Mike Sanders wrote today at Keep Trying:
Safire is right and makes other valid points in his column. Unfortunately some of my fellow bloggers understand and/or support both the Palestinian terrorist reign against Israel and terrorism against the US. I can longer in good conscious include those people on my blogroll list and I respectfully request anybody who understands or supports Palestinian terrorism or Islamic terrorism to please remove my name from your blogroll list as well.
How can anyone begin to comprehend or understand why people would blow themselves and tens or hundreds of civilians up thinking that will solve all of their people’s problems? How can anyone support an action that purposefully targets civilians without remorse, unarmed uninvolved civilians, ignoring their individual views or opinions?
Eek, that is bad. How can one openly support violence as the first step towards solving any problem? I will admit that part of me says that American foreign policy over the past 30-40 years has created the environment that brings about this violence and these acts of terror, but that is not purely our fault and their reaction is too extreme. Direct attacks on civilians can not be tolerated as a way of war or a way of getting ones point across.
But that people would say they understand or support this stuff, man, what are they thinking?
American foreign policy in the region has been flawed in the past, but that is not because of ill intentions. I firmly believe that many of our missions in the middle east have been noble in cause. Yes, I will also admit that money and oil has been a huge factor in our motivations as well, but we do not enter these places with the intent of converting or subverting their religion or ways of life. The change is an unfortunate byproduct of our attempts to help.
You see, we enter these places with the American and Western mindset without taking into serious consideration their society structure or way of life. We think we’re helping and in our eyes we are, but in their eyes and in the eyes of their society we’re intruding. But we REALLY want to help. So we keep helping, and they start to change. By accepting this assistance, we start to westernize them, even if that wasn’t our initial intent.
So, some radical elements of the old society see this and thrown a bitch fit.
But they go too far.
There are better ways to go about showing your displeasure. Sure, trying to sink the USS Cole and crashing passenger planes into buildings gets you attention, but do you really want that kind of attention? Wouldn’t a greater statement be to create an organization that would step in and help those that needed it and tell America “we don’t need your help”? You solve all of your problems right there, keeping the people happy and safe and your society from being westernized.
But, no, we are a species of conflict. If we feel threatened it’s fight or flight, and it’s a small world so we can only flee so far before we feel forced to fight.
But what can we do? America’s hands are practically tied. Do we pull out of the region, hell, the world completely, become isolationist and continue to consume 60-80% of the world’s resources while the rest of it goes to hell in a handbasket? Or do we continue upon our missions and allow the vicious cycle to continue?
Or, do those we attempt to help stand up and help themselves before we get in too deep?
Actions speak louder than words. And while a terrorist attack may speak very loudly, taking the time and effort to help your own people and save them from the evil you think is hovering on the horizon would speak just as loud and a little more favorably towards your goal.
