Please read James Taranto's first item in today's BOTW. According to the New York Times among others, we're back to calling poverty the "root cause" of terrorism, and referring to our attempts to combat Islamofacism as the "so-called" war on terrorism. Taranto is appropriately appalled at the regression.
Posted by dan at July 9, 2005 12:35 AMShalom Dan,
Poverty is the root cause of Terrorism. But not in the way most people think of it.
Terrorism is power projection by those who do not have access to the accepted or conventional means of conflict resolution as defined by the dominant society.
Osama bin Laden and his peers obviously do not suffer from financial poverty. Even as cheap as they are on the world market, buying Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades still requires money.
Financial poverty helps to recruit some people, but it is not what drives them. The driving force is a poverty of control in their personal lives and a personal belief that their paradigm for recovering that control is, in fact, the Truth.
Anytime an individual believes they have come into possession of the Truth, then using terrorism as a power projection tool becomes not only possible, but likely. Believing in the Truth leads to a faulty perception that reality can be broken down into Truth and Not Truth, Black and White, Us and Them. Once someone reaches that point, they can justify anything.
Opposing someone who believes themselves to be in possession of Truth only reinforces their belief. Opponent are immediately seen as the force of Not Truth and must be fought with whatever tools come to hand to defend Truth.
The short-term tactic of dealing with terrorists by force will not solve the problem in the long run. Yes, when you’re under attack, you eliminate that immediate threat by using all force available. But when the immediate threat is gone, you have to look at from where that threat arose.
In the long-term, we can only create an environment that allows Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness to flourish by fostering individuals’ ability to enjoy those inalienable rights. And the surest way to do that is to agree that profit at the expense of another creates a power imbalance.
When two individuals, groups or nations participate in a free and open exchange of resources, all parties are satisfied and are encouraged to participate in future exchanges. However, when one party exploits another, then satisfaction is not present and not only are future exchanges discouraged, but a need to right the wrong is engendered.
When we create economies that encourage a poverty of control we lay the groundwork for those with The Truth to indiscriminately slaughter the unbelievers.
B’shalom,
Jeff Hess
Posted by: Jeff Hess at July 10, 2005 04:29 AM