Who ARE these guys?
Imagine for a moment two burly men engaged in arm-wrestling, pushing each other a few centimeters one way and the other, but locked in a grip in which neither can release their grip or their pressure against their adversary. This is my simple (simplistic?) metaphor for the state of affairs between the two contending forces that are making a mess, a dangerous mess of our world. (Not that there aren’t other factors involved.)
This “arm-wrestle” is sapping strength from the rest of the bodies of the contenders, keeping those bodies tethered to their struggle, draining their resources and, as the struggle goes on, threatening to force the contenders into desperate measures to win, cheating, throwing punches, biting, kicking, whatever. Each, convinced that losing means being vanquished, losing his identity (culture), cannot afford to withdraw. There is no room for compromise; forward, to victory, is the only option and more and more of the other parts of the body must become dedicated to that end.
In many respects this is what it is like with the world being held in a death grip of two fundamentalisms. Some may see it as a struggle between traditionalism and modernism, or as a territorial contest for the unevenly-distributed fossil fuel resources of the planet. But in several respects what seems to be emerging is a death-grip battle between two fundamentalist forces that can be more narrowly circumscribed, but with the dire prospect of functioning as the flash powder for a wider, longer and even uglier global conflict.
The extremist elements (the gripping “hands,” if you will) are Al Qaeda and the Neo-Cons—that share some essential characteristics in common, and terror is one of them. As Al Qaeda does not represent the core values of Muslim peoples, so also the American Neo-Cons do not represent American core values. But these are the two prime contenders, and it is their extreme value sets that are setting the agenda and sapping the resources—and the credibility—of the remainder of the bodies of their respective societies. They have hijacked their respective cultures to raise alarm, sew discord, and conduct “crusades” in their respective and similar interests.
Both are rooted in religious fundamentalism. AQ more directly in that its primary concern is the pollution of sacred Muslim lands and places of the Middle East by the occupation of infidel foreigners. The relationship of the Neo-Cons to Christian religious fundamentals is less evident, but nevertheless essential. Buttressed by an administration that could not hold power without the support fundamentalist religious organizations and churches, the Neo-Con putative “democratizing” agenda for the Middle East occasionally reveals its debt to them in the president’s use of a “crusade” language and the bellicose religiosity of the likes of General Boykin.
I wrote above that they both use terrorism. They both will deny it. AQ’s terrorists are portrayed by themselves as “freedom fighters,” but the fly planes into buildings and blow up buses and torture innocent people. The Neo-Cons portray themselves as “democracy builders” and drop sophisticated bombs on buildings, torture prisoners, and kill innocent “collateral” people. Now, keep in mind, I’m talking about AQ and the Neo-Cons here, not Iraq and America (but about the extreme fundamentalist elements in each country), or Islam and Christianity (but about the extreme fundamentalist elements in each religion). It is AQ and the Neo-Cons who are the “jihadists” for their respective country.
There are other similarities between these terrorist elements. They both feel the “end” they must seek (because it means the “survival” of their culture) justifies any means necessary to vanquish their adversary. They both employ the gullible, dis-advantaged, poorer, elements of their societies to do the fighting and dying for their causes. They both (AQ more directly than the Neo-Cons) couch their causes is the greater purposes of their “gods” with the assistance of fundamentalist religious leaders in both cultures. They both lie, cheat and steal to maintain public opinion in their favor. If you examine specific elements of their cultures there are other similarities. Fundamentalist Islam is often criticized for its highly restrictive position of women; however, American religious fundamentalists are attempting to achieve, through the political process legal restrictions on women’s privacy and rights to control their own bodies, even to the extent of denying rape victims access to the “morning after pill.”
If the metaphor holds then the question becomes how to get these contending extreme fundamentalists to relax their grip on each other, a death grip that threatens to destroy their respective cultures. That must come in each case from within. It has thusfar failed in America because the propaganda has been well managed; but the advantage the Neo-Cons hold with its control of formal political power is slipping. Only recently, with the terrorists incidents in Spain and the U.K. have moderate elements in Muslim culture begun to express the view that their Societies must address their own extremists, not just ours. It should be said that it will take more bravery on their part than it does on ours. Their terrorists are better able and willing to take the most extreme measure to silence their critics. In America,character assassination—Swift Boat Veterans, exposing Valerie Plame, characterizing Cindy Sheehan as a “wacko,” among other tactics—suffices to counter the local “insurgents.”
Have you been wondering who those two faces are at the beginning of this piece? On the left, but really on his own extreme fundamentalist “right” is the father of Mohammad Atta, one of the 9-11 pilots. Papa Atta is on record as being very proud of his son and would have him do it all over again (“Atta boy, Mo, do it again!”)
On the right, in more ways than page right is Republican Senator Tancredo of Colorado. He believes that AQ is attempting to smuggle nuclear weapons across the Mexican border, so he has suggested that we might nuke Mecca and other Islamic “holy places.” And you thought this wasn’t a religious war.
Can’t you just see these two jerks arm-wrestling?
___________________________________
©2005, James A. Clapp (UrbisMedia Ltd. Pub. 8.26.2005)