Extremism

This will be one of the more pointed and political (ly incorrect) things I have written. But alas, I feel compelled to say a word or two about our current moral predicament involving religious extremism. As of November of 2015, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has gained a bit of press due to its direct threats (and now actions) against western nations. Touting itself as an educated Christian nation, one might expect the general public of the United States to have built up a rational, productive set of values to deal with cheap, cowardly acts like those perpetrated by "terrorists." This is being written in the wake of more tragic violence, so of course passions are high and irrational reactions can almost be understood. Almost. Calls to arms, talks of nuclear retaliation, and the laughable Monday-morning quarterbacking that has accompanied every terrorist attack that has come to our attention has been spewed from a disturbingly diverse collection of politicians, religious leaders and what I will politely call misled-but-patriotic Americans. I can only ask: do we really think that is the solution? Is this just the post-attack kool-aid talking, or are we just using this tragedy as an excuse to say what we've been thinking all along?

Sensationalism, however, has come to rule the day in this political and social epoch. It isn't a new principle, it's just been perfected. Outrage and calls to violent action can be seen in America history before American history was even a thing. A parallel pattern, however, is the unfailing ability of an almost entirely literate nation to squander every opportunity to take appropriate, cool-headed action in the wake of a national tragedy. Lusitania = WWI. Pearl Harbor = WWII. Gulf of Tonkin = Vietnam. Invasion of Kuwait (and cheap oil fields) = Gulf War. 9/11 = War on Terror. Why do we almost inevitably react to violence with violence? Perhaps an even better question: why the fudge does it keep happening?

It might sound strange, but I draw a correlation between the failure of the United States to effectively deal with violent extremism and bullying. What really causes kids in school to get picked on? Is it their physical weakness, their imperfections, etc.? I would argue that that is not the case. It is the kids who react defensively or violently to provocation that catch the most flak, because they give their bullies what they really want: a reaction. More specifically, they give their bullies proof that they are scared. Yes, what I'm trying to say is that the United States has a serious self-esteem problem. We don't want to look like pansies, so we react to every "threat" like a 7th grader who gets picked on all the time. We've gotten away with it thus far because we have two oceans and the world's largest military separating us from eveyone else's idea of normal. But the sad fact is neither of those things are effective in stopping the march of ideas. No one can drop a bomb on a concept or shell determination.

ISIS and most other violent minority groups understand this. They know better than anyone that their best recruiting tool is a bomb dropped by a plane from a western country. Their "jihad" has taken on a decidedly anti-western complexion because of our belief in our singular right to be the world's policeman instead of its teacher. We have made the (perhaps unconscious) decision to be the hammer of the world rather than the library. We've decided that appearing weak to anyone in any way is not acceptable. Yes, the United States has an obligation to share its wealth of resources and its prosperity with the rest of the world. But thus far, we have shared far more bullets than books. Against a nation like Japan during the Second World War, that was effective because we taught them our rules of war during the 1850's, which they followed (google it).

ISIS and groups like it, however, don't follow our rules. They are willing to blow themselves up not for family honor or their 72 virgins, they will do it because they know what affect their actions will have on the people they hate will be. They know we as westerners will take the bait without hesitation. So how do you fight aggression like this? How do you show people that violence will not get them what they want? If I or anyone else had a definitive answer to that question, I wouldn't be writing this right now (or so I hope). If the last several centuries has taught us anything, however, it is that responding with force is not the solution. We simply cannot hope for peace through war any longer. We've tried it for long enough for that to be an absolute certainty. Proponents of this strategy are of course playing right into the hands of extremist groups. I can think of no more fearful a statement than "you can pry my gun from my cold dead hands" or something of the like. One might as well say, "I am absolutely nothing without this instrument of destruction, and I know it."

Every head we've cut off in the Middle East has sprouted five more because we simply refuse to even try to understand the people we are fighting. We did not necessarily "create" ISIS, but what we certainly did was give them lots of weapons and a common enemy (the west in general). If we actually want to take power away from ISIS, we have to understand what motivates them. So what are their motives? I can't tell you all of them for certain, but the one that concerns me the most is placing emphasis on traits which make us different from one another. They act out of fear of that which they do not understand, and strive to project this fear onto others through violence. This of course leads to division and misunderstanding, which leads to even more fear.

Fear, I think we can all agree, is the most powerful weapon any person, group or nation can bring to bear. What troubles me greatly is that I see a whole lot of fear in America. "If we can't verify that every Syrian refugee isn't a terrorist, I don't want any in my state." "As long as Jihadists have guns, you're not going to take mine away from me." What these statements really say is "ISIS, YOU SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF ME," which is precisely what they want. Of course, people who are scared are inevitably more vocal about their fearlessness than those who are not. Our nation was founded with this power of the minority in mind, as Samuel Adams tells us, "It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." ISIS is playing our game, and if we are not careful, they will win it.