What else could make people do that?
Ideological choice, aka being in love with a really stupid idea. Most people, even in desperate straits, have a natural 'red line' against teaching their little children to commit suicide. It is the Islamist ideology that has erased this red line for the Palestinians.
Besides, the Palestinians were not in desperate straits. I'm sure the Kurds would love to have the same chances for statehood that the Palestinians just blew. If Arafat had made a choice to be pragmatic, to aim for a Palestine next to Israel, they had the US working for them and many international levers to push.
But Arafat made a choice to revert to maximalimalism, better no loaf than half a loaf. The cause was not desperation, unless you want to count Arafat's inability to accept Israel's existence, confront the hard-liners or run a state as legitimate causes for desperation.
Evil doesn't spring from nowhere - it is always somebody's attempt to solve a problem - a bad solution, of course, but an attempt to solve a problem, nonetheless.
You're going to have to explain to me what 'problem' Osama bin Laden was trying to solve for himself.
There are always problems in the world. Sometimes they are overwhelming and one must admit mitigating circumstances. Sometimes they are self-inflicted and objective judgement must take this into account. As you say, Nazism was born of the failures of the Weimar Republic; this doesn't mean that people of intelligence and morals couldn't see that it was an evil idea at the time; most of them failed to see just how powerful and how evil before it was too late.
Just so Islamism is born of the failure of the Arabs to cope with modern world. I'm sure people of good character there too can see how nihilistic and evil it is; we just can't hear them because the government-controlled presses have been giving almost free rein to the Islamists.
I have noticed that neither side in this conflict minds being called desperate
You've noticed more than I have; neither side wants to be called desperate. The Israelis say they are acting in self-defense; the Palestinians, in resistance, defiance, and fighting for victory. |
