On Terrorism
I must admit that I am not educated very well on this particular issue, but I have been doing some research on the power elite, and honestly, this situation does not surprise me at all. The United States has been at war since 2001, and there is no foreseeable end. This latest conflict between Israel and Lebanon places the U.S. in a difficult position, and due to our alliance with Israel, we will essentially be forced to reinforce them. I do believe that Israel is using the hostage situation as an excuse to attack, once again, in the name of “fighting against terrorism.” I may make some angry when I say this, but it is not possible to “win” a war on “terror.” Terrorism has been around throughout all of human history and utilized as a weapon by just about every civilization on this planet. Terrorism is a philosophy at its core: the philosophy of attacking innocent civilians without warning in order to gain a strategic or idealistic victory for its perpetrators. Terrorism is a method of violence, and not an entity that can be defeated through force.
The problem with the words “terrorism” and “terrorist” is that we really don’t know what they mean in regards to defining people. What is a terrorist? How do we label them? I think who we define as being a terrorist is largely a matter of perception. Sure, people who attack Americans are seen by us as “terrorists,” and rightly so, but couldn’t Americans who kill innocent Iraqi civilians, even if the deaths of civilians was a necessary evil in the execution of a strategic mission, also be defined as “terrorists” when viewed from the Iraqi perspective?
I know that I got a little bit off-topic in my discussion of terrorism, but that thought is important to bring a greater understanding of what is going on in the world. If the war on terror is unwinnable because it is a philosophy carried out by violent people (as unwinnable as, say, a hypothetical war on existentialism, in my mind), then what is this war really about? Why are we constantly told by our leaders that we will defeat terrorism? In our hyperactive media-crazed society, the word “terrorism” is awfully common.
I theorize that the word is being used precisely because it is extremely useful. It’s a word that can be pegged on any convenient enemy, and it’s a word that conjures fear into our collective psyche. The Americans are fighting a war on terrorism, and the Israelis are fighting a war on terrorism. Who do both countries say the terrorists are? Why, THE MUSLIMS of course! While I do not doubt the existence of militant Islamic people who PRACTICE terrorism, the observant eye can detect how our media paints a very general picture of them. Their perspective is rarely, if at all, discussed. And if I may remember correctly, the American media began to paint a fearsome picture of Muslims even BEFORE the September 11th attacks.
Folks, I am well aware that my views will be seen as “unconventional” to most, but the situation is entirely TOO close to George Orwell’s novel 1984 for my liking. In that book, the media (The Party) determines what THE TRUTH is, and Oceania (the representation of a speculative American-English superpower) was always at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia and the terrorist agents of one Emmanuelle Goldstein (Osama Bin Laden?!?!). Our war was with Afghanistan at first, and then Iraq, despite how rather obvious it is that our leaders lied to us about their intentions in going there, and now Israel/Lebanon and maybe Iran and North Korea. What’s next? Venezuela? My point is, this war has no predictable end; it will be going on for a LONG TIME, and it is as much an external war against an indefinable enemy as it is an internal war for our very own minds and souls.
