The_Mahout
Experienced
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2012
- Posts
- 49
It seems to me that, to some extent, certain parts of what Al-Qaeda says is true. Al-Qaeda is honest enough to admit, albeit not in so many words, that Islam is a political movement, based on ethical or moral precepts.
Although no decent person could ever condone Al-Qaeda's horrific acts of violence and their irrational hatred of everything "other," logic and rational assessment lead us to conclude that they are not 100% wrong in their geopolitical goals. Indeed, what they demand would, in the long run, be in the developed world's best interest.
Once we have excised the vitriol and braggadocio – dipped rhetoric, the underlying main core of what they want is quite rational and, arguably, not a bad idea, with some very clear exceptions.
Essentially, what Al-Qaeda really wants is to have non-Muslims leave all Muslim countries. These people are not steeped in democratic notions popular with those of us brought up in the Judeo-Christian based, Anglo-European context. We see their rants and savage and cruel. Yes, by our standards, they certainly are. But within their own, special, self-selected contexts, it all makes perfect sense.
When the American colonies left the European models of government and sought to create a strange democratic republic, the most radical of the ideas posited was that human rights come not from the sovereign who is in power by the grace of God, but that those rights come to the people directly from God, and the thus-empowered people will select whatever form of leadership they wish.
So, when Egypt, for example, has democratic elections or, what passes for such in that socio-political realm, they used the rights God gave them to select a leadership model based on the precepts, "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu Akbar!” [reported motto of the Muslim Brotherhood]
But like we said, once one strips away the bombast and saber rattling, their goals are quite similar to those of every ultra conservative or fundamentalist group: mistrust of foreigners, desire to rid their lands of unwanted people and ideas, and so on. That is the nature of human history.
So consider the idea of accepting as not totally irrational the goals of ridding Muslim countries of all non-Muslims. As the Muslim and non-Muslim cultures seem to be growing less and less compatible politically, why not support Al-Qaeda's wish to disassociate their lives and life styles from the non-Muslim world? Since being in the presence of non-Muslims is so nauseating and disgusting to the Islamists, why continue to offend them with what some call "western" contact? There is no good reason for doing so unless one is still totally vested in Anglo-Euro-American notions of "democracy," the one and only correct model for existence! Obviously, that notion is not only arrogant, clearly it is dysfunctional.
Therefore, it makes more sense peacefully to withdraw from the countries who hate non-Muslim people, ideas, technology. They are entitled to their own self-destiny. There is no good reason to force our evil, vulgar, and disgusting culture on them – in the name of doing "good."
The "West," meaning in the present context, the United States, should withdraw all foreign diplomatic missions in these countries. Their missions to the U.S. will be asked to leave. No visas will be issued to come to the United States for tourism, health care, education, commerce, or anything else. No food, medicine, equipment of any kind should be permitted to go to these countries. Simply put, they keep their figs, dates, oil and politics; we keep our stuff – all of our stuff. They are free to develop and build their own military weapons (or buy them from China), make their own medicines, invent their own MRI machines, cell phones, and cyclotrons, educate their own doctors according to their philosophies and their cultural rules. No direct commercial flights from the United States to these places, and no flight that has touched their territory shall be allowed to land in the United States. Americans would have three years to divest any and all property – real and personal – now owned in these places; foreign national from these countries lawfully in the United States will be allowed to keep whatever they wish but the funds from the sale of such property must remain overseas.
This mess started when we, the so-called "West" imposed our misguided notions of "inalienable rights" and "democratic ideals" on people who consider these ideas blasphemous. The best apology would be a century of total disassociation. Grant them the time to cleanse themselves – to wash away the stench of our evil goods and ideas. They long to be free from "Western" influence. We think it is a good idea to grant them their wish.
At very least, we should let them put it to a vote, a simple yes or no vote. You know they would vote for disassociation. Anyone who would argue against disassociation would, of course, be an infidel. I propose that we honor their wishes and grant them the purity for which they so fervently long.
Although no decent person could ever condone Al-Qaeda's horrific acts of violence and their irrational hatred of everything "other," logic and rational assessment lead us to conclude that they are not 100% wrong in their geopolitical goals. Indeed, what they demand would, in the long run, be in the developed world's best interest.
Once we have excised the vitriol and braggadocio – dipped rhetoric, the underlying main core of what they want is quite rational and, arguably, not a bad idea, with some very clear exceptions.
Essentially, what Al-Qaeda really wants is to have non-Muslims leave all Muslim countries. These people are not steeped in democratic notions popular with those of us brought up in the Judeo-Christian based, Anglo-European context. We see their rants and savage and cruel. Yes, by our standards, they certainly are. But within their own, special, self-selected contexts, it all makes perfect sense.
When the American colonies left the European models of government and sought to create a strange democratic republic, the most radical of the ideas posited was that human rights come not from the sovereign who is in power by the grace of God, but that those rights come to the people directly from God, and the thus-empowered people will select whatever form of leadership they wish.
So, when Egypt, for example, has democratic elections or, what passes for such in that socio-political realm, they used the rights God gave them to select a leadership model based on the precepts, "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu Akbar!” [reported motto of the Muslim Brotherhood]
But like we said, once one strips away the bombast and saber rattling, their goals are quite similar to those of every ultra conservative or fundamentalist group: mistrust of foreigners, desire to rid their lands of unwanted people and ideas, and so on. That is the nature of human history.
So consider the idea of accepting as not totally irrational the goals of ridding Muslim countries of all non-Muslims. As the Muslim and non-Muslim cultures seem to be growing less and less compatible politically, why not support Al-Qaeda's wish to disassociate their lives and life styles from the non-Muslim world? Since being in the presence of non-Muslims is so nauseating and disgusting to the Islamists, why continue to offend them with what some call "western" contact? There is no good reason for doing so unless one is still totally vested in Anglo-Euro-American notions of "democracy," the one and only correct model for existence! Obviously, that notion is not only arrogant, clearly it is dysfunctional.
Therefore, it makes more sense peacefully to withdraw from the countries who hate non-Muslim people, ideas, technology. They are entitled to their own self-destiny. There is no good reason to force our evil, vulgar, and disgusting culture on them – in the name of doing "good."
The "West," meaning in the present context, the United States, should withdraw all foreign diplomatic missions in these countries. Their missions to the U.S. will be asked to leave. No visas will be issued to come to the United States for tourism, health care, education, commerce, or anything else. No food, medicine, equipment of any kind should be permitted to go to these countries. Simply put, they keep their figs, dates, oil and politics; we keep our stuff – all of our stuff. They are free to develop and build their own military weapons (or buy them from China), make their own medicines, invent their own MRI machines, cell phones, and cyclotrons, educate their own doctors according to their philosophies and their cultural rules. No direct commercial flights from the United States to these places, and no flight that has touched their territory shall be allowed to land in the United States. Americans would have three years to divest any and all property – real and personal – now owned in these places; foreign national from these countries lawfully in the United States will be allowed to keep whatever they wish but the funds from the sale of such property must remain overseas.
This mess started when we, the so-called "West" imposed our misguided notions of "inalienable rights" and "democratic ideals" on people who consider these ideas blasphemous. The best apology would be a century of total disassociation. Grant them the time to cleanse themselves – to wash away the stench of our evil goods and ideas. They long to be free from "Western" influence. We think it is a good idea to grant them their wish.
At very least, we should let them put it to a vote, a simple yes or no vote. You know they would vote for disassociation. Anyone who would argue against disassociation would, of course, be an infidel. I propose that we honor their wishes and grant them the purity for which they so fervently long.
