[MD] sq social - sq intellectual

[Gene M]

Platt wrote:

> [Gene]
> > Radical Islam is not something I can comment on well, being outside my
> > culture and personal experience. However. It seems likely it is a
> > counter culture, but not one of ours. The thing to remember is that
> > Islam has it's Own culture, and maybe this particular counter-culture
> > will be a driving force that causes Islam to expunge all apsects of
> > itself related to extremism.
>
> So far there is little evidence that the majority of Muslims will
> "expunge" the extremists among them, especially in the Arab world
> where terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, Hamas  and Hezbollah appear to
> be gaining in popularity.


They gain in popularity because they help the people. For example, with the
new cease-fire in Lebanon, who was the first organization to offer aid to
the country, and has given the most by far to the reconstructione effort?
Hezbollah. What did we give them? Missiles. Seems like a clear choice for
your average joe. They don't care about politics or philosphy. They care
about who is bombing them and who is helping them. I think we're on the
wrong side here. If Hezbollah can win hearts and minds, why the hell can't
we?

> Unless we as a culture re-inforce in them
> > the Need for such a behaviour, in which case it risks being absorbed and
> > assimilated by the Culture. If we want terrorists to go away, we need to
> > convince everyone else that they're on the wrong track. Opposing them
> > with force only strengthens their local support all over the world.
>
> This sounds disheartenedly like the position held by 60's intellectuals
> who believed "It was police repression that created the crime." (Lila,
> Chp. 24)


In a way true. If you take something mostly harmless people are doing, and
make it illegal, then you have created new crime. If you hassle people who
aren't breaking the law, you're essentially creating criminals. However I
don't think that is the point I am trying to make here.

The terrorists hate us because we are rich, wasteful, and heathens. They
need people to support them, so they have to convince everyone we're worth
fighting. They have to show to the average joe that the western world is as
decadent and evil as they say, so that the locals will support them. So what
do we do? We go maurauding around, hassling civilians, treating everyone we
meet like crap, and decimate cities left and right.

We're just making life easy on the terrorists as I see it.

> Force vs. Force leads us nowhere at all. Force must be absorbed and
> > re-directed, channeled. Only then is victory likely. If we showed the
> > world how wrong the terrorists were, and how Good we are, then they
> > would likely push extremism aside.
>
> How do we go about getting the force used by terrorists "absorbed, re-
> directed, channelled?" How do we convince them how wrong they are
> and how good we are?


Propaganda my friend! Propaganda. Instead of attacking a country we suspect
of harboring terrorists, we need to befriend them. Convince them we're Good
people, we're allright too. We sympathize with the locals, and are the
wounded parties by the hateful acts of the terrorists there. Send some aid,
maybe some engineers and teachers. Show them how innocent we are against a
force that wishes our destruction for no purpose.

Get the countries on our side, and the terrorists have nowhere to go. Treat
the countries as ennemies, and the terrorists can't beat back the new
recruits with a stick.

> Bombing civilians and imposing our imperialistic will around the world
> > is Not a good way to show how Good we are and unnecesarry they are,
> > sadly.
>
> Would you fight terrorists under any circumstances?


I would fight terrorism the only place it can be fought, in the realm of
thought. Terrorism is an idea. A place inside people's heads. You can shoot
it, you can't bomb it. All you can do is try and have better ideas.

Terrorism is like that damn bobbing clown you punch. Or a ball floating in
water. The harder you punch it, the more it springs back. Direct force is
not only wasteful, but ultimately detrimental. You need gentle force,
redirection. Cleverness.

War is a blunt tool, used to smash something you don't understand how to
fix. It's a waste of effort, money and lives. And it sickens me to see it
pulled out so often as a first resort.

-Gene