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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (215984)	2/2/2007 3:40:31 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Arab killing Arab just makes no sense to me. But it does to them; it's a way of life. It's how tribes work, and let's face it, the Arabs still think and act like tribes. The only place with fledgling democratic institutions is Lebanon. Hizbullah, the Syrians, and any number of others have done their level best to derail that poor country's path to democracy. The shifting alliances and constant betrayals among Arabs throughout history are well documented. Lebanon is the perfect example. At one point when Arafat was in Lebanon, the Israelis kicked him out from the south and the Syrians kicked him out from the north. The Syrians and the Israelis were, in effect, working together against the Palestinians! Arafat and the PLO ended up in Tangiers, if I recall correctly. The killing and the turmoil in Lebanon following Arafat getting kicked out of Jordan, another example of Arab-on-Arab violence, was huge. Doesn't even come close to the violence last year. The Palestinains themselves have had a terrific history of infighting, e.g., the PFLP under George Habash fighting Arafat, Hamas fighting everyone, and various other splinter groups fighting among themselves to try to get the upper hand. I saw some statistics suggesting that as of the late 1980s or early 1990s, the death toll among Palestinians thanks to the actions of fellow Arabs and fellow Palestinians exceeds the deaths caused by Israelis by an enormous factor, several thousand fold. Yet, it is always The Joos! The Jooos! Arab tribalism is a sad spectacle in the 21st century but it is also a dangerous one to Western culture as a whole. The book I cited above is perfectly titled: the Arabs live in a closed circle, one they cannot escape without making huge changes to their outlook. And that isn't going to happen for a very long time.

To: Ilaine who wrote (215984)	2/2/2007 3:48:55 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

"Arab killing Arab just makes no sense to me." Arabs are killing Arabs for a variety of reasons that are just as rational as any ethnocentric reason you could give for Arabs not to kill Arabs. The fundamentally important need for belongingness trumps almost all other social drives. Identifying with and loyalty to group is what defines community. Loyalty to tribe, religion, race, national origin, extreme liberal chaos, extreme oppressive totalitarianism, etc. can lead to a sense of devotion to the banners of one group identity or another. People of normal intelligence often compromise reason and a principled conscience for fear of being diminished or outcast all together. It is this type of commitment to the external emblems of order that tends toward corruption (extremism). The cost is a principled identity of self. Bullies who fear loss of status or power, new members, or those barely in touch as a community member, who are seeking validation are the most likely to lean furthest to extremes. In our recent generations we have seen a meshing and blending of cultures that will, in short order, define global community. What we lack in this generation is a locus of identity, defining globalized humanity, based on common principle.