smaugchow unearths an unfortunate truth

[digitaldiscipline]

"I DO suddenly understand the crazy militant Muslims a little better. I don't know why I never put this together before, and it's not really much of a leap, but it just sort of struck me a few minutes ago...

Ever notice how the biggest jesus freaks are also the ones who love their guns the most? Mr. "parise God and pass the ammo!" is the same damn guy as Mr. "Alahu Akbaaaaaarrrrrr! (BOOM!)" Same guy. Only difference is, the one over her ein the west has health care and air conditioning and a 4-wheel drive and easy access to both White Castle and education, so he's got an awful lot more to lose than the guy in the turban with a time-share on a dead camel.

Suddenly the whole idea of a crazy violent nutjob being completely inspired by a holy book he doesn't understand just all comes into focus."

[i am sorely tempted to x-post this to MQ, but fear the epic wank]

Comments

[gooddamon.livejournal.com]

Which is why I've always felt the solution is to do things that improve the average Middle Easterner's way of life. Happy, well-fed families by and large don't produce suicide bombers.

[y2kdragon.livejournal.com]

Fat, dumb, and happy. Not necessarily a bad way to world peace.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I hold a fairly unpopular stance as far as religion at all is concerned. I stopped believing I had an imaginary friend when I was about six.

[smjayman.livejournal.com]

While there is some truth to this, it doesn't explain some of the insta-jihadists we've seen that originated or lived over here for a protracted period of time like that asshole Ft. Hood shooter. That guy had every luxury we all appreciate and still decided to kill a bunch of servicemen.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Comfortable living doesn't weed out all the crazies (McVeigh, Unabomber, Columbine, VA Tech, ad nauseam), but even in most of those cases, the violence was directed outward far more than it was a matter of self-immolation with a bunch of innocent bystanders.

[smjayman.livejournal.com]

If it were simply a matter of comfort or not, our puritanical Christian forebears would've been jihading all over the place prior to their departure of Great Britain. If this happened, I missed it in my history books...

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Well, relatively speaking, almost everyone had it like shit in the bad old days. :-)

[the_axel]

Ummm... do they not teach European history in your country?

For instance, there was a little conflict called the Thirty Years War where in Protestants & Catholics from all over Europe got together in Germany and killed each other.

A lot.

[vatine]

For a long good while.

[smjayman.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I haven't been in school since 1988, and have no recollection of those events. They do a pretty good job with reading comprehension, though.

I wasn't talking about armed conflicts between nations, nation-states, or between religious factions. I'm talking more about 4th gen type warfare, i.e. single actors or cells making "war" against various targets in furtherance of changing political or socio-economic behaviors. I realize that this type of warfare is a relatively new occurrence. As a side note, I don't think the Thirty Years War illustrates war being made due to discomfort in a material sense, either.

One example of 4th gen warfare may be Northern Ireland, and that also may have been spurred by examples other than the general discomfort of one particular faction.

[the_axel]

Ever here of the Gunpowder Plot?

First off, terrorism doesn't have much point outside of a modern nation state. Secondly, back then if you wanted to go out & kill a bunch of heretics, you could sign up to an army & go out & do it properly. Also

Terrorism happens when people can't do that. In today's world, no Islamic nation is going to declare war on the US or a NATO country because it's ability to attack will get crippled in a very short period of time, even if it doesn't get invaded (like Iraq after the Kuwait invasion) so that isn't an option.

The decline in terrorism in Ireland aligns with economic improvement in Ireland remarkably well.

[smjayman.livejournal.com]

Yep, the Gunpowder Plot certainly qualifies.

The USA and other modern nations with first-rate militaries have basically created the terrorism niche, so indeed it is a newer occurrence. I suppose that for the most part historical comparisons don't work so well.

[the_axel]

New Model Army's first Irish tour is another pretty good one.

[ladyheatherlly.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you. It's a double standard and always has been. It's always the other guy who follows that different religion who is the nutcase, not us.
Of course, failing to realize that basically every monotheistic religion is same shit/different packaging. Every single one of them is capable of producing horrific atrocities against other humans en masse and probably has at some point. And probably will again.

At the risk of being horribly offensive, I view organized religion the same way I perceive more dangerous illegal drugs. Sure, some people can indulge quite sensibly and no real harm comes from doing so. But for the most part, anything that alters sense of logic and self control on that level is a slippery slope.
Far worse when the distorted perceptions you have while under the influence can be spread to thousands of people who will sanction them as truth.

All I know is that among the worst and most large-scale atrocities committed throughout history, the list of those that were connected with religion is a hell of a lot longer than those that weren't. Just as the list of sober, reasonably sane people who self-destruct is a lot shorter than those who do so under some mind altering substance.

Organized religion? Crystal meth? The main difference may be that one is sanctioned and the other isn't, but you can't tell me you don't see at least some similarities. Anything that compromises our sense of logic, compassion and ability to identify with other thinking, feeling human beings is dangerous.
Whether we're too wasted to realize we're physically hurting somebody... or we're convinced that someone is inferior and must be persecuted/eradicated because they don't follow our version of a fairytale.

Fuck up the brain a little too much, fuck up lives.

If logic, common sense and compassion were the widespread belief system in this world, it would be a much better place. I've certainly never heard anything about a huge group of atheists persecuting, murdering and torturing anyone else for their personal opinions or chosen lifestyle.