I submit that any "fight" with Islamic extremism must be coupled with a parallel effort to reform those elements of Islamic society that allow the extremism to take root.
There are other options, the most significant of which is passive defense (often referred to as "treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue").
Since the bomber will always get through, passive defense requires tolerating a constant low-level stream of terrorist attacks until they get bored and go away.
A pure passive defense strategy only makes sense if you think that active warfighting is immoral or counterproductive.
I submit that any "fight" with Islamic extremism must be coupled with a parallel effort to reform those elements of Islamic society that allow the extremism to take root.
I agree -- but that is merely another way to fight.
I posit that it may not be possible to "reform those elements of Islamic society that allow the extremism to take root."
American culture in general conditions most people here to think in terms of problem/solution format.
But some problems indeed have relatively straigtforward solutions. Other problems have solutions that are not at all straigtforward.
And some problems have no solutions at all. In which case, they are not problems but conditions, that one learns to adapt to.
This is what the Israelis have learned to do over more than a century of practical societal building in the Middle East under zionist ideals. It has taken most of them a long time to figure out that no matter how many territorial and other concessions they make to Arabs in general and specifically to the local Hamastinians, they never can and never shall achieve peace with them. Their hard reality, which some of them are beginning to realize with full force, is that their options in dealing with the Arabs are:
1) Expand their defense borders in all directions, pushing back and ethnically cleansing as many Arabs as possible from the Land of Israel; or
2) Vacating their own country and moving to some place elsewhere in the world. (Something their ancestors tried doing almost 2000 years ago, and which ultimately resulted in some six million of them being processed through death factories in Europe some 65 years ago.)
This to me explains why the government of Israel has accumulated some 175-225 nuclear and thermonuclear warheads, along with the means of delivering them upon targets from the Atlantic ocean to Pakistan; and why they are constructing some 8-10 more such warheads each year through their own plutonium processing facilities. Being under a sentence of mass death that can never be lifted clarifies the thoughts of such people better than any other impetus known to humankind.
There is no way to fight Islamic extremism without engaging normal, rational Muslims into the fight.
Those who insist there are no such Muslims or that they are too small to matter are really declaring that we are at war with an entire billion people. This is psychotic.
And the most cited quote of the day goes to... Pennywit!
Binary has gotten us pretty far. Binary has allowed us to communicate the way we are now. Binary has allowed us to engineer MRI machines and new prototypes of everything from medical equipment to cars in record time. Binary even allows music collections to sit on a single chip.
But I'm a geek and therefore a big fan of binary.
Unfortunately the life-death situation itself is binary. Either we submit to their will or we fight.
I posit that it may not be possible to "reform those elements of Islamic society that allow the extremism to take root."
O ye of little faith!
All human problems are solvable. They're just a question of power and will.
4.30.2007 8:00pm
Commenting on Dean's World is a privilege, not a right. Dean is your host, you are his guest, and you should behave in that fashion. Dean is not your babysitter, nor is he your punching bag. Please remember this. In general, you are free to disagree with anyone on any subject you wish, but abusive behavior will not be tolerated.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.
I'm just a gigolo,
And everywhere I go,
People know the part I'm playing...
Sorry. I'm a little loopy. I'm in my 24th hour of work for the week (and at least 6 more before I can go home), but with less than 4 hours of sleep.
I submit that any "fight" with Islamic extremism must be coupled with a parallel effort to reform those elements of Islamic society that allow the extremism to take root.
--|PW|--
Since the bomber will always get through, passive defense requires tolerating a constant low-level stream of terrorist attacks until they get bored and go away.
A pure passive defense strategy only makes sense if you think that active warfighting is immoral or counterproductive.
Some situations are binary.
I submit that any "fight" with Islamic extremism must be coupled with a parallel effort to reform those elements of Islamic society that allow the extremism to take root.
I agree -- but that is merely another way to fight.
I posit that it may not be possible to "reform those elements of Islamic society that allow the extremism to take root."
American culture in general conditions most people here to think in terms of problem/solution format.
But some problems indeed have relatively straigtforward solutions. Other problems have solutions that are not at all straigtforward.
And some problems have no solutions at all. In which case, they are not problems but conditions, that one learns to adapt to.
This is what the Israelis have learned to do over more than a century of practical societal building in the Middle East under zionist ideals. It has taken most of them a long time to figure out that no matter how many territorial and other concessions they make to Arabs in general and specifically to the local Hamastinians, they never can and never shall achieve peace with them. Their hard reality, which some of them are beginning to realize with full force, is that their options in dealing with the Arabs are:
1) Expand their defense borders in all directions, pushing back and ethnically cleansing as many Arabs as possible from the Land of Israel; or
2) Vacating their own country and moving to some place elsewhere in the world. (Something their ancestors tried doing almost 2000 years ago, and which ultimately resulted in some six million of them being processed through death factories in Europe some 65 years ago.)
This to me explains why the government of Israel has accumulated some 175-225 nuclear and thermonuclear warheads, along with the means of delivering them upon targets from the Atlantic ocean to Pakistan; and why they are constructing some 8-10 more such warheads each year through their own plutonium processing facilities. Being under a sentence of mass death that can never be lifted clarifies the thoughts of such people better than any other impetus known to humankind.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Those who insist there are no such Muslims or that they are too small to matter are really declaring that we are at war with an entire billion people. This is psychotic.
They need our help, not our condemnation.
And the most cited quote of the day goes to... Pennywit!
Binary has gotten us pretty far. Binary has allowed us to communicate the way we are now. Binary has allowed us to engineer MRI machines and new prototypes of everything from medical equipment to cars in record time. Binary even allows music collections to sit on a single chip.
But I'm a geek and therefore a big fan of binary.
Unfortunately the life-death situation itself is binary. Either we submit to their will or we fight.
O ye of little faith!
All human problems are solvable. They're just a question of power and will.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.