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| Arabia |
| A Poverty of Dignity and a Wealth of Rage |
| 2005-07-17 |
| A few years ago I was visiting Bahrain and sitting with friends in a fish restaurant when news appeared on an overhead TV about Muslim terrorists, men and women, who had taken hostages in Russia. What struck me, though, was the instinctive reaction of the Bahraini businessman sitting next to me, who muttered under his breath, "Why are we in every story?" The "we" in question was Muslims. The answer to that question is one of the most important issues in geopolitics today: Why are young Sunni Muslim males, from London to Riyadh and Bali to Baghdad, so willing to blow up themselves and others in the name of their religion? Of course, not all Muslims are suicide bombers; it would be ludicrous to suggest that. But virtually all suicide bombers, of late, have been Sunni Muslims. There are a lot of angry people in the world. Angry Mexicans. Angry Africans. Angry Norwegians. But the only ones who seem to feel entitled and motivated to kill themselves and totally innocent people, including other Muslims, over their anger are young Sunni radicals. What is going on? Neither we nor the Muslim world can run away from this question any longer. This is especially true when it comes to people like Muhammad Bouyeri - a Dutch citizen of Moroccan origin who last year tracked down the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a critic of Islamic intolerance, on an Amsterdam street, shot him 15 times and slit his throat with a butcher knife. He told a Dutch court on the final day of his trial on Tuesday: "I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion." Clearly, several things are at work. One is that Europe is not a melting pot and has never adequately integrated its Muslim minorities, who, as The Financial Times put it, often find themselves "cut off from their country, language and culture of origin" without being assimilated into Europe, making them easy prey for peddlers of a new jihadist identity. Also at work is Sunni Islam's struggle with modernity. Islam has a long tradition of tolerating other religions, but only on the basis of the supremacy of Islam, not equality with Islam. Islam's self-identity is that it is the authentic and ideal expression of monotheism. Muslims are raised with the view that Islam is God 3.0, Christianity is God 2.0, Judaism is God 1.0, and Hinduism is God 0.0. Part of what seems to be going on with these young Muslim males is that they are, on the one hand, tempted by Western society, and ashamed of being tempted. On the other hand, they are humiliated by Western society because while Sunni Islamic civilization is supposed to be superior, its decision to ban the reform and reinterpretation of Islam since the 12th century has choked the spirit of innovation out of Muslim lands, and left the Islamic world less powerful, less economically developed, less technically advanced than God 2.0, 1.0 and 0.0. "Some of these young Muslim men are tempted by a civilization they consider morally inferior, and they are humiliated by the fact that, while having been taught their faith is supreme, other civilizations seem to be doing much better," said Raymond Stock, the Cairo-based biographer and translator of Naguib Mahfouz. "When the inner conflict becomes too great, some are turned by recruiters to seek the sick prestige of 'martyrdom' by fighting the allegedly unjust occupation of Muslim lands and the 'decadence' in our own." This is not about the poverty of money. This is about the poverty of dignity and the rage it can trigger. One of the London bombers was married, with a young child and another on the way. I can understand, but never accept, suicide bombing in Iraq or Israel as part of a nationalist struggle. But when a British Muslim citizen, nurtured by that society, just indiscriminately blows up his neighbors and leaves behind a baby and pregnant wife, to me he has to be in the grip of a dangerous cult or preacher - dangerous to his faith community and to the world. How does that happen? Britain's Independent newspaper described one of the bombers, Hasib Hussain, as having recently undergone a sudden conversion "from a British Asian who dressed in Western clothes to a religious teenager who wore Islamic garb and only stopped to say salaam to fellow Muslims." The secret of this story is in that conversion - and so is the crisis in Islam. The people and ideas that brought about that sudden conversion of Hasib Hussain and his pals - if not stopped by other Muslims - will end up converting every Muslim into a suspect and one of the world's great religions into a cult of death. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #10 The author dances around things aimlessly. It's not about a poverty of dignity and a wealth of rage. Nice try though at making it all make sense. If that be the case then there are alot of sociopathic boomers who have missed their calling. Lack of dignity and excess rage can be found in many people and in many places for a variety of reasons. Some of God's seething chitlins get sociopathic. The special thing is the religion and what it says and the role it plays in the lives of adherents. You want a root cause? There it be methinks. Ugly but seemingly true. Don't choke on it please. The author of the article could have said it in four words without the goddamn "tolerant" faith BS being shoveled out once again. But that's not pretty to say and it won't meet the minimum word count requirement. Ah well. Mayhaps the author should reconsider who he calls "friend." |
| Posted by: MunkarKat 2005-07-17 23:45 |
| #9 "Some of these young Muslim men are tempted by a civilization they consider morally inferior, and they are humiliated by the fact that, while having been taught their faith is supreme, other civilizations seem to be doing much better," Some day they feel they need to be a suicide bomber to pay a sort of penance for their sins of living in freedom. With the right influence how scary is this. I would like to see all folks regardless of various faiths show a tribute to the country they are in. To stand apart from the radical's that we know are among us. |
| Posted by: Jan 2005-07-17 17:14 |
| #8 Friedman is truly disgusting when he says: "I can understand, but never accept, suicide bombing in Iraq or Israel as part of a nationalist struggle. " Those who claims to "understand" suicide bombing in Iraq and Israel is siding with the enemy. Whatever cause one may have, whatever grievance or objective, it is NEVER understandable to engage in terrorism. Saying something like that just gives cover to the Islamofascists. Further Friedman is completely wrong in describing terrorism against Israel and Iraq as being somehow a "nationalist struggle". Both are Moslem-driven wars on life and freedom. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2005-07-17 15:00 |
| #7 To continue Shipman's most eloquently expressed thought, since the Islamic calender is based on sightings of the phases of Earth's puny satellite, and Earth is pretty much the only place to get a good look, does this mean Islam is forever earthbound? Damn! Did I say that? ahem.. yep, musta been me, of course. I was on that research track for years you know. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-07-17 14:58 |
| #6 Friedmand doesn't get it yet, but he's moving in that direction. Maybe we should buy a plane ticket so Steven Den Beste can personally whack Friedman with a clue-by-four. Might knock some sense into him. To continue Shipman's most eloquently expressed thought, since the Islamic calender is based on sightings of the phases of Earth's puny satellite, and Earth is pretty much the only place to get a good look, does this mean Islam is forever earthbound? Once you get out around the gas giant planets with their multiple moons you start entertaining the idea of multiple deities which immediately makes you into an astro-infidel. Do fatwahs extend beyound geosynchronous orbit? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2005-07-17 14:32 |
| #5 Why, Steve, you made the case for Bush's ME portion of the Bush Doctrine quite well there in that last paragraph. Tsk, tsk, my friend. Don't you know it's open season on Bush? Why, he hasn't addressed my private personal eye-ticks in the time-frame that suits me! String 'im up! :-) |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-17 14:22 |
| #4 Nope, this is not NYT BS. Friedman occasionally gets it, and he gets it here. He's correct in that poverty isn't the problem. It's dignity. I think he's read Steven Den Beste, who wrote on this a long while back (and better, too). Islamofascists belong to a failed society and failed culture. There's little dignity in most Islamic nations; little chance to get ahead; constant struggle to provide the basics for one's family. Young men in Islamic (and particularly Arabic) countries realize that life pretty much sucks. The job prospects are few, marriage prospects are bleak much before age 30, corruption is everywhere, clans rules one's life, and there's little entrepreneurial spirit outside the local bazaar. So it's easy to be led astray. And it's easy even if you're a Muslim man in Europe. Friedman gets how young French muslim men are not French, not Muslim, and frankly, not men either. That creates a certain, dangerous attitude of bile and bitterness. Add in a holy man who's happy to manipulate this, and you have the proper conditions for struggle, splodydopes and Dire Revenge™. Now Friedman can't take the next step at this point: acknowledge that since the issue is dignity and not poverty, that Islamic culture has to change, and that we in the West -- to protect ourselves -- have to help lead and shape that change. Friedman is still at the stage of thinking that if only we understand them better, we'll be able to 'negotiate' something so that both cultures can live side-by-side in harmony. We can't do that. The two cultures aren't and will not be equal because of the terrible imbalance in human dignity. One is going to prevail and that one is ours. We need to move the Islamic cultures to accept personal liberty and individual dignity as primary values in their societies. That's a radical change. Friedmand doesn't get it yet, but he's moving in that direction. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2005-07-17 14:02 |
| #3 Translation: Why do they hate us? Regular New York Slimes BS..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-07-17 11:49 |
| #2 In a nutshell: mohammedeans KNOW their culture is backwards, but are unable to change due to doctrinal rigidity. They KNOW that other cultures have leaped ahead precisely BECAUSE they are willing to re-examine their doctrines. |
| Posted by: Brett 2005-07-17 11:49 |
| #1 when did allah get to be a gawd? he a symbol of a minor rocky satellite that we will soon rape for it's precious water, leaving nothing but a dry husk for morons to wank over. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-07-17 11:38 |