[MD] Barbarian attack

[Scott Roberts]

Platt,

Scott said::
> What do you think those in the West would do if they saw the threat to
> their traditional morality as coming from foreign powers, with their
> government aiding and abetting those foreign powers? Turn the other
> cheek, perhaps?

Platt,
Who in the Middle East are you referring to whose government aids and
abets foreign powers threatening their traditional morality?

Scott:
Does it matter who? What matters is the perception. The religious fanatics, 
and the much larger population of conservatively religious people in the 
Middle East, know that they were invaded by foreign powers (colonialism), 
and that they are ruled by secular governments (e.g., in Egypt, Tunisia, 
Algeria), that Western governments have preferred this undemocratic rule 
(when they are not ruling directly), knowing that if there was actual 
democracy, the Muslim Brotherhood or its offshoots would win (as just 
happened in Palestine). The majority of the populace in many Middle Eastern 
countries think that their governments are inimical to their values. So what 
I am asking you is: if that were the situation with you: that is, that if 
you saw your culture being threatened by foreigners and your government 
wasn't stopping it, would you condone violence to preserve your way of life?

Platt said:
Further, do you detect a difference in the traditional morality of Al-
Qaeda and the Western democracies with one being superior to the other?

Scott:
The "traditional morality" I am referring to is not that of Al-Qaeda. What I 
am referring to is centuries-old Islamic culture of hundreds of millions 
which is in fact being threatened. Now I don't think much of that culture (I 
wouldn't want to live in it), and I think in the long term it is doomed, 
just as the similar culture that existed in the West a few centuries ago was 
doomed, thanks to the industrial revolution and so on. It didn't go quietly 
either. All I really want to say here is that your characterization of the 
situation as "descend[ing] to the level of biological values (terrorism)" is 
a cheap sound-byte. I know, you got it from a sentence in Lila. It's still 
cheap, that is, a way to turn a very complex situation into one of good guys 
and bad guys.

- Scott