terrorism, a complex phenomenon, page-7

Laments Bin Laden to his number two: We recruit them, feed them, train them, equip them, then send them on their mission, all at great costs to us; why can’t we get experienced staff…….?




Suicide bomber well educated!



At first glance this seems a contradiction, how can an “educated” mind commit such mindless acts of barbarity without rhyme or reason?
But is the inculcation of knowledge really education; well in the traditional sense at least one has to conclude that it probably passes as such.
Education, to facilitate furthering of comprehension and broadening of understanding, needs to go further than the mere instilling of accepted dogma.
As long as everyone’s reference points are shaped in the same fashion and allowed to become the defining markers, humanity will not progress, and this planet will continue to resemble a mental asylum without leadership or healers, which are heard or heeded.



Admittedly most religions do come with elements of laudable tenets; compassion, tolerance and forgiveness to mention but a few.
Serious conflict with accountability though arises once a follower submits to the notion of an almighty, omniscient, omnipotent entity that created, and now orchestrates, everything, issuing edicts of questionable nature.
It is more than just a licence to absolve oneself of all responsibility; aligning oneself to this supernatural deity carries a lot more, dangerous and insidious baggage.



Besides, within the confines of formalised religion, prescribed are all sorts of doctrines which are designed to supplant reasoning and logic with blind faith and belief in the dogma.
The creation of a ‘them and us’ mentality in followers of such memes carries with it such pernicious delusions as superiority, condescension and exclusivity.
From here it is but a very small step to the sort of crazed, demented mind states of the kind we see in radical Islamists.
One is tempted to reason that it is not religion that is a fault here, but the individual that gets carried away with errant ideas that appeal to him. Ideas, which are not rationalised, analysed or differentiated by such a meme infected mind, for they rendered him incapable or unwilling to submit them to the necessary scrutiny.
But is it the drug, or the addict, which pursues the dependence leading to irrational self destruction?
Religion is the drug that precludes rational analysis and reasoning and leads to more insidious and dangerous delusions. Once you’ve swallowed the poison it’s too late, you can’t analyse the taste of your jelly without actually tasting it!
Islam is so prescriptive in its dogma that there is no room left for any critical or independent thought. It certainly doesn’t recognise the universal notion of non-judgemental respect and tolerance; all females unfortunate enough to be born into its society could vouch that theirs is not the same world as that of the males.
Under the pretence of protecting them from evils, whose evil one might enquire, they’re deprived of all basic freedoms and respectability by virtually rendering them invisible.



Religion really should come with a mental-health warning:
‘All ye, who enter here, abandon all reasoning and logic’, if you allow me to paraphrase Dante.



Should we even attempt to understand the mind of a crazed mass killer of such psychotic depravity, or should we resort to blind condemnation of such barbarity.
In order to facilitate and further a more compassionate and tolerant, and therefore safer, world for all of us we surely need to examine what leads to such derailment and alienation from what should be fundamental human decency and understanding of universal tenets.
Just like ‘softer’ drugs can lead to the addiction of harder ones, apparently benign doctrines can lead to the complete abandonment of accepted norms of decency.
Islam is but one such meme, and everyone, at one time or other, may be prone to succumb to an ideology that appeals by way of its seductive simplicity and stultification, which leads to the exclusion of critical analysis.
We could ban such religion, but that’s against our notion of a free, fair and just society and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire

Education is the answer, education that raises consciousness out of the stupor of mind-numbing memes of whatever hue, and engenders understanding of the responsibility existence entails.
This would render anachronistic religions redundant and they could be confined to the collective dustbin of failed human emanations.

It’s nigh impossible to free fools from the chains they revere. Voltaire





Says one priest to another: ’Do you think we will ever be allowed to marry? Retorts the other: ‘No, but perhaps our children or grandchildren………...





Mohamed, a great Dylan fan, has taken the lyrics literally and ordered all adulterers to be stoned to death, alas only the female party to it!!










Well, get stones ya when you're trying to be so good,
Get stones ya just a-like they said you could.
Get stones ya when you're tryin' to go home.
Get stones when you're there all alone.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stones.

Well, throw stones when you're walkin' 'long the street.
Throw stones when you're tryin' to stay on your feat.
Throw stones when you're tryin' to hit the mark.
Throw stones when you're walkin' in the dark.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must throw stones.

She'll serve you stones at the breakfast table.
Use stones ya when you are young and able.
Use stones ya when you're tryin' to get a ring.
Use stones ya when you're tryin' to get a seed thing
Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must use stones.

Well, drop stones when your almost near the end.
Drop stones and you'll have to come back again.
Drop stones when you're carrying too much.
Drop stones when you're collecting such and such.
Yes, but I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must drop stones.

Well, you’ll find stones when you walk all alone.
You’ll find stones when you are walking home.
You’ll find stones when you are being all so brave.
You’ll find stones when you are visiting at her grave.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must find stones.