'Martyrs' In Iraq Mostly Saudis: Some Fundamentals Behind the News
'Martyrs' In Iraq Mostly Saudis, By Susan B. Glasser, Washington Post Staff Writer,
Sunday, May 15, 2005; A01.
This Washington Post article is a good, factual article. It tells the who, what, where, when, and how quite well and avoids opinions and conclusions. In its facts, however, are some really profound principles.
Here is my distillation of the essence of the article:
The principles of Islam take perfectly normal children and make them Muslims. Most Muslims are beyond hope by adolescence. Looking at the fundamentals of Islam, it is not hard to see how they deform humans to the extent that they internalize Islam's teachings. Islam has perfected the method of permanently distorting the human mind over its long history. Look around at the human debris that inhabit the Middle East, Asia, and wherever Muslims form their ghettos (ummah). Some of these young men choose to be jihadist martyrs.
What is amazing is how the Islamization process transcends education, wealth, and social standing. It is easy to understand how the impoverished, ignorant, and illiterate make the bulk of most Muslims; it is also easy to see these rabble behave as a rent-a-crowd, directed by anyone who holds any position of religious authority.
But, look at these "martyrs" from Saudi Arabia trucking over to Iraq to die. They are young men, educated, and well off. They do not fit the Marxian and postmodernist claims about those damaged by capitalism. Most are pampered and useless young men.
The downside of their education is their inevitable awareness of the rest of the world, particularly the West. They are not dumb; they see the differences. They cannot help but compare their lives, their living environment, and, most importantly, their futures. Regardless of all of the reaction-formation going on in their psyches to blot out their awareness of the unavoidable conclusions, they see enough of their lives and futures to know how poorly they compare, past, present, and future.
The upside of their education provides the fodder for their distorted struggle for significance. Just look at a thumbnail glance what philosophy Islam teaches them from infancy through the rest of their lives.
o Metaphysically, Islam denounces this world, life on earth, man and particularly man's independent mind, material progress, and happiness, and it seeks a superbeing and existence beyond anything anyone or anything can find or prove.
o Epistemologically, Islam declares the mind to be man's greatest evil because of its capacity to doubt and question which are forbidden on pain of death.
o Ethically, Islam demands eternal obedience to Islam and its representatives with the Muslim purpose in life being that of getting out of life through violent martyrdom. Islam also says that their lives are worthless except as they might be of value to Islam, and implies that self-esteem is as evil as thinking.
o Politically, Islam tells Muslims that they have no future except in service to Islam and the great collective called the ummah. Islam fuses all aspects of their lives with Islam, and their consists in living by permission at a level dictated to them, one seriously inferior to Western cultures.
o Esthetically, Islam denies Muslims not just any uplifting aspects of art to fuel their psyches, but it destroys the concept of art by reducing art to painted tiles and the like. Furthermore, these young men see how Islam creates nothing, destroys and inhibits everything, and squeezes every scintilla of joy out of everything.
What are they left with? Raw emotion and raw action, under Islam direction directly or indirectly from all of the Islamic principles they have internalized since infancy.
Islam is totally against human nature, in every respect, and these young men cannot escape experiencing that. To prevent rebellion, the adults around them stand as barriers to anything that might deviate from the rigidity imposed by Islam.
The payoff comes from educated, if not also socio-economically well off, young men with their humanity cut off, needing some outlet for their pressure-cooker feelings. A big component of those feelings is the dysphoria they feel from their living against their human nature; Mother Nature imposes that, and they cannot escape it.
Think of how you would feel were you in such an upbringing and life. They cannot go in any direction except one that Islam tells them or approves. And, most of these young men will not have enough independence and fortitude to escape Islamia to preserve their integrity.
If you have read or studied some of the great resources available today about Islam, then you know that these young men conclude that the only way they can feel any significance about themselves is to take action by going down one or the other pathways for significance which Islam provides for them. To us, it seems crazy that they would conclude that martyrdom is either useful or, even crazier, desirable. However, put your mind into their mental set, and it will cease seeming nuts to you.
To make personal annihilation work, however, they need two components. The first comes from Islam, about how all of the good stuff comes after they die. They have to get themselves to believe this. Islam has screwed over their cognition growing up, so this is not such a hard job for them. The second comes from Islam also. They must utterly deny the value of their selves, just as Islamic ethics taught them. This is harder, but the Islamic milieu tapping into their impetuous youth handles them.
Asked about the significance of the facts reported in the Washington Post story, author Richard Miniter, on Fox and Friends Sunday, 15 May 2005, stated a conclusion very seldom heard these days. He said that the object of these marytrs was "self-sacrifice" as the end in itself, not jihad or other Islamic goals. And, that is EXACTLY, the point.
Islam lives the ethics of self-sacrifice, which it has in common with all other religions, but the latter know they cannot get this kind of behavior out of their flocks. Islam can.
It is impossible in fact, but it is fun to think of being present with "martyrs" at their instant of death when they discover that even the "paradise" of Islam is just another lie. They snuffed out their lives in vain. They aren't going anywhere. They are finished. They no longer exist, and that is all there is.
Sunday, May 15, 2005; A01.
This Washington Post article is a good, factual article. It tells the who, what, where, when, and how quite well and avoids opinions and conclusions. In its facts, however, are some really profound principles.
Here is my distillation of the essence of the article:
Characteristics of Suicide Bomberso Need to experience some sense of personal values, often expressed as experiencing an Islamic religious awakening
o Need for identity, expressed as joining"everybody" flocking to Iraq
o Sons, students or from wealthy families, majors including engineering and English--identical profile of the 11 September 2001 "martyrs"
o Naive and inexperienced approach to themselves, their future, and their Islamic milieu: "...[N]ovices in warfare, attracted by the relative ease of access to Iraq and the lure of quick martyrdom." Says an expert at the National Defense University: "This is not al Qaeda's first team. These are the scrubs who could never get us in the States."
o Need for special mental state: "O Brother, I love to sleep on the floor and I need no mattress," [details about one fellow foreign fighter who was to have been married in February]. "Instead, he chose to be with the virgins of paradise," the [internet recruitment site] announcement said. "He used to talk frequently about the virgins of paradise and their beauty, and he wished to drink a sip from the sustenance of paradise while a virgin beauty wiped his mouth." Also, some bombers are married, well educated, and are in their late twenties.
National Sourceso Foreigners responsible for a higher percentage of the suicide bombings
o Saudis the leading group on this list, representing 44 - 70 percent, followed by Syrians and Iraqis 15 - 25 percent.
The principles of Islam take perfectly normal children and make them Muslims. Most Muslims are beyond hope by adolescence. Looking at the fundamentals of Islam, it is not hard to see how they deform humans to the extent that they internalize Islam's teachings. Islam has perfected the method of permanently distorting the human mind over its long history. Look around at the human debris that inhabit the Middle East, Asia, and wherever Muslims form their ghettos (ummah). Some of these young men choose to be jihadist martyrs.
What is amazing is how the Islamization process transcends education, wealth, and social standing. It is easy to understand how the impoverished, ignorant, and illiterate make the bulk of most Muslims; it is also easy to see these rabble behave as a rent-a-crowd, directed by anyone who holds any position of religious authority.
But, look at these "martyrs" from Saudi Arabia trucking over to Iraq to die. They are young men, educated, and well off. They do not fit the Marxian and postmodernist claims about those damaged by capitalism. Most are pampered and useless young men.
The downside of their education is their inevitable awareness of the rest of the world, particularly the West. They are not dumb; they see the differences. They cannot help but compare their lives, their living environment, and, most importantly, their futures. Regardless of all of the reaction-formation going on in their psyches to blot out their awareness of the unavoidable conclusions, they see enough of their lives and futures to know how poorly they compare, past, present, and future.
The upside of their education provides the fodder for their distorted struggle for significance. Just look at a thumbnail glance what philosophy Islam teaches them from infancy through the rest of their lives.
o Metaphysically, Islam denounces this world, life on earth, man and particularly man's independent mind, material progress, and happiness, and it seeks a superbeing and existence beyond anything anyone or anything can find or prove.
o Epistemologically, Islam declares the mind to be man's greatest evil because of its capacity to doubt and question which are forbidden on pain of death.
o Ethically, Islam demands eternal obedience to Islam and its representatives with the Muslim purpose in life being that of getting out of life through violent martyrdom. Islam also says that their lives are worthless except as they might be of value to Islam, and implies that self-esteem is as evil as thinking.
o Politically, Islam tells Muslims that they have no future except in service to Islam and the great collective called the ummah. Islam fuses all aspects of their lives with Islam, and their consists in living by permission at a level dictated to them, one seriously inferior to Western cultures.
o Esthetically, Islam denies Muslims not just any uplifting aspects of art to fuel their psyches, but it destroys the concept of art by reducing art to painted tiles and the like. Furthermore, these young men see how Islam creates nothing, destroys and inhibits everything, and squeezes every scintilla of joy out of everything.
What are they left with? Raw emotion and raw action, under Islam direction directly or indirectly from all of the Islamic principles they have internalized since infancy.
Islam is totally against human nature, in every respect, and these young men cannot escape experiencing that. To prevent rebellion, the adults around them stand as barriers to anything that might deviate from the rigidity imposed by Islam.
The payoff comes from educated, if not also socio-economically well off, young men with their humanity cut off, needing some outlet for their pressure-cooker feelings. A big component of those feelings is the dysphoria they feel from their living against their human nature; Mother Nature imposes that, and they cannot escape it.
Think of how you would feel were you in such an upbringing and life. They cannot go in any direction except one that Islam tells them or approves. And, most of these young men will not have enough independence and fortitude to escape Islamia to preserve their integrity.
If you have read or studied some of the great resources available today about Islam, then you know that these young men conclude that the only way they can feel any significance about themselves is to take action by going down one or the other pathways for significance which Islam provides for them. To us, it seems crazy that they would conclude that martyrdom is either useful or, even crazier, desirable. However, put your mind into their mental set, and it will cease seeming nuts to you.
To make personal annihilation work, however, they need two components. The first comes from Islam, about how all of the good stuff comes after they die. They have to get themselves to believe this. Islam has screwed over their cognition growing up, so this is not such a hard job for them. The second comes from Islam also. They must utterly deny the value of their selves, just as Islamic ethics taught them. This is harder, but the Islamic milieu tapping into their impetuous youth handles them.
Asked about the significance of the facts reported in the Washington Post story, author Richard Miniter, on Fox and Friends Sunday, 15 May 2005, stated a conclusion very seldom heard these days. He said that the object of these marytrs was "self-sacrifice" as the end in itself, not jihad or other Islamic goals. And, that is EXACTLY, the point.
Islam lives the ethics of self-sacrifice, which it has in common with all other religions, but the latter know they cannot get this kind of behavior out of their flocks. Islam can.
It is impossible in fact, but it is fun to think of being present with "martyrs" at their instant of death when they discover that even the "paradise" of Islam is just another lie. They snuffed out their lives in vain. They aren't going anywhere. They are finished. They no longer exist, and that is all there is.
posted by George Mason @ 5/23/2005 07:00:00 AM
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