[lit-ideas] Re: Max Boot

  • From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 22:02:21 -0600

EY:
You're right. I don't see that. I am not, for example, advocating the formation of extragovernmental societies that target random civilians for sudden death. That you see al-Qaeda and counterterrorism as "mirror images" is surprising to me, sort of like someone who confuses a flu with a flu shot, or a poison with its antidote.


Let's back up. I agree that Al Qaeda is a terrorist group and should be opposed militarily -- just as the IRA was, just as ETA is, just as Baader-Meinhof was, just as the Symbionese Liberation Army (all 13 of them) was. I don't know the legal definition of 'terrorism' or if there even is one, but by its very nature I consider it a crime against humanity and that it demands rigorous, relentless prosecution. Are you using the word 'Islamist' as a synonym for 'terrorist' in such postings as: "I like flowers and kindness and hugs and deep friendships and seeing every Islamist turned into particles and vapor. It all goes together."? If so, you're being extremely sloppy and bringing these attacks down on himself. An Islamist is not, by definition, a terrorist. According to Wikipedia:

"Islamism is a set of political ideologies that hold that Islam is not only a religion, but also a political system that governs the legal, economic and social imperatives of the state according to its interpretation of Islamic Law. Islamists thus demand the return of the society to Islamic values, and the return of the state to sharia law. A society governed by Islamic principles and law is seen as the true and sole answer to problems caused by the realities of modern life, including social and cultural alienation through urbanisation and migration, and political and economic exploitation. Islamism is a multi-faceted ideology, with a large variety of islamic/political thought. The phenomenon includes moderate and relatively liberal groups as well as radicals, including salafis, wahabis, fundamentalists, neo-fundamentalists, and traditionalists. This variety of often competing streams of thought implies that a clear distinction between the one and the other under the term 'Islamism' alone is not given."

Christian fundamentalists distress me to no end. I see their ascendancy as a real threat to freedoms of this country, but do not want to vaporize them. I prefer to come to understand their fears and find ways to ally those fears so that they don't feel threatened. If that fails, then vaporize them.

Mike Geary












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