Thestateoftheworld

Last night, the fourth of August 2005, while not really watching television, I had an epiphany! I was dipping in and out of a very serious program, and a very serious book, the subject of both was the religion of Islam, but, more significantly, if incidentally, the very nature of the human race. Suddenly, last night, in the privacy of my bedroom, I understood the reasoning behind some of the incidents the Western politicians call the most evil of history. I understood the mindset behind the ideas of twenty-first century terrorism.
Like most mid-night epiphanies, the actual details have escaped me. The general understanding, however, has remained, though possibly a little shabby at the edges. Here are the basic details.

The main reason, of course, is hatred. It is not based upon jealously, as many misguided Americans believe, having been through the subtly brainwashing institutions of that schooling system. These people believe, as many people do secretly, and have more openly believed for many years, that their beliefs aren't beliefs, they are (their) God's truth, and the rules they live by, the laws of an awful (in the old fashioned meaning of the word) God, who's displeasure they fear beyond anything. Every day Westerners are ignoring these rules to the extreme: easy consumption of alcohol, highly relaxed attitude to pre-marital sex.

Then we have the Western multi-national companies, planting factories in countries they considered Muslim, pushing non-Islamic ideas onto cultures that have been in existence for hundreds of years. And, as if this isn't threatening enough, foreign, Western, countries build military bases, forbidden areas to the natives, in their countries. As far as I am aware there are no Arabic military bases in this country, even in the remotest regions of Scotland. If we don't accept such an invasion, why should they?

And then there are the wars. There are wars, every now and again. Like the majority of my generation I have a disgustingly inadequate knowledge of post WW2 International history. I am aware that there have been wars, pre 9/11, between Western countries and Islamic countries (and many other religions of course.) For the purposes of this essay, which I know will never be read by anyone significant, I shall use the sole example of Israel and Palestine, or whatever we should be calling that tiny area of land between Egypt and Jordan. When the idea to create a state for Jewish people to call their own, I'm sure that the "promised land" of their religion seemed to be the obvious choice, and was easily argued by Jews and Christians alike. But however tiny and insignificant this land may have seemed to the international community in general, it had that one fatal flaw; it was already occupied. In hindsight, it was a bad idea, but the views of a few thousand Muslims did not seem important at the time. And this is the route of the issue; nobody cares. Why should we care about the lives and livelihoods of unknown foreigners?

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, however good or bad the logic behind both, killed lots of civilians. The Western attitude to these deaths is that, regrettably, wars kill people. So, while we are still openly at war in Iraq, why does it shock and disgust us when, during a war, our own civilians die? While one can argue that the seventh of July simply cannot be called accidental and that the perpetrators were not aiming at a target, the destruction of which would bring the end of the war closer, the real reason is what could be the very reasoning of the terrorists. While the average Westerner regards the murders of foreigners as tragic but unavoidable, the murders of a few hundred Americans is reason enough to invade two countries.

And here we reach the very heart of the matter. Mr Bush and his friends and followers have taken the route of revenge. But there is no point to revenge. History is full of it, and all that history has taught us is that revenge is the creator of never ending conflict. Hatred leads to hatred leads to hatred.

There is too much bloodshed in the world, and while the world's leaders refuse to look past the end of their noses, to understand the cause of such hatred on either side, it will not stop. Traditionally people have ended wars by destruction of the opposition, but with a foe such as the 21st century terrorism, which is ever present and regenerating, this would not be possible. Any subjugation of the normal Islamic communities will breed more hatred and create more willing suicide bombers. The only thing to do, on both sides, is to reach out and forgive.

Maybe I am wrong, and we are dealing with a new breed of human, with no compassion for other people, but the West must stop claiming innocence of all wrong doing, and accept some responsibility for the deaths of those they have killed. Even if their reasons are selfish, the current situation cannot continue, or we will live forever in fear, or face the destruction of the human race.