I can not be the only one that gets it. I just can’t. Maybe it’s just that getting it might not help. In a NYT article about the New York terror suspect Zazi (his last name).
The suspects who have been charged with terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks were fueled by a variety of motivations and influences, and often a mix of them: politics, family, economic deprivation, social alienation, the work of a terrorist recruiter. Religion sometimes provides a general framework and sense of identity, but other factors and events frequently drive the transformation.
It’s obvious to me, and has been for years that indeed – economic deprivation is the start, the first downfall of any criminal. Be it a drug-dealer, drug user, thief, “terrorist” … if you’ve fallen on hard times, and can see no other way to get by – you turn to crime. Or you join the army. But who the hell wants to do that?
Especially when you have someone that pays attention to what government does. When politics comes into the equation. It is easy to see how one-sided and elitist, really pro-American but also anti-American at the same time politics can be. There have been articles about Osama Bin Laden, where he’s been quoted expounding that American foreign policy is one reason they fight. A terrorist is simply someone who has been economically deprived and has identified those who are engaging in the deprivation.
A terrorist recruiter is probably the scariest part of this simple equation posted by the NYT. The recruiter is simply taking advantage of those who have been economically deprived and are tired of the politics.
The family impact and social alienation is where things really sting the individual, I can imagine. And, when people really start thinking of retaliation. At home the government and its safety and security measures racial profile and essentially suspect everyone who isn’t obviously white as being a terrorist. Because of the terror alerts and the constant media attention on Muslims of Middle-Eastern and Arabic descent, it seems most people are simply afraid of associating with anyone potentially that looks like a terrorist. This social alienation has got to stop before things get better.
Everything in that mix of influences has got to change before the “war on terror” will ease and cease to exist. Simply not calling it a war on terror, which I think is already happening, will help the situation. I’m not excusing the actions of terrorists by any means. I don’t think they are right in doing what they are doing. I just wonder if the government gives any thought to their plight. Because, in some ways, they are right. It’s not that “the terrorists hate our freedom” as some in high places have said. They hate what we do with our freedom. We waste it. Squander it on Britney Spears and McDonalds and endless, pointless crap. We waste oil and energy. Eat too much and drink too much. We suck oil out of the Middle East and burn it in pointless ways, supporting pointless and wasteful industries and habits. They are messengers, delivering their messages in horrifying ways, yes. I definitely don’t condone that whatsoever. But I do wish the world, and the USA in particular, would change in ways they would like. It would not be a surrender. The terrorists would not “win.” We’d all win. And what is wrong with that? I can’t be the only one who gets that.
Alas, this was a very quick and unedited post. I just had to get these thoughts down … sorry if they are incoherent and don’t make sense.