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It's an interesting article for sure, but I notice that at the end of the article she mentions only using different "sticks" to punish violent behaviors. Where are the "carrots", the incentives for non-violent behaviors? People almost universally respond to them better. If this is about people feeling there is no other way out of all of the injustices of their sh***y life ( and I do believe she is right there) give them a way out.
What horrible life did Farooq and Malik have, that they would do such a thing? They were living a middle class life in the US. He had a bachelor's degree, a secure middle class government job, a child, a decent place to live, a decent car to drive, from what we saw of their home, all the comforts of a middle class life. What other "carrot" would you offer them? What terrible suffering drove them to commit mass murder, knowing that they would very likely be killed as a result?
The standard of living of Arabs in the West Bank is significantly higher than in most of the Muslim world (excluding of course the oil-rich Gulf states, who throw some crumbs to the citizens to keep down revolutionary activity). The Arabs of the West Bank and Israel are largely the same people who are in Lebanon, Syria, and especially Jordan. Their standard of living is overall higher than that of all the surrounding non-oil rich Arab states, and certainly much, much higher than that of Egyptians. The standard of living of Arabs in Israel is even higher, generally the same as that of Israelis. And these failed martyrs don't speak predominantly of "I will have died for a higher cause, I will have died in order to advance the cause of driving the Jews (and Christians) from the land." They speak almost formulaically of longing for death as a means of getting what most of us in the West already have - the freedom to have sex, and the freedom to choose whom we wish to marry. They didn't all come up with this on their own!
This is the propaganda that is being fed to some young Muslims, all over the world, and now even more effectively via the internet. How can we defend ourselves against this threat?
You see the trouble is that moslem are required to keep their women oppressed in potato sacks. Men don't get much entertainment. They aren't allowed to drink either. Is that a life worth living? Nah. Blowing up offers faint hope of whores in afterlife. It is understandable the cultists do this for living.
The world can help them by making them meet these "heavenly whores" sooner than later.
By tracking cultists without fear and with an open mind. Learning from how other nations like Israel and india etc are dealing with these worms. By taking politics out of this situation and dealing with this like putin deals with chechen rebels or China deals with terrorists in Xinjiang.
I've followed Anat's work for years - no mean feat in that most of her work was never translated into English. Ariel Merari (who preceded her) did much the same research, though with males, and is widely published in English. But if you actually look at their reseach and then pan across the Middle East, you discover it is a much more complex issue than just religion.
Palestinian leaders put their people in a box and routinely shake it, which causes them to react violently. As often as not it is to attract support and sympathy from other Middle Eastern governments, which isn't coming anytime soon. In reality, the Palestinian 'issue' is not an 'issue' for most Arab governments - and they are sick of hearing about it (though they won't say so publicly).
What Palestinian leaders don't do is prepare their future generations for living a self-sufficient life. They keep their kids steeped in this false sense of revolution, as though some day the world is going to come to their rescue and reinstate them as the national government in Israel. Meanwhile, Mother Nature kicks in (right around the age of puberty) and contributes a basketful of raging hormones to a youthful population that has nothing better to do than throw rocks at the IDF's green jeeps. So they do. And then Hamas (in Gaza; Fatah in the West Bank) band of junior recruiters show up, recruit the kids and - bingo! A new generation of militants is born. Can't fix a car or run a grocery store, because the were never trained to do that. They were raised to hate the people in the green jeeps, because the green jeep drivers are responsible for their lot in life. And if the recruiters can use (read: distort) some of the myths embedded in their religion to help their cause, they will.
The Israeli army is not entirely blameless here, either. Welcomed as liberators and heros by the Lebanese in June 1982, it quickly devolved into a military occupation when a few soldiers went too far. (Google the terms 'Ashura Lebanon, 1982') Israel learned - painfully - that unnecessary violence turns innocents into militants. They have been living the sequellae of that lesson ever since.
Meanwhile, a palpable, bi-lateral hatred has set in, which few can rise above. The difference is the Palestinian leadership nourishes the hatred its people feel, while the Israelis put window dressing on the disdain their people feel in response. At least that was my impression while I was there.
With respect to other middle east violence, again religion is an element, but not the driving force behind it. (Territorial rule is the goal - just like the Palestinian issue.) Anthropologist Scott Atran has the most recent work out on the topic 'Talking with The Enemy'. His research shows that except for a few leaders who are clearly off their rockers (al-Baghdadi, al-Zarqawi, and al-Zawahiri come to mind), most militants in ISIS and other groups can't even manage a few quotes from the quran. They are just young punks who want to do violence. A French hostage kept by ISIS for almost a year called it "stupid meets evil."
But then, Khomein taught the world what kind of damage one religious zealot could do back in 1979. Too bad we didn't learn the lesson then and nip this in the bud.
Islam is amazing - a haven for mad dog mass murderers -and- peaceful spiritual peoples.
The trick is to figure out which is which.
No. The trick is getting the alleged 'peaceful spiritual peoples' to identify and deal with the 'mad dog murderers' so that the rest of the world doesn't have to drop a bomb on all of them and then let their friend allah sort them out.
What horrible life did Farooq and Malik have, that they would do such a thing? They were living a middle class life in the US. He had a bachelor's degree, a secure middle class government job, a child, a decent place to live, a decent car to drive, from what we saw of their home, all the comforts of a middle class life.
I can't say for sure, but there have been enough legitimate psychological studies to show that people tend to behave in the way that they are told those around them expect them to behave. When a community alienates a whole segment of society based on their religious beliefs, some in that community are likely to get angry. I know you are going to think this means that I am excusing that behavior, but I vehemently am not. There is no excuse, NONE, for violence like this. But if our end goal is finding solutions to prevent violence rather than just holding on to our own ideologies, it would behoove us to understand the conditions that cause extremism to develop and make changes (where possible and practicable) to avoid that from happening. And that is what the OP's article is all about - listening to what the other side has to say, to see where it fits with the standard narrative and where it does not. Turns out, there isn't a whole lot of overlap between what "we" thought the problem was and the evidence this researcher has collected.
As for your description of living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza? You are so far off that your post is almost laughable - except it is not very funny.
Palestinian leaders put their people in a box and routinely shake it, which causes them to react violently. As often as not it is to attract support and sympathy from other Middle Eastern governments, which isn't coming anytime soon. In reality, the Palestinian 'issue' is not an 'issue' for most Arab governments - and they are sick of hearing about it (though they won't say so publicly).
What Palestinian leaders don't do is prepare their future generations for living a self-sufficient life. They keep their kids steeped in this false sense of revolution, as though some day the world is going to come to their rescue and reinstate them as the national government in Israel. Meanwhile, Mother Nature kicks in (right around the age of puberty) and contributes a basketful of raging hormones to a youthful population that has nothing better to do than throw rocks at the IDF's green jeeps. So they do. And then Hamas (in Gaza; Fatah in the West Bank) band of junior recruiters show up, recruit the kids and - bingo! A new generation of militants is born. Can't fix a car or run a grocery store, because the were never trained to do that. They were raised to hate the people in the green jeeps, because the green jeep drivers are responsible for their lot in life. And if the recruiters can use (read: distort) some of the myths embedded in their religion to help their cause, they will.
The Israeli army is not entirely blameless here, either. Welcomed as liberators and heros by the Lebanese in June 1982, it quickly devolved into a military occupation when a few soldiers went too far. (Google the terms 'Ashura Lebanon, 1982') Israel learned - painfully - that unnecessary violence turns innocents into militants. They have been living the sequellae of that lesson ever since.
Meanwhile, a palpable, bi-lateral hatred has set in, which few can rise above.
Agreed. Add the actions of the settlers in as well as laws and actions that have prevented Palestinian attempts to support themselves (confiscation of homes, destruction of farmland), and there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides.
Your analysis of the situation is thoughtful and I greatly appreciate seeing it here.
Agreed. Add the actions of the settlers in as well as laws and actions that have prevented Palestinian attempts to support themselves (confiscation of homes, destruction of farmland), and there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides.
Your analysis of the situation is thoughtful and I greatly appreciate seeing it here.
Palestinians are a small minority of Muslims. Allowing for overlap there are less Palestinians than there are radical Muslims.
Palestinians are a small minority of Muslims. Allowing for overlap there are less Palestinians than there are radical Muslims.
The OP is about Palestinians specifically.
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