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

[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.