These are some thoughts I wrote down for the forum a few weeks ago. They refer to an article and speech by Chris Hedges. I heard the speech on Alternative Radio then I got on the web and found the article.
What Chris Hedges speech and article illustrate so clearly for me is that American terrorists are being indoctrinated even as we speak. Taking Hedges at his word, Fundamentalist Christianity is no different than Fundamentalist Islam except for the vastly superior economic and technological abilities, and world-superpower status. These terrorists hate people like us and would prefer our extinction. Perhaps coincidentally or not, these are also the same people supporting the war on terror. Taking Hedges at his word, This is a serious problem we need to recognize and deal with before its too late.
Is Hedges exaggerating the problem? What is the real number of people who believe violence is a good thing to perpetrate on non-believers? What are the real parallels between pre-Nazi Germany and now? How do you affect someone who wants to see you dead?
We need to be waging the war on terrorism, it is We The People who need to get to the root of the terrorism problem. We are the only ones who can. I don’t think we can bomb terrorism off the planet. I don’t think we can neighborhood patrol terrorism off the planet. This is truly a matter of personal belief and conviction. Terrorism grows out of religion. Those of us whose hesitation is heard as silence and then implicitly agreement, must regain our voice.
See, I believe that most people are decent and well-meaning. I believe the consensus is to follow the golden rule. Most people don’t go to such extremes. The problem is the numbers that do are increasing. The solution is for the center to pull back on the extremist views, especially when those views are held and acted upon by the leaders of our country..
2 comments:
hello tim~
i thought i'd check out your blog being you were so kind to stop in and read mine.
you are right about terrorism. we cannot bomb away its existence. we need to talk about the root causes. religious dogma is one. being told one god is superior to another. being told one race is superior to another. another is oppression. government leaders have failed to deal with this problem, which includes poverty, inequality, lack of freedom.
we need to redefine worth. we need to deal with both the physical and emotional needs of the oppressed. when needs are not met, especially over a long period of time, that is when the time is ripe to act out in violent ways.
Yes, clearly Islamic extremists and Christian extremists, as explained by Hedges, try to capitalize on and recruit the downtrodden, who are looking for scapegoats. Call me crazy, but that is very similar to what happened in the lead up to Nazi Germany.
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