FWIW, I'll throw in my two cents here. History repeats itself because the problem we face today is the same problem that has faced mankind since the beginning.Ignorance. Ignorance of the fact that people are people, no more, no less. The statement that " all men are created equal" is unfortunately viewed by most people to be an ideal rather than understood to be a fact. The ignorance of some people leads them to believe that they are superior to their fellow man. (the leaders) The ignorance of others leads them to believe they are inferior to their fellow man. (the followers) This ignorance leads to fear. (there is only security in knowing) This fear causes both the leaders and followers to seek security by banding together in small groups. (safety in numbers) The two major groups are nationalism and religion.
How is this reflected in the current situation? The terrorists and governments that support them claim they are trying to resist the encroachment of western influences on their homelands. Why? Are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness really that bad? Immigration statistics wouldn';t indicate this. People have been leaving these places in droves for some time now, going to places like Canada, America, and Europe. In spite of the prohibition of televisions and outside communications imposed by folks like the taliban, the word seems to be getting out that the grass is indeed greener in other parts of the world. Is this what these leaders are afraid of? That they will wake up one morning and all the followers will have left town? They know they can only remain in power as long as they can keep the followers poor, uneducated and generally hopeless. How can they improve their image as rulers without giving up some if not all of their wealth and power? They can't or won't so they rely on the old strategy of trying to make themselves look good by making someone else look bad. How to do it? First it is neccessary to intertwine their own personal ego-driven desire for power into the fabric of the two major security blankets, nationalism and religion. This generates support and protection. The terrorist attacks are designed to infuriate the west, U.S. in particular. The hope is that the west will strike back recklessly, killing innocent nationals and religious people. This will cement the deteriorating relationship of the leaders and followers.(the same result, though unsolicited, has occurred here. I'm sure we've all noticed the increased number of flags and overflowing churches) This is particularly beneficial in countries where the political and religious leaders are one and the same.
So, what to do? Depends on the time frame. In the immediate timeframe, we have a fire on our hands. The only solution I can think of is to light a backfire.Not very noble but there aren't any other options. We have to be sooooo careful though they we don't do anything that will benefit the real enemy. (don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes) In the longer term, there are options. Ideally we should wage war on ignorance but who will do it? The leaders? No, they are too busy with there own political/religious careers.The followers? No, they're too insecure. Guess we'll just have to suck it up and face the fact we are stuck with ignorance and go to plan B. This might involve something similar to the old Radio Free Europe to give folks in some places an idea of what the west is really like. the Muslim churches in the west could get very vocal about how the leaders in some countries are using the religious communtiy to further their own goals. This could well filter back to the homelands. Once the smoke clears the west needs to help build some economic basis for these countries, and that doesn't mean just handing over millions of dollar to god know who just to ease our conscience. The money has to be accompanied by the expertise to see that it is used properly. We have to keep in mind that the real fight is against ignorance and the fear that results from it. Education has to be a priortity as well as political stability ( in other words we can't just slap the old bunch assholes back on the throne and walk away. We have to hang in there until the people decide what kind of government they want and who they want to run it). Foreign aid policy has to instill as much confidence and security in the people as possible.
Hopefully we can, in time come up with sufficent long term improvements so that justifications for terrorism will be so obviously detrimental to the majority of people, that no one will follow. |
