Al Qaeda’s Fantasy Ideology

Policy Review ^ | Lee Harris

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[elbucko]

Bump to read later. So far, so good.

The fantasy ideologies of the twentieth century were plagues, killing millions and millions of innocent men, women, and children.

[boris]

Read carefully.

[lainde]

This is one of my very favorite Lee Harris articles. It's a cogent, imaginative analysis!

[Valin]

Well then I've got some good news for you.

He has just published a book, Civilization and its Enemies: The Next Stage of History, that lays bare both the threat we face and the steps we must take to make sure that civilization itself survives.
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/02/03/133038.php

[Bobibutu]

Good read - whew!

Bump

[expatpat]

Outstanding article, an interesting viewpoint with the ring of truth.

[Cicero]

I hadn't realized this was Lee Harris until I finished the article. This is indeed a fine piece of work.

I would add that although al Qaeda is primarily motivated by fantasies, there are others involved who have more pragmatic goals. Certain nations, for instance, support the terrorists because they want to weaken the U.S. Other nations, such as France, lend their support from motives of greed and fear. The UN has actually helped to support terror because a lot of their funding has come through programs like Oil For Food and because the UN is dominated by nations with fantasies or ideological agendas that make them natural allies of terrorism.

[expatpat]

Good point. Those folks are acting logically (for the most part), and can be dealt with by Clausewitzian methods. The Islamists though are an illogical and malicious plague.

[secretagent]

FYI

[Valin]

Speaking of "Oil for Food" did you see this.
The Oil-for-Food Scandal ~ WSJ.
The Wall Street Journal. March 11, 2004
THERESE RAPHAEL
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1095532/posts

[lainde]

Thank you kindly! (I may have to join a 12-step program)

[Valin]

I know what you mean. :-)

Hello, I'm Valin..and I'm a bookaholic.

[browardchad]

Thanks for the post and link, Valin. A candle in the darkness...

[VOA]

bump

[Democratshavenobrains]

Imagine a DUher reading this. Their heads would probably explode.

[DoctorMichael]

I read the whole damn thing (LOL).......Kind of a long 'go-round' to describe a CULT. Nonetheless, there is much truth here. We ARE dealing with 'the darkness'.

Just a few points that struck me:

".....They were there merely as props, as so many supernumeraries in his private psychodrama. The protest for him was not politics, but theater; and the significance of his role lay not in the political ends his actions might achieve, but rather in their symbolic value as ritual. In short, he was acting out a fantasy....."

.....Demonstrates that the WTC hijacking-Islamofascists viewed the lives of those 3,000 people that died as 'cheap' and of 'no value' whatsoever..........and by extension how they view us.

".....Rather than interpreting 9-11 as if it were a Clausewitzian act of war, Bush instinctively saw it for what it was: the acting out of demented fantasy....."

Ding, ding, ding!!!

[Valin]

I read the whole damn thing

Radical Concept Alert!

I do like the idea of Fantasy Ideology as an explanation of 9-11. OTOH "understanding 9-11 matters only in so far as it helps us kill these scumbags and destory their ideology.

[Iris7]

Hi, Valin,

A nicely rational analysis demonstrating that people are not rational. Shows that Harris is not rational either. Shows that rationality can prove most anything.

Rationality is the tool, not the master, of the inner self. The emotional self is the master and makes all of the decisions. Rational argument cannot persuade anyone who does not "want" to be persuaded, since "want to" is an emotional state, trumping any rational arguments.

The Islamic threat is easy to deal with, except that the emotional decision of many in the West is that they "don't want to" get the job done.

The rational self is the tool of the irrational self, that the irrational, "real" self uses to stay out of trouble, unless it "doesn't want to". The Islamic bombing in Spain is a prime example of irrational action, of bloody mindedness, and unless those idiots straighten out (Oh Lord, I hope they don't) we will destroy them utterly.