My Own Side

Understanding two basic tendencies in human nature is crucial to understanding the current struggle with Islamic terrorism, and what our response to it should be.

One is our natural tendency to project our beliefs and values onto others, expecting them to be shared. For the sake of this discussion I am going to call this projection. Simply put, we expect others to react the same way that we would react to the same situation. Probably it is our brains trying to keep themselves from being overloaded by reducing the wide open world of conflicting values and ideas to as simple a set as possible, namely ours.

Marriage counselors work with this all the time. They sit a couple down who seem to always be ‘missing’ each other, forcing each in turn to recognize the different way that a comment or an event is perceived by the other.

Unfortunately, the failure to recognize that they are projecting causes many today to completely misunderstand the threat and how to respond to it. It almost seems like a willful blindness has taken hold of many on the left, as they mobilize to ‘promote peace’ and ‘understanding’ with our enemy. At first it seems like they are doing what needs to be done as an antidote to projection, trying to understand the other’s point of view. But in reality they cannot, because a true understanding of a jihadists mindset is too foreign for them to understand.

They firmly believe that if only they could have ‘dialog’ and promote ‘mutual respect’ with the jihadists, they could persuade them to give up their violence and ‘wage peace’ instead. They firmly believe this, because they project onto the jihadists their own values. Persuading yourself of your own values is a snap. They believe that the jihadists would be persuaded, because they themselves would be.

The more pacifist a person is, the harder it seems to be for them to ‘get it’. Looking into the mind of a terrorist is not pleasant. They have dedicated their life to a consuming hatred of others. It sucks. We all desperately wish they were not there. But they are, and a rational person who wishes to survive has to recognize that and deal with it.

So how does someone get to the point where they can commit premeditated murder? They must first dehumanize the victim. Human beings naturally empathize with others. To get to the point where you can take someone’s life, you must first convert them into an object. One of the most chilling things I have ever read is the directions given to the 9/11 hijackers to prepare them for the attacks. One part talks about slitting the throats of the stewardesses, but they don’t call them that. Instead of talking about them as human beings, they are talked about as if they were animals being sacrificed for the sake of Allah.

Hostages can increase their chance of survival by doing what they can to resist being dehumanized by their captors. Talking about their childhood, their families, their future plans. When the captors suddenly go cold to them, the decision has probably been made to kill them instead of hold them any longer. They must be dehumanized in the captors eyes first.

As our civilization confronts the threat of those who have dehumanized us to the point where they can unhesitatingly kill us, it is important that those who are defending us not fall into the trap of believing that our enemies share our values. Simply because we would not do it, we must not believe that they would not. And if you doubt this, there is a hole in Manhattan that you should remember.

I came across a stunning explanation for why there has been so much violence in the Muslim world over the Pope’s remarks, from a CAIR spokesman.

The Patriot News

A midstate Muslim leader, responding to what he called “extremely distressful” remarks by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam, called yesterday for more dialogue between Muslims and Roman Catholics.

“That is our approach,” said Abul Hasan, a Penn State York professor who is spokesman for the local chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations.

Hasan said the violent reaction of some Muslims elsewhere to Benedict’s speech was “the emotional outbursts of people who cannot control their emotions. … You cannot defend it in any way.”

Swell. They cannot control their emotions. They just can’t help themselves. The rage just takes hold of them and they rampage. And before they cool off there are churches burned and nuns are shot in the back.

Hey Abul, by saying they cannot help themselves you are defending it. But I guess that is your job as a CAIR spokesman.

In a civilized country, we lock up violent people who cannot control their ‘emotional outbursts’. But to do so, we have a civil code that criminalizes that conduct, regardless of who it is directed towards. In the Muslim countries, these thugs could never be prosecuted, because violence in the defense of Islam is fully acceptable. Attempts to even bring them to trial would only cause more violence on the streets, and condemnation from the powerful clerics.

It’s going to be tough going until the Muslim world can handle criticism with reason, instead of the sword. And all of the CAIR press releases they can pump out are not going to change that fact.

Just when you thought we were over the Danish Mohammed cartoons, here we go again.

From the UK Daily Mail:

The Pope’s speech quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and an educated Persian on the truths of Christianity and Islam.

“The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,” the Pope said.

“He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached’.”

Benedict described the phrases on Islam as “brusque”, while neither explicitly agreeing with nor repudiating them.

From the Guardian:

Pope Benedict XVI was last night facing angry demands from Muslims that he apologise for a speech in which he appeared to say the concept of jihad was “unreasonable” and quoted a medieval ruler who said Muhammad’s innovations were “evil and inhuman”.

How dare the Pope imply that Jihad and spreading faith by the sword are unreasonable today! What else are we going to do with our spare time?

It’s still early, but let me predict what happens next. There will be riots in the streets of almost every Muslim country. US and Israeli flags will be burned (yes I know we had nothing to do with the content of the Pope’s speech, but that never matters to these darlings). Demands for an apology will mount. The Vatican will relent, and the Pope will bow and scrape and apologize deeply and profusely for his speech. And militant Islam will milk this incident for all it is worth.

It is difficult for a Western mind to wrap itself around this kind of culture. To these people, honor is a life and death matter. It is a Western value to demean oneself. We believe in tolerance and apologies for the sake of peace. In an honor society, these things are seen as a sign of weakness. The stature of the Pope is going to be lessened when he apologises.

Another unfortunate result of this will be that anyone else who may have been remotely dreaming of challenging Islam to reform, even gently, is going to think long and hard before opening their mouth. The message is being sent loud and clear. “Insult” Islam and we will attack you. No wonder we don’t hear much from any reformers in the Islamic world. This is a religion that will not accept any criticism.

When threats and intimidation tactics are used, that in and of itself is a form of violence. When opposing viewpoints are ruthlessly squashed, especially in the public sphere, you are advancing your viewpoint “by the sword”. The Pope’s critics are doing exactly what they are angry at him for implying they do.

Once again, the world is watching the bizarre, Orwellian spectacle of the Islamic worlds fury and violence over being gently criticized as being too violent. While ferociously arguing that they are NOT violent, they erupt in violence. And yet somehow this makes perfect sense to them, while the rest of us are left shaking our heads in disbelief.

Every day from mosques, TV and radio stations throughout the Middle East, Judaism and Christianity is insulted and reviled. Practicing another religion in many of these countries can be fatal. When are the Muslim leaders demanding that the Pope apologize for insulting Islam going to apologize for their words and actions against other faiths? Criticism from hypocrites is always the most galling.

And speaking of hypocrites, here’s a jaw-dropper (from the Daily Mail article):

Militant Islamic websites also attacked the Pope.