Today's thoughts
Terrorism in London
Predictably, another terrorist attack has occured. Just as predictably, the talking-heads are babbling about "not letting up", "tightening security", "it could happen to you", blah blah blah.
The War on Terrorism cannot be won, and the government can't protect you from a terrorist attack no matter how many freedoms and liberties they take away. Think of the War on Drugs. A century after drugs became illegal, we're actually worse off then when the drug prohibition took effect. In the late 19th century, drug use was frowned upon and only a small segment of the population took them. In the early 21st century, the same small segment of the population is still taking them despite billions spent on drug prevention, law enforcement, and even capital punishment of drug offenders in some parts of the world. What exactly have we accomplished? The War on Terror will be the same, never ending, and never effective.
There are only two things that can be done:
- Be ready to deal with the aftermath of an attack, just in the same was as being prepared for a natural disaster like a tornado or earthquake.
- Analyze what the objectives of the terrorists are. In this case, if you ignore the inane "they hate us for our freedoms" argument, the real source is that many Arabs feel that the West is trying to destroy their culture and their way of life (hence the "crusaders" talk). And that is exactly what the West is trying to do under the "freedom & democracy" guise. Essentially, America (and to a lesser extent the Europe, Canada, and Australia) are attempting to Westernize the Middle East in the hope that terrorism will go away. We think our way of life is the correct way, and that we must "civilize the savages", so to speak. However, those on the recieving end of this treatment become resentful of being told how to lead their lives, and some will percieve it as a threat. Hence the never ending cycle, in trying to prevent terrorism we're actually creating it. If the Middle East wants help becoming more peaceful and prosperous, its fine to lend a hand. However, giving unwanted instructions on how to fix all their problems will fall on deaf ears.
Well, the house is moving along well. The railings are in, the ceramic tile is down, and the cabinetry should be coming soon. It's hard to believe in a few short weeks that the house will be done, and I'll enter a new phase of my life.
posted by Kyle_From_Ottawa @ 4:23 p.m.
3 comments
3 Comments:
The US and her allies were never trying to "civilize" the Middle East. The people, and particularly the youth of the Middle East have been drawn to Western culture, and American companies are more than willing to set up a store or club or whatever it may be in Kuwait, Tehran, ect.
But as in America, fractions of the society resist the move. They've sufficed with their 1000 year old way of life, and hate the Christian "Infidels" for being so much more prosperous than they.
And you can't blame them for being jealous, but you can for fighting. If whatever group you connect with had fought an enemy for thousands of years, and then lost touch with them for a few hundred just to find that the way you've opposed for so long has let them become so vastly superior in terms of technology, standard of living, life expectancy, luxury, happiness, and practically every way, you'd hate them for it too.
It sounds conceded to say "We're better than you", but I'm not the one saying it. It's the message their own children give their parents by going out to Starbucks instead of their traditional coffee shop. And as expected some more radical groups will believe that it's a vast conspiracy to take over.
Then that wing of society will resist the changes accepted and promoted by the other wing, and in an attempt to stop the change toward Westernize, the terrorists try to destroy the West. And the West can't just sit by as their being attacked. If they did far too many innocent Americans, English, ect. would die.
So only when it is now the last choice. America has to step in and pick a side. Stop all companies from creating franchises in the Middle East, leave the Middle East behind in the proverbial stone age, as increasingly larger groups of their children want the western culture, and hope everything works out and the terrorists stop... or fight the people who are fighting us, set up a democracy, allow that group of society to live in the past do so, while allowing those who want to westernize do that. The only problem with the second option it that it makes their nutty predictions appear true.
The Amish are a great example of people who've, like these groups in the Middle East decided to stick with their religion and live how they believe their religion says they should. The difference is, they let everyone else do as they want. They've accepted the fact that not everyone what to live that way, and they let their children choice whether to leave or stay. While some Muslims to like the Amish, others try to stop their children from doing differently than they. Which that path is flawed. If a people want to change, they will, and when they've had enough of the terrorist’s shenanigans, they'll attack back and kill every one of the “old way”-type people.
Hopefully they'll do like the Amish, move to one town live that way, and accept that the rest are "going to burn in hell for all of eternity". But for now the only choice it to let the ones who like the US do how they want, and hope the rest will accept it, while punishing those who use violence to prevent it.
I still disagree. The lure of Western culture has occured in all parts of the globe, but there's a reason why the terrorists are coming from places like Saudi Arabia and not from Paraguay.
In the Middle East, there was direct inteference by both America and the U.S.S.R during the cold war due to its strategic importance, and a long history of European colonialism. In many ways, the current problems in the Middle East were planted 50 to 100 years ago, and we're just now feeling the effects.
I'm not saying build a wall around the Middle East, far from it. However, to the "Arab street" it looks as though the West is playing the part of the puppet master. We're not going to gain their trust unless they feel that they're in charge and that we're helping them, not commanding them. If you don't have their trust, then we can never help them build a stable society.
As for the "vastly superior in terms of technology, standard of living, life expectancy, etc". That's not entirely true. Have you ever been to Dubai? Some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have very high standards of living.
They've sufficed with their 1000 year old way of life, and hate the Christian "Infidels" for being so much more prosperous than they. And you can't blame them for being jealous, but you can for fighting.
I've been playing e-mail tag with a friend of mine over this point for most of a week now. It's rubbish; the theory that they're doing it out of jealousy and that "they hate our freedoms" demonstrably does not hold water.
There are any number of cultures in the world today who had imperial histories, and martial traditions; proud of what they were and sad that they are no longer as great. Cultures that have fallen on rough times, and who don't even have scads of oil to sell to assuage their humiliation like many Arabs do. And yet, for all the envy they must be feeling, they are not blowing up Western targets. So that can't be the answer.
The whole "jealous of liberty!" thread is thin gruel too. For decades, the Soviet Union had to deal with the allure of Western capitalism, and right along its imperial frontiers, too. Despite the fact that they had one of the top covert organizations in the world at their disposal, their response was to build fences and walls, not disrupt our society. So that can't be it either.
On the other hand, Western troops didn't invade the Soviet Union (at least not once they got their act together by the 1920s). We weren't remaking their society at gunpoint, murdering — I mean, "collaterally damaging" — tens of thousands of their citizens in the process. Call me crazy, but if my neighbour had a Lamborghini, I think I'd be less less prone to killing him just for managing to own one than I would be if he, oh, I don't know, used it to run over my daughter, and then promised me "democracy!!" to make up for it.
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