Most Americans shudder at the acts of suicide bombers. We think the people who willing blow up themselves in crowded areas are evil and crazed. We rightfully condemn such actions as they tend to lead to the death, maiming and psychological scars of innocents. We say that suicide bombers and the people who encourage and facilitate them are the scourges of the earth.
While I certainly will agree that -- as an avowed pacifist -- I deplore the very conception of the suicide bomber, I do think I understand some of the factors that go into making this seem like a viable and, possibly, a desirable option for some.
For many, I think it represents the ultimate statement of desperation. With nations utterly destroyed by endless war, unemployment unbelievably high, basic public services cut to the barest bone and death surrounding the beleaguered public's every waking moment, blowing oneself up and taking a few other people with you is a cry of complete hopelessness.
It is a way of ending the unbearable bleakness that each moment entails and it makes a philosophical statement that, if the oppressors think our lives are completely worthless, then we will show that the lives of others are in the same boat too.
These situations are made that much worse by zealous religious imagery. If you are convinced that your god will reward you for slaughtering the unbelievers and/or the so-called believers working with the oppressors, then you will have visions that your act of suicide/homicide will land you in a favored seat in the next life. Your singular act will be viewed by you and others as a vindication of your myopic religious perspective.
As it stands now, most every suicide bomber comes from the Arab world. This is understandable when we consider where most of the war and carnage is being played out. But I can envision a day when it might be carried out in this nation and the perpetrators won't be Muslim at all.
If our leaders continue down the path of our own version of the shock doctrine and a modified form of the Ryan plan is rammed through the Congress, the social safety net finally will be shredded to bits. Unemployment will remain high. More and more people will be evicted from their homes. Basic health care will become a luxury. And government services will be hollowed out to the point of becoming meaningless.
If desperation and hopelessness begin to blanket the American landscape, don't be surprised if Christian religious zealots -- those on the fringe -- decide that suicide bombings might become a vehicle for expressing God's dissatisfaction with what America hath wrought.
These sorts of acts won't be targeted -- for the most part -- at the powers that be. No, in our own American way, the targets will most likely be illegal immigrants, blacks, Indians, American Muslims and those nasty peace activists.
I am not suggesting this certainly will come to pass, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it does. Genuine desperation leads people to do things they would never contemplate in less hopeless times.
While I certainly will agree that -- as an avowed pacifist -- I deplore the very conception of the suicide bomber, I do think I understand some of the factors that go into making this seem like a viable and, possibly, a desirable option for some.
For many, I think it represents the ultimate statement of desperation. With nations utterly destroyed by endless war, unemployment unbelievably high, basic public services cut to the barest bone and death surrounding the beleaguered public's every waking moment, blowing oneself up and taking a few other people with you is a cry of complete hopelessness.
It is a way of ending the unbearable bleakness that each moment entails and it makes a philosophical statement that, if the oppressors think our lives are completely worthless, then we will show that the lives of others are in the same boat too.
These situations are made that much worse by zealous religious imagery. If you are convinced that your god will reward you for slaughtering the unbelievers and/or the so-called believers working with the oppressors, then you will have visions that your act of suicide/homicide will land you in a favored seat in the next life. Your singular act will be viewed by you and others as a vindication of your myopic religious perspective.
As it stands now, most every suicide bomber comes from the Arab world. This is understandable when we consider where most of the war and carnage is being played out. But I can envision a day when it might be carried out in this nation and the perpetrators won't be Muslim at all.
If our leaders continue down the path of our own version of the shock doctrine and a modified form of the Ryan plan is rammed through the Congress, the social safety net finally will be shredded to bits. Unemployment will remain high. More and more people will be evicted from their homes. Basic health care will become a luxury. And government services will be hollowed out to the point of becoming meaningless.
If desperation and hopelessness begin to blanket the American landscape, don't be surprised if Christian religious zealots -- those on the fringe -- decide that suicide bombings might become a vehicle for expressing God's dissatisfaction with what America hath wrought.
These sorts of acts won't be targeted -- for the most part -- at the powers that be. No, in our own American way, the targets will most likely be illegal immigrants, blacks, Indians, American Muslims and those nasty peace activists.
I am not suggesting this certainly will come to pass, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it does. Genuine desperation leads people to do things they would never contemplate in less hopeless times.
minor quibble: you seem to conflate Arabs with Muslims. They are not the same. There was just a suicide bomber in Indonesia: Muslim, but certainly not Arab. Of course, even Afghanis aren't Arabs, they're Pashtun, Uzbek, Tajik, etc. But the Arab world ends essentially at the Iraq/Iran border.
ReplyDeleteAnywho, my first reaction is, no, Americans won't resort to suicide bombings. I guess it's possible, but I figure the Christian zealots won't want to borrow from the Muslim evil-ones, and also, Americans, I think, are more likely to try and form some militia or act in a violent way, but try to get out of it alive. I mean, we may be willing to die for a cause, of course, but I don't think we'd go into it with the intention of doing so.
Of course, it's silly to even guess at these things. One never knows what will come out of such a complex situation. The crazies may come out, or the goodness of people may instead take over, as we help one another. I think we're all conditioned to see first and foremost the negative, but other worlds are possible.