Once again the Christian West is embarked on a program of bringing our view of "knowing what is best for them" to another culture. We used to call this Manifest Destiny.
One problem in bringing our (the Christian West's) view of enlightenment to the Middle East is that we have a historical legacy in how we have treated aboriginal populations. Remember Kipling? Didn't he write something like, "We have got the gatling gun, and they have not"?
The next problem, stemming from that one, is that the Muslims have the gatling gun, and they are willing to use it in defense of their culture.
What did Nathan Hale say? "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
The blowback (unintended consequenses) of our policies in the Middle East, which are so obviously constituted to protect our access to its oil, is that we have allowed the doctrine of jihad as a violent response to imperialism to take root. Muslims are not Native Americans with bows and arrows, nor Australine aborigines with boomarangs, nor Africans with spears. Muslims have an arsenal of lethal weapons at their disposal and the will to use them, in a culture that affirms the validity of martyrdom in opposing the encroachment of other cultures.
This conflict will not now cease until either we renounce our designs on the Middle East or the doctrine of jihad is renounced by Muslims everywhere. Which do you think will happen first?
Bush does not have a clue as to the conflagration that has been fanned and fueled by the Neocon's War in Iraq, because he is a true believer in the Christian God of the Bible.
Or maybe he does. Maybe he believes that he is God's instrument in bringing us to the prophesied Battle of Armaggedon.
Either way, there is no putting the genie back in the bottle ... or stopping the grain from ripening.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment