- Aug 20, 2000
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The conventional whine in the West, that terrorism stemmed from the poverty and destitution of the wretched of the earth is convenient and politically correct psychobabble.
From the anarchists of tsarist Russia to the IRA of 1916, from the Irgun and the Stern Gang to he FOKA in Cyprus, from the Baader-Meinhof group in Germany, the CCC in Belgium, the Action Directe in France, the Red Brigades in Italy, the Red Army Faction again in Germany, the Rengo Sekigun in Japan, through to the Shining Path in Peru to the modern IRA in Ulster or the ETA in Spain, terrorism came from the minds of the comfortably raised, well-educated, middle- or upper-class theorists with a truly staggering personal vanity and a developed taste for self-indulgence.
In this theory, those who could order another to plant a bomb in a food hall and gloat over the resultant images all have one thing in ocmmon. They possess a fearsome capacity for hatred. This is the genetic "given". The hatred comes first; the target can come later and usually does.
The motive also came second to the capacity to hate. It might be the Boshevik Revolution, national liberation, or a thousand variants thereof, from amalgamation to secession; it might be anticapitalist fervor, it might be religion exaltation.
But the hatred comes first, then the cause, then the target, then the methods, and finally the self-justification. And Lenin's "useful dupes" always swallow it.
The leadership of Al Qaeda runs precisely true to form. Its cofounders are a construction millionaire from Saudi Arabia and a qualified doctor from Cairo. It matters not whether their hatred of Americans and Jews is secular based or religiously fueled. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that America or Israel can do, short of complete self-annihilation, that would even begin to appease or satisfy them.
None of the leaders of terrorism truly care a damn for the Palestinians, Afghanis or Iraqis - save as vehicles and justifications. They hate the West, not for what it does, but for what it is.
The West is a constant reproach. It is rich to their poor, strong to their weak, vigorous to their idle, enterprising to their reactionaries, ingenious to their bewildered, can-do to their sit-and-wait, pushy to their timid.
It only needs one demagogue to arise and shout, "Everything the Americas have they stole from you," and they'll believe it. Like Shakespeare's Caliban, their zealots stare in the mirror and roar in rage at what they see. That rage becomes hatred; the hatred needs a target. Conveniently, global communication networks and commerce allows the zealot to become spectator of the stereotypical TV family lifestyle. We are judged as worthy or not to live by the antics of Paris Hilton and the like.
The working class of the Third World does not hate the West; it is the pseudointellectuals. If they ever forgive you, they must indict themselves. So far, their hatred lacks the weaponry. One day they will acquire that weaponry. Then America and its allies will have to fight - or die.
Adapted from Frederick Forsyth's Avenger.
From the anarchists of tsarist Russia to the IRA of 1916, from the Irgun and the Stern Gang to he FOKA in Cyprus, from the Baader-Meinhof group in Germany, the CCC in Belgium, the Action Directe in France, the Red Brigades in Italy, the Red Army Faction again in Germany, the Rengo Sekigun in Japan, through to the Shining Path in Peru to the modern IRA in Ulster or the ETA in Spain, terrorism came from the minds of the comfortably raised, well-educated, middle- or upper-class theorists with a truly staggering personal vanity and a developed taste for self-indulgence.
In this theory, those who could order another to plant a bomb in a food hall and gloat over the resultant images all have one thing in ocmmon. They possess a fearsome capacity for hatred. This is the genetic "given". The hatred comes first; the target can come later and usually does.
The motive also came second to the capacity to hate. It might be the Boshevik Revolution, national liberation, or a thousand variants thereof, from amalgamation to secession; it might be anticapitalist fervor, it might be religion exaltation.
But the hatred comes first, then the cause, then the target, then the methods, and finally the self-justification. And Lenin's "useful dupes" always swallow it.
The leadership of Al Qaeda runs precisely true to form. Its cofounders are a construction millionaire from Saudi Arabia and a qualified doctor from Cairo. It matters not whether their hatred of Americans and Jews is secular based or religiously fueled. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that America or Israel can do, short of complete self-annihilation, that would even begin to appease or satisfy them.
None of the leaders of terrorism truly care a damn for the Palestinians, Afghanis or Iraqis - save as vehicles and justifications. They hate the West, not for what it does, but for what it is.
The West is a constant reproach. It is rich to their poor, strong to their weak, vigorous to their idle, enterprising to their reactionaries, ingenious to their bewildered, can-do to their sit-and-wait, pushy to their timid.
It only needs one demagogue to arise and shout, "Everything the Americas have they stole from you," and they'll believe it. Like Shakespeare's Caliban, their zealots stare in the mirror and roar in rage at what they see. That rage becomes hatred; the hatred needs a target. Conveniently, global communication networks and commerce allows the zealot to become spectator of the stereotypical TV family lifestyle. We are judged as worthy or not to live by the antics of Paris Hilton and the like.
The working class of the Third World does not hate the West; it is the pseudointellectuals. If they ever forgive you, they must indict themselves. So far, their hatred lacks the weaponry. One day they will acquire that weaponry. Then America and its allies will have to fight - or die.
Adapted from Frederick Forsyth's Avenger.
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