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ratbastid · 03-12-2006, 09:01 PM

mikey's onto something. Many of the world's major troubles can be traced to issues faced by nations in post-colonial times. Africa and much of the Middle East would be a very different place if it had been allowed to develop free of oppression from Europe. (See Kim Stanley Robinson's effing brilliant The Years of Rice and Salt for more on this).

First of all, I'm not crazy about the division of the world into "islam" and "the west". I don't think it's quite that simple. 99.999% of Muslims are perfectly peaceful individuals. It's the .001% who fly planes into buildings that cause trouble for the rest. So I think "the west" would do well to remember that.

That said: I think the Muslim world would serve itself well to be MUCH more vocal in their denounciation of those who use violence in the name of Islam. Islam is a non-violent religion, at its heart, and to commit violent acts in its name is a bastardization of its teachings. It's a damned shame that there hasn't been a major PR campaign on behalf of Muslims everywhere, because the perception that Johnny Lunchbucket has of Islam is not pretty.

I think the West (Well, who are we kidding: the US) would be well served to take responsibility for the political and economic climate in which people would choose to take up arms against it. People wouldn't want to destroy American so badly without some reason. Nobody's BORN an insurgent or a terrorist. They have some very good reason for the actions they take. I'm a little surprised that Americans aren't more interested to find out what that reason is. If somebody's hitting me on the head with a hammer, I'd like to know why they're doing that, so I can make it stop.

I grew out of hitting back when I was eight. Now I'm interested in root causes. America doesn't seem interested in root causes; it seems interested in treating the symptoms. We have a whole massive industry built around treating symptoms, with every week a bigger and scarier tool for treating symptoms, and great big lobbying efforts to make sure we keep right on treating those symptoms. And as long as we do that, the terrorism problem will never be solved. The actions we're taking in Iraq RIGHT NOW are guaranteeing that our children and grandchildren will be threatened by terrorism too.

I voted "both", but if there were a "both, but mostly the West" button, I'd have taken that one.

03-12-2006, 09:01 PM	#3 (permalink)
ratbastid Darth Papa Location: Yonder	mikey's onto something. Many of the world's major troubles can be traced to issues faced by nations in post-colonial times. Africa and much of the Middle East would be a very different place if it had been allowed to develop free of oppression from Europe. (See Kim Stanley Robinson's effing brilliant The Years of Rice and Salt for more on this). First of all, I'm not crazy about the division of the world into "islam" and "the west". I don't think it's quite that simple. 99.999% of Muslims are perfectly peaceful individuals. It's the .001% who fly planes into buildings that cause trouble for the rest. So I think "the west" would do well to remember that. That said: I think the Muslim world would serve itself well to be MUCH more vocal in their denounciation of those who use violence in the name of Islam. Islam is a non-violent religion, at its heart, and to commit violent acts in its name is a bastardization of its teachings. It's a damned shame that there hasn't been a major PR campaign on behalf of Muslims everywhere, because the perception that Johnny Lunchbucket has of Islam is not pretty. I think the West (Well, who are we kidding: the US) would be well served to take responsibility for the political and economic climate in which people would choose to take up arms against it. People wouldn't want to destroy American so badly without some reason. Nobody's BORN an insurgent or a terrorist. They have some very good reason for the actions they take. I'm a little surprised that Americans aren't more interested to find out what that reason is. If somebody's hitting me on the head with a hammer, I'd like to know why they're doing that, so I can make it stop. I grew out of hitting back when I was eight. Now I'm interested in root causes. America doesn't seem interested in root causes; it seems interested in treating the symptoms. We have a whole massive industry built around treating symptoms, with every week a bigger and scarier tool for treating symptoms, and great big lobbying efforts to make sure we keep right on treating those symptoms. And as long as we do that, the terrorism problem will never be solved. The actions we're taking in Iraq RIGHT NOW are guaranteeing that our children and grandchildren will be threatened by terrorism too. I voted "both", but if there were a "both, but mostly the West" button, I'd have taken that one.