Thoughtful article on the terrorist mindset:

[Moonbeam]

Here is a snip of the excellent full article linked below. It was written Sept 28 of last year shortly after the bombing. The quote in not representative of the tenor of the whole article but got me to wondering just how much we, ourselves, might have in common with the terrorist mentality. It was particularly gratifying to me to note that the role of negative self esteem was diagnosed as a terrorist predicate. The snip:

"Even in schools, wrote Chandra Muzaffar, president of the country's (Malaysia) International Movement for a Just World, "the socio-cultural and politically constructed habits of evil behaviour begin with seemingly harmless behaviours ... bullying, deliberate cruelties, gangsterism, stereotyping, racial, religious or cultural bigotry." And at university level, he continued, many more untoward thoughts harbour in impressionable minds. At the same time, "if great thoughts, great values and idealism are fostered in these young minds, they become great responsible minds".

The full text here.

The war we need to be engaged in is the war of ideas.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Here is a snip of the excellent full article linked below. It was written Sept 28 of last year shortly after the bombing. The quote in not representative of the tenor of the whole article but got me to wondering just how much we, ourselves, might have in common with the terrorist mentality. It was particularly gratifying to me to note that the role of negative self esteem was diagnosed as a terrorist predicate. The snip:

"Even in schools, wrote Chandra Muzaffar, president of the country's (Malaysia) International Movement for a Just World, "the socio-cultural and politically constructed habits of evil behaviour begin with seemingly harmless behaviours ... bullying, deliberate cruelties, gangsterism, stereotyping, racial, religious or cultural bigotry." And at university level, he continued, many more untoward thoughts harbour in impressionable minds. At the same time, "if great thoughts, great values and idealism are fostered in these young minds, they become great responsible minds".

The full text here.

The war we need to be engaged in is the war of ideas.

against a billion people? is that possible? i guess we could do "radio free mideast" or something but that assumes people even have a radio...

 

[tcsenter]

The war we need to be engaged in is the war of ideas.

The problem is, you gotta get them young, very young, and the extremists are very good at this in the Arab world.

 

[ElFenix]

that sorta thing worked agains the soviets because we didn't need to do much to show how broken their system was. islamic terrorists it doesn't work for because a true-believer isn't going to be phased by you telling him hes not going to be getting virgins in paradise. why should that cast any doubt on him? of course you're going to lie, he thinks, and who knows, maybe hes right? i mean at least we could tell the sovs, hey, your refrigerators explode, and they say, yeah, i guess you're right. but the islamic terrorists? what do you say?

 

[Moonbeam]

Geez ELFenix, it's not that hard. Truth is truth. Everybody aspires to the same things. Everybody wants to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the Islamic world be support governments that are antithetical to these notions and foster a hatred of us the US to insolate themselves form the wrath of their own people. Demand a negotiated settlement of Palestinian statehood. Stop supporting Arab dictatorships and put real pressure on them to democratize. Institute a war for the development of cheap alternative energy supply. Publicize and live up to these commitments. That's somewhere to start.

 

[jjones]

The war we need to be engaged in is the war of ideas.

I think we are in a war of ideas, or ideals to be more precise. Seems to me this is what most of the conflicts are about, whose ideals will be fostered amongst the young.

 

[Moonbeam]

True jj, but people everywhere and of all ages hunger for freedom.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
True jj, but people everywhere and of all ages hunger for freedom.

whether they know it or not

 

[Maetryx]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Truth is truth.

Whoa. I honestly didn't think we agreed on that one. I'm going to remember this, Moonbeam.

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
True jj, but people everywhere and of all ages hunger for freedom.

Not everybody is ready for freedom. In the US and many democracies worldwide, freedom was earned through bloodshed. In the 20th century, democracies (namely the US) started foisting freedom on countries that hadn't earned it and therefore weren't ready for it. The chaos caused by premature freedom can be more dangerous than whatever regime ruled previously.