day in her Manhattan town house, deconstructing the attacks against her in the Italian and French press. When we’d been through it all, she laughed happily, and raced to the kitchen to cook lunch. She was a hell of a cook, by the way, and she was very pleased to find someone who was actually interested in how to do it. She hit it off right away with Barbara Ledeen, another great cook. Oriana came for dinner one night and, until we sat down at the table, ignored the other guests in order to work in the kitchen. She insisted on excellence in every thing she did, she could not bear the thought of being average, routine, unexceptional. Lots of people were surprised to learn that she lived as a virtual recluse in New York City, rather than Florence, but America was a big part of her soul. A real freedom fighter has to love America, and she did, just as she hated America when it failed to meet her high standards. Her writings on America were extraordinary; the words she wrote right after 9/11 deserve to be remembered for a very long time: The fact is that America is a special country, my dear friend. A country to envy, of which to be jealous…and it is that way because it is born of a spiritual necessity…and of the most sublime human idea: the idea of liberty, or better, of liberty married to the idea of equality… She HAD to live here, you see. Just as she had to die in Florence, where she will be buried in the Evangelical cemetery alongside her parents. But we shouldn’t be in a hurry to bury her. For the moment, she’s still very much with us. All you have to do is look at the news of the day, replete with the grotesque distortions of Pope Benedict’s thoughtful speech in Germany. Those distortions are driven by one her pet peeves: the politically correct fear of offending Muslims, any Muslims, even those who want us dead and decapitated. She and Benedict evidently hit it off quite well, truly the odd couple, she the lifelong atheist (albeit, in her delightfully paradoxical formulation, a “Christian atheist”)and he the lifelong theologian. And why not? After all, she was the only atheist to defend Christmas against the depredations of American secularists.
——— Comments (23)lolajl :Randall :I wish I had picked her for my deadpool contest but she wasn't on the list. DAMN! Elizabeth Wezensky :I feel as if I have been kicked in the gut. Why are there so few like her who will speak the truth - or rather, know what it is. Paul Elman :I feel shocked and saddened by her death. She had been sick for many years with cancer but her courage, vitality, and brilliance of mind and love for the best in humanity was unparalleled and unique. What a loss! Paul Elman :I feel shocked and saddened by her death. She had been sick for many years with cancer but her courage, vitality, and brilliance of mind and love for the best in humanity was unparalleled and unique. What a loss! Mike_K :I have her books so will never have to give her up. RoberHume :Can someone give a URL for her defense of Christmas? Bob Agard :This is one of the most beautiful eulogies I have ever read. I should not be surprised, though, because it comes from Michael Ledeen, a man who has been warning us about the new fascism for many years, as did Oriana Fallaci. Ernest Brown :"And why not? After all, she was the only atheist to defend Christmas against the depredations of American secularists." Not so, I'm thinking of another pro-American European emigre lady atheist who loved Xmas and hated all things mediocre as well... Orson :Regarding Ernest Brown's remark, I'm thinking of Ayn Rand. Too few atheists will defend the expanded humanism of Christmas. Too many are anti-capitalists, who hate its joyful materialism. But a few celebrate the real benefits of our Victorian middle-class industriousness. Christmas celebrates wealth and the will to choose. Bert :Honor her by not fearing to speak the truth no matter how politically incorrect. Victoria :I can't wait until Germaine Greer comes out with another nasty comment about a dead person, although the only animal Oriana ever harmed, was the ferret ego of Yasser Arafat. RIP. Cheers, Canker :I think she may well win over the next few years. The slightest hint (no more)of a rethink is appearing amongst the British media. See here, for an example from the BBC: starboardside :...A woman with balls, God bless her... Simon :A great person has left us. Thank you Mr. Ledeen for your special tribute. What a privilege to be able to call this lady your friend. Talking about 'political correctness': The brave Dutch writer Theo van Gogh, recently brutally slaughtered by a mohammedan for speaking out, must have turned in his grave. Claudio Sturla :I am very sorry. Jeremayakovka :You bring her alive, Michael, in ways few others can. Vlad Wielbut :This is very sad news - with the passing of this incredible woman there is now a little bit less courage in the West vis-a-vis the dominant cowardice and dhimmitude. It is also good news: the a*holes who were dragging her to court for daring to criticize islam will not be able to touch her. I hope they spent a lot of money on lawyers already. I can't say that I knew much about her. (I read "The Rage and The Pride", of course). I was a teenager when I saw her for the first and last time on television, when Polish TV rebroadcast her interview with ayatollah Khomeini, in the midst of which she took off the face-covering hijab she had been forced to wear. I remember being floored by the courage of this woman. (This is what "talking truth to power" means, and not some imbecile carrying sign "Bush=Hitler" at a demonstration in San Francisco, knowing full well that there will be no negative consequences for him of her.) Today, in the "multicultural" world we are being brainwashed to accept as ours, such a gesture would be met with scorn by today's leftists as "insensitive". (In this worldview it is "insensitive" to criticize anybody and anything except Western values, countries, and cultures, especially the USA). Interestingly, Ms. Fallaci was a darling of the Left back then; in recent years she's become an enemy to them. She hasn't changed, always looking for the truth, always alergic to hipocrysy and tyranny. It's the Left that has become a sad caricature of itself. christopher huang :This iron lady had demonstrated her courage to defend her views Allen Khodabash :Someone who was never afraid to speak the necessary truth, no matter what the cost. Requiescat in pace. Richie :How ironic on the day that wild eyed Islamist threaten the Pope's life a dear friend of his has slipped away. Fallaci was a true patriot and a secular prophet, we would all be wise to listen to her sharp but heartfelt counsel. The radical left and Islamist movements may be smiling, but her words are stronger than there hate, the pen is mighter than the sword. She knew what they were planning and what they wanted to do to us .Her words must never never be forgotten.Wake up America, pick up her book you oew her that! I have decided to play Stings "How fragile We Are " to mourn Fallaci's passing.
-Oriana Fallaci Cheryl Mavrikos :Such a great loss to the entire world, that its premier voice for reason has been silenced by death. Oriana, you leave behind a great vacuum. Who can speak the truth with the same combination of grit, humor and intelligence that you have? Madeleine Becker :I am deeply saddened by her passing. Farewell, dear Lady, you left us a legacy of your writings, I hope it is enough. Comments have been archived for this page. |
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What a wonderful tribute. I'll miss her.
Sep 15, 2006 03:15 PM