Arrogance, the biggest threat to civilizations

 

In 10 years the world will win the war on terror, and we will all live happily ever after. It doesn't sound right does it?

Americans and Arabs efforts to eradicate terrorism are like blowing in a punctured balloon (Arabic proverb!). All the money spent by the US in Afghanistan, and all the money spent by Arabic governments in the Middle East will never succeed in stopping terrorism, period.

Al Qaeda is indeed a group of people (latest figures say up to 1000 members), but those people are operating based on a set of beliefs, and some (not all) of their beliefs are shared among many Muslims world wide, plus many other non Muslims.

I’m not talking about beliefs like let’s kill Americans, let’s blow up Christians and let’s rebel against our governments. The beliefs that Al Qaeda share with many Muslims are related to two things: First, Western, and specifically American, policies in the Middle East. Second, the policies of the Arabic governments themselves. The difference between a “terrorist” Muslim and a non-terrorist one is that the terrorist chose violence to fix the problem. What did the non-terrorist choose? Nothing. A non-terrorist Muslim is nothing, we are less than dirt.

Arabs in the Middle East in most cases have absolutely no say when it comes to politics. We can’t vote. We can’t create policies. We cannot pressure our friends nor our foes. We can’t say what we really want to say. We can’t, we can’t …

Our political systems are a disaster, and although it’s not “written”, we all know our limits.

Let’s take the following example. Generally more crimes happen in poor neighborhoods around the world than in rich ones. If you spend all the money in the world, you will not be able to stop crime in such areas. Your strategy should be balanced, in addition to prosecuting criminals and thieves, you need to invest in analyzing their behavior and psychology and understanding their motives. The right way to stop theft for example is to prosecute thiefs, AND enhance standards of living.

It’s exactly the same situation with terrorism. We need to fight terrorists, prosecute them, but we also need to wake up and deal with the root of the problem. Why would a young man who was normal all his life, suddenly leave everything behind, kill him self and others?

Governments are in denial, and too arrogant to tell the truth. History taught us very well that arrogance is the biggest threat to civilizations. It’s arrogance that destroys nations, this will never change. If the world doesn’t wake up, tomorrow will never be better than today.