No Answers

I’m not sure where this is going because I don’t have the answers about terrorism. It seems that nobody else does either.

My gut level reaction to the latest terrorist attacks in Paris continues to be the same. Kill every last fucking one. But the problem is, you can’t. Because for every one you kill, you will outrage others.

It began with the children of Adam and Eve as the Jews and Arabs became bitter rivals. With the rise of Islam and the European crusades, the hatred fermented into a bitter feud that has remained in the heart of Islam since before the Europeanization of North America. In a way, the current terror started with Hitler, you know. History tells us that actions create reactions. Unlike in science, the results are not predictable. Hitler tried to wipe out the Jews. The reaction – the state of Israel was born. Now Israel was filled with Arabs who happened to own the land for centuries. They were forced out; creating the Palestinian question that has gone unresolved for more than half a century and seemingly has no salvageable ending.

Out of this has come our need to defend Israel. It is in our political and moral interest to do so. And because of this, we constantly concern ourselves with any threats to Israel. And when you involve the oil in the Middle East, we are sure to get involved. We supported governments, like the one in Iran that was corrupt and certainly undemocratic. And when the Iranians revolted and put in an extremist religious group in power, the hatred for Americans became highlighted with the capture of embassy personnel as prisoners.

All this leads to more conflict. The rise of bin Laden and the September 11 attacks on America rose us to wrath the level of which hadn’t been seen since Pearl Harbor. The result – we invade places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and the cycle of rage continues. The crusaders have returned. We had no business in Iraq, and as we destroyed bin Laden’s group, others arose. And now we have to deal with ISIS, a group even more extreme.

Nuke ‘em, I say, nuke ‘em. But that really isn’t an option is it? To do so would make us even worse than ISIS.  

So what is to be done? Do we simply get the hell out of the Middle East? We can’t. The threat to Israel is too great. Places like Paris, London and New York are occasionally attacked. Israel endures terror on a daily basis. And Israel’s position is often highly provocative.

Do we wait for Armageddon? It seems almost certain we are a situation such as the end times described in the last book of the Christian Bible, Revelation. Jesus, the man with the hippie values that changed our entire philosophical landscape, would probably say the answer is to love one another. But how do you love after millennia of hatred? Come to think of it, with the hatred today’s fundamentalist Christian whack jobs have produced within our own country over abortion, immigration, education and other issues, I suspect we spread more hate than ISIS.

OK, perhaps I am being extreme – but so are they. And there is a problem with extremism – there is no place to consider the other’s position. And so while we have discussed compromise in the Middle East, there is no longer any room for it. The Middle East is much like the American political process – paralyzed due to the inability to compromise. And perhaps that’s another reason for the insanity. With all the political stubbornness, we can’t even agree on a national position. And I suppose our lack of a clear direction also encourages terrorists.

Or is this about us? View this link and listen to what it says. Are we so buried in our own bullshit that we have lost our direction? It is the opening scene from a HBO series called The Newsroom and the actor is Jeff Daniels. The series lasted from 2012 to 2014 and the writer is Aaron Sorkin, who also wrote much of television's finest series including The West Wing; as well as feature films including The American President, Charlie Wilson's War, Moneyball and The Social Network. His current movie is Steve Jobs, which was released two weeks ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMqcLUqYqrs

Like I said at the beginning: I’m not sure where this is going because I don’t have the answers about terrorism. It seems that nobody else does either.