catch some of this starlight, before it disappears

i just saw a conservative view today that really offended me.
look, terrorism is NOT the result of a violent islam religion that is fueled by crazy cults.
i will find my paper on this i wrote fall quarter and post it.
it is an issue of injustice and inequality, that is always the cause.

EDIT: i am not saying the islamic religion is not violent, it is. i am not saying the koran isn't violent, it may be. i AM saying that those are only justifications for the violence people already want to play out. the injustice and poor conditions of the countries the terrorists come from are the cause. but hey, read my paper. it's not very well-written, i admit.


Imagine that a thirty-foot layer of sand has been dumped on top of our path in life. As we walk on the top of the sand, not only is it unclear which road we should travel, but we have no idea where the road is. It is in this moment that we notice the people with compass and wrapping, who stride with purpose over the landscape. Our own goals vanish, and resentment builds against the people who have life figured out, since they don’t seem to be fazed by the sand. Frustration about the slow progress mounts, and we end up lying in the sand or hurting the people who are better off than us.

Around the globe, millions of people work hard to travel the path ahead of them. But watching them are the millions without goals or dreams or the same opportunities as others. Faced without bright prospects in the future, a select number of these people choose to become terrorists, particularly in Islamic countries. Terrorism is the belief that violent tactics such as suicide bombings and kidnappings should be used to gain power through fear. Terrorist attacks such as the one on September 11th, the Madrid bombings, and the attempted London bombings have all affected our lives, changing the way we travel, live, and think.

Debate has been heated since the September 11th attacks brought terrorism to the forefront of political discussions. What is the rationale of terrorists in their decision to attack America, both on September 11th and in Iraq? Is their motivation from radical Islamic leaders who are inciting violence? Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld seemed to think so when he posed this question in a memo to his top advisors on October 16th, 2003, as quoted on UsaToday.com: "Are we capturing, killing, or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training, and deploying against us?" On the surface, this appears to be a legitimate question and a worthwhile mission for America in the Middle East. However, when the facts are examined, it can be seen that terrorism is a result of oppressive governments and the resulting anger at being powerless.

Thomas L. Friedman writes on page 480 of his book The World Is Flat about the anger “bubbling” out of Muslim Europe, as a result of Muslims living under oppressive authoritarian governments, which have “deprived tens of millions of young people…of opportunities to achieve their full potential through good jobs and modern schools.” Without a pathway, the anger of many young Muslims becomes the focus of their lives. And the young population is staggeringly big in many Middle Eastern nations. As referenced in the November/December 2006 California Magazine article “International: Losing Minds,” by Steven Weber and Michael Zielenziger, roughly half of Pakistan’s 165 million people are now under the age of 21. These young people feel a growing frustration against their governments and America, as is evidenced in terrorist actions.

Political scientist Robert Pape studied the lives of 315 suicide bombers (by far the favored method of attack by terrorists) from 1980-2003 and concluded in Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism that the majority of suicide bombers are individuals who had their dreams crushed by dictators. In addition, Pape found these same governments were perceived by the terrorists to be in close connection with US oil interests. Pape shows that terrorism is related to a desire for empowerment and having a say in the political system. What role does religion play, then, in the life of the Islamic terrorist? Robert Pape believes that religion serves as a support method, rather than an outright motivation.

In “Suicide Bombers: Allah's New Martyrs,” Farhad Khosrokhavar offers his views on fifteen interviews he had with previously nonviolent, second-generation Muslim terrorists: "They … feel a vague but crushing sense of guilt about their parents' societies, especially when, like Pakistan, most Arab countries or even Afghanistan are hit by crises. … [Playing a] role … in their parents' country of origin … allows them to recover much of the dignity they have lost…” Just as Pape found in his interviews with suicide bombers, Khosrokhavar observes that terrorist motivation comes from a desire to achieve something with their lives. The sand that is blocking their path is the society of oppression the government is fostering.

Oppression is overwhelming in many Arab and Muslim countries. For example, according to Wikipedia.org’s article “Human rights in Saudi Arabia,” Saudi Arabia has received international scrutiny from groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for their abuse of human rights. In Saudi Arabia, censorship of anti-government or non-Islamic views is rampant, and non-Muslims are not allowed in the country (unless they are diplomats or oil workers). Women’s rights are also greatly restricted in Saudi Arabia, through laws that forbid women to leave the house without express permission from a male relative. In addition, Wikipedia noted, Islam is the only religion allowed to be practiced. As the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom put it in its official 2006 report on Saudi Arabia: “Freedom of religion does not exist.” This censorship rings not only of 1984, but of closed-mindedness and ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism is the belief that one culture is superior to all others. Terrorists in Islamic countries look to the United States and see open-mindedness, freedom of thought and freedom of speech. And as Friedman notes on page 481 of The World Is Flat, “if openness, women’s empowerment, and freedom of thought and inquiry are the real sources of the West’s economic strength, then the Arab-Muslim world would have to change.” This is intensified because visibility has increased in the last two decades due to technology. Every country can be seen, and it is much easier to compare nations than it was twenty years ago. Young Islamic people compare, and they are able to see that Islamic nations are not competing globally, and that they are not living as prosperously or as democratically as many others. Globalization is an important force, and one that is taking the world by storm, as Friedman shows repeatedly in his book. But many Islamic nations are being left behind because they are refusing to change with the world. As an alternative to changing themselves, terrorists try to change the world through violence.
Paramount, however, is the lack of global companies (besides the oil tycoons) that exist in Islamic countries. Worldwide economics have changed in the last two decades, with many third-world countries, such as India, becoming economic competitors on the global level. This has enabled the people of India to rise above their poverty and achieve something with their lives. Thomas Friedman addresses this on page 272 of The World Is Flat, writing that Indian companies have changed over the past two decades, and that these companies are enabling people living below the poverty line in India to rise to the middle class. Friedman shows that most Islamic nations do not have connections to global companies, and it follows that this is keeping many Islamic nations poor and dependent on the oil industry.

And despite many countries like India overcoming their economic status, Islamic countries remain shockingly poor. As George Kerevan notes in The Scotsman article “Islamic World Trapped In Historical Impasse”, the average income in Islamic nations is one tenth that of the United States. Kerevan also shows that in the last two decades the Saudi Arabian economy has grown an abysmal .2% per year, with about 40% of revenues going to royal government. In addition, 70% of Saudis are under the age of 30, and over 30% of these young people are unemployed. Without the open-mindedness of globalization, the companies of many Islamic nations cannot innovate, compete, or succeed in the twenty-first century world.

The frustration felt by the young people in Islamic countries is translated into anger. Without an outlet for creativity, without an ability to participate in politics, their attention turns to changing the system through violence. Friedman writes on page 560 of The World Is Flat: “Give young people a context where they can translate a positive imagination into reality…give them a context in which any complaint or idea can be published in the newspaper, give them a context in which anyone can run for office—and guess what? They usually don’t want to blow up the world. They usually want to be part of it.” Friedman’s specifics, however, are lacking. Friedman talks vaguely about a strong world government to equalize everything detailed in his book and become the ultimate world flattener. But does he intend this to be the answer to the oppression as well? He doesn’t say. As columnist Robert Kuttner writes in his review of The World Is Flat in The American Prospect, “Friedman has no answer.”

So then, it is not religious fundamentalist Islam that is driving terrorists to violence against America. Instead, it is the society of oppression in Islamic countries that cages the young people and keeps them living in poverty that causes terrorism. Faced without dreams and an opportunity to succeed, the sand of oppression is frustrating the Islamic people, blocking their path and motivating them to lash out against change. When Islamic governments are open to new ideas, when there is no censorship of political or religious beliefs, when Islamic companies utilize globalization, that is when terrorism will be nipped in the bud. Without oppression, anger will not bubble out of Islamic nations; rather, they will be able to work alongside India and China, and even the United States.