Friday, July 15, 2005
To all fundamentalists everywhere...
Since the London blasts, there have been a renewed bout of soul-searching in the Western media about the causes and factors that drive seemingly normal young men to blow themselves and others up in the name of religion or ideology.
This article in The New Yorker is a short but deep sojourn into the vicious cocktail of seemingly innocuous circumstances that may direct a young man or woman down the deadly path to becoming a suicide bomber. The author delves into various experiences, including his own, and outlines how a combination of youthful rebellion, sexual repression, spiritual yearning, immigrant isolation, racial discrimination and existentialist crises could work havoc on the psyche of a susceptible youth.
But even better, was Thomas Friedman's op-ed, Wealth of Rage in the NYT today where I quote one of his points, something that should have been made a long time ago:
"...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"
Mr Friedman, you must be God 4.0 (pre-alpha)! Making that sort of un-PC statement needed some guts, and I'm glad someone put it in as many words. Looks like TF's association with the desi software industry is showing in his columns now :) He continues:
"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".
So IMHO, according to Friedman, the primary cause for these young men to blow themselves up is none but the oldest criminal motive, that which caused Cain to slay Abel: Envy. Envy that their own orthodox beliefs, which aims at suppressing every human pleasure and instinct, do not bring them happiness, whereas these supposedly inferior cultures seem to be doing so much better. It's the same primal urge which drives the school bully, to beat up kids who are smarter, more talented or athletic than him, because he does not possess the skills to beat them, and is not willing to develop one.
For all those fundamentalists who would enforce strict morals and deride the 'excesses' in others, I quote what Khalil Gibran, from The Prophet, chapter 13, Laws, has to say:
But what of those to whom life is not an ocean, and man-made laws are not sand-towers,
But to whom life is a rock, and the law a chisel with which they would carve it in their own likeness?
What of the cripple who hates dancers?
What man's law shall bind you if you break your yoke but upon no man's prison door?
What laws shall you fear if you dance but stumble against no man's iron chains?
And who is he that shall bring you to judgment if you tear off your garment yet leave it in no man's path?
People of Orphalese, you can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?
This article in The New Yorker is a short but deep sojourn into the vicious cocktail of seemingly innocuous circumstances that may direct a young man or woman down the deadly path to becoming a suicide bomber. The author delves into various experiences, including his own, and outlines how a combination of youthful rebellion, sexual repression, spiritual yearning, immigrant isolation, racial discrimination and existentialist crises could work havoc on the psyche of a susceptible youth.
But even better, was Thomas Friedman's op-ed, Wealth of Rage in the NYT today where I quote one of his points, something that should have been made a long time ago:
"...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"
Mr Friedman, you must be God 4.0 (pre-alpha)! Making that sort of un-PC statement needed some guts, and I'm glad someone put it in as many words. Looks like TF's association with the desi software industry is showing in his columns now :) He continues:
"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".
So IMHO, according to Friedman, the primary cause for these young men to blow themselves up is none but the oldest criminal motive, that which caused Cain to slay Abel: Envy. Envy that their own orthodox beliefs, which aims at suppressing every human pleasure and instinct, do not bring them happiness, whereas these supposedly inferior cultures seem to be doing so much better. It's the same primal urge which drives the school bully, to beat up kids who are smarter, more talented or athletic than him, because he does not possess the skills to beat them, and is not willing to develop one.
For all those fundamentalists who would enforce strict morals and deride the 'excesses' in others, I quote what Khalil Gibran, from The Prophet, chapter 13, Laws, has to say:
But what of those to whom life is not an ocean, and man-made laws are not sand-towers,
But to whom life is a rock, and the law a chisel with which they would carve it in their own likeness?
What of the cripple who hates dancers?
What of the ox who loves his yoke and deems the elk and deer of the forest stray and vagrant things?
What of the old serpent who cannot shed his skin, and calls all others naked and shameless?
And of him who comes early to the wedding-feast, and when over-fed and tired goes his way saying that all feasts are violation and all feasters law-breakers?
What man's law shall bind you if you break your yoke but upon no man's prison door?
What laws shall you fear if you dance but stumble against no man's iron chains?
And who is he that shall bring you to judgment if you tear off your garment yet leave it in no man's path?
People of Orphalese, you can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?
Extremists and fundamentalists you may be, and think you may that you have righteousness with you, but you are only pathetic losers hiding your flaws, your lack of courage to face the world, your impotence in enjoying the pleasures the world has to offer, behind a thin fragile veneer of morality.
# posted by technophobicgeek @ 2:42 PM 
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People who are fighting for the freedom of their country from foreign rule, I believe are justified in using any means necessary. Including making the supreme sacrifice with their life. Else, you will make terrorists out of Binay-Badal-Dinesh and Netaji.
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