"offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones." The Muslim Reform Movement does precisely that. It was mentioned this past Sunday on "Meet the Press" by a very courageous young Muslim American lady named Asra Nomani.
9
Guns allow cowards to act out their twisted ideology on innocents. Doesn't matter the religion, ethnicity or nationality....it's all the same. The United States has reach the zenith of toxic capitalism - where our elected representatives have sold out the American public to gun manufacturers. Cloaked in Second Amendment rights/gun culture ideology - we allow the legal sale of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists, psychopaths and criminals. And, they use those same weapons to kill.
Hats of to the US Congress & NRA....you've done a fine job for the country. This literally turns my stomach.
Hats of to the US Congress & NRA....you've done a fine job for the country. This literally turns my stomach.
17
Brooks describes almost word for word what Saudi Arabia is doing to radicalize the Muslim world; to fill it with discontent, to drag it back to the glorious 7th Century. Too bad Brooks do not have the guts or the insight to call what is today ailing the civilized world by its name - Saudi Arabia!
16
More domestic ISIS violence = Happy Trump = Trump victory = Isis getting exactly what they want = WWIII. Conclusion: our presidential election is in the hands of ISIS
13
I see Mr. Brooks' description of a mass movement epitomized in the Confederate States of America and 150 years later - long after its defeat and humiliation - the wellsprings of its fervor live on in one of our parties and along pretty much the same geography.
19
There is no, repeat no, plausible counter-narrative to IS available either in the US or UK. Please spare me the psycobabble and pseudo-explanations.
'Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated.'
Every bomb that detonates increases IS glamour and charisma. We're feeding the blaze with vast amounts of gas. A most telling way to defang them would be to (a) stop bombing - it's a local thing, really, and ultimately can ONLY be settled locally - and (b) admit every refugee in sight. Not just admit, but welcome. You'd then have a large number of Muslims treated kindly by a non-Muslim set of nations - US and Europe. This flies in the face of IS claims that no such welcome is possible, that IS is the only game in town for the refugees. Tragically, we're working hard - on our dime!! - to make that true. If we complete the process, bluntly, we deserve to lose. We no longer have anything worthwhile to bring to the situation. the counter argument of 'sleepers' is anyhow embarrassingly bad. If any, their own community would find them out and denounce them - as a favor returned. As a means of inoculating Muslim communities here and in Europe against 'radicalization' - another weasel word - try a lot of kindness. Cheaper than bombs too, and not just in lives.
'Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated.'
Every bomb that detonates increases IS glamour and charisma. We're feeding the blaze with vast amounts of gas. A most telling way to defang them would be to (a) stop bombing - it's a local thing, really, and ultimately can ONLY be settled locally - and (b) admit every refugee in sight. Not just admit, but welcome. You'd then have a large number of Muslims treated kindly by a non-Muslim set of nations - US and Europe. This flies in the face of IS claims that no such welcome is possible, that IS is the only game in town for the refugees. Tragically, we're working hard - on our dime!! - to make that true. If we complete the process, bluntly, we deserve to lose. We no longer have anything worthwhile to bring to the situation. the counter argument of 'sleepers' is anyhow embarrassingly bad. If any, their own community would find them out and denounce them - as a favor returned. As a means of inoculating Muslim communities here and in Europe against 'radicalization' - another weasel word - try a lot of kindness. Cheaper than bombs too, and not just in lives.
6
There are a few pretty well written responses here and I won't try to add to those. BUT, I will say, that cultural upheaval is a well known phenomenon in anthropology. We understand that extremism and religious fervor are areas that scared and desperate people will flock too in times of great change. Dramatic change, even if it's for the good, is scary to most people. BUT, you're way off base when you say "they have no one to blame but themselves". This editorial is all over the place. Is it a society and culture in change or is a lack of personal responsibility? You don't seem to know the difference, at least not here. The U.S. has been in a massive cultural upheaval ever since the 1960s and the Viet Nam war. Huge elements of our (white, male, privileged) traditions have been challenged and torn apart and rightfully so. As far back as the 1970s Jimmy Falwell and Phyllis Schlafly reacted by trying to roll back those ideas. It's been a downward spiraling holy war by the GOP/conservatives ever since. Ted Nugent got cheered for calling for a "cleansing" of the country of liberals. Trump gets cheered for essentially calling for the same thing but of Muslims. I really see no difference. You are out of touch if you really think these ideas are limited to the "isolated" people in this country. I hear average, middle class city dwellers with decent jobs and lives echoing Trump and Nugent. They honestly think that progressive liberal ideas are the devil and scourge of this country.
10
Immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks, there was a brief discussion by rational minds concerning the possible motivations of the terrorists. I recall interviews with Patrick Leahy and Lewis Lapham in particular, where the topic of US foreign policy and its repercussions were discussed. Decades of western and especially US policy had contributed to the conditions in middle eastern countries that Mr. Brooks mentions. Osama Bin Laden himself claimed to be inspired to jihad by the presence of the US military in his holy land. The discussions were quickly shouted down by right wing blowhards in the press and in the Bush administration. George W Bush asserted that the terrorists were motivated by a hatred of our freedom. The lost opportunity to examine deeper explanations in a longer term context has basically meant that every response to the jihadists since has been based on an incomplete understanding of all the forces at play. Perhaps Bush's assertion was correct. Or more darkly, perhaps it was a self fulfilling prophecy.
11
I think most people would agree with this analysis. But why contrast it with calls for sane controls on assault weapons? If a house is on fire, you put out the fire. You don't ignore the fire while working on improved fire safety protocols. Similarly, the conditions producing fanaticism will not go away soon, even if we could figure out what to do. In the meantime, let's make it a lot harder for angry people to get ahold of military-style weaponry. And if nobody else can buy assault weapons, either, every bit of evidence shows that we'll all be safer.
9
Mr. Brooks makes a worthy contribution by injecting the insights of the fascinating longshoreman-philosopher, Eric Hoffer, into the current craziness. But he also makes two mistakes that hinder true understanding:
1) The terrorists were not a typical American couple living in Redlands with a far-flung remoteness from ISIS: the wife was a recent immigrant who had come to the US from her roots in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia only two years ago, where she had a closer geographical nexus to ISIS. Far more than her husband, she was immersed in the "ordeal of change," which fosters unsettling uncertainty and fear. As Eric Hoffer tells us, such uncertainty is the natural breeding ground for mass movements that require self-negation and, ultimately, self-annihilation.
2) Military defeat and humiliation do not "conquer" mass movements as Mr. Brooks wrongly concludes; they intensify their psychological uncertainty, doubt and denial which increases the aggression of the "true believers," as it has in Iraq.
In his extensive clinical practice, the famous psychiatrist, C.G. Jung, discovered a relevant insight: Extremism is driven by a hidden doubt. Since religious belief, including Islamic fundamentalism, cannot be empirically proven to be true or false, it often gives rise to a natural doubt which becomes unconscious in proportion to the challenges that confront it. The more such doubt is hidden, the more power it has to inspire extremism, violence and an "escape from freedom."
1) The terrorists were not a typical American couple living in Redlands with a far-flung remoteness from ISIS: the wife was a recent immigrant who had come to the US from her roots in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia only two years ago, where she had a closer geographical nexus to ISIS. Far more than her husband, she was immersed in the "ordeal of change," which fosters unsettling uncertainty and fear. As Eric Hoffer tells us, such uncertainty is the natural breeding ground for mass movements that require self-negation and, ultimately, self-annihilation.
2) Military defeat and humiliation do not "conquer" mass movements as Mr. Brooks wrongly concludes; they intensify their psychological uncertainty, doubt and denial which increases the aggression of the "true believers," as it has in Iraq.
In his extensive clinical practice, the famous psychiatrist, C.G. Jung, discovered a relevant insight: Extremism is driven by a hidden doubt. Since religious belief, including Islamic fundamentalism, cannot be empirically proven to be true or false, it often gives rise to a natural doubt which becomes unconscious in proportion to the challenges that confront it. The more such doubt is hidden, the more power it has to inspire extremism, violence and an "escape from freedom."
7
Although the latest violent people claim allegiance to ISIS, and may have learned some mechanical details of bomb-making and weaponry from ISIS videos, they apparently acted on their own initiative. So did the Planned Parenthood shooter. The connection to a "movement" here is only one of individuals finding any excuse to act out, and to elevate their feeble-minded crutches to a 'cause' in news coverage only ignites more madness.
3
I know Mr. Brooks is leading to the third response: military defeat and humiliation. How do we achieve the first two responses if we want to close our borders to Syrians, destroy diplomatic relationships in the Middle East and declare war on all Muslims?
2
The argument made here by Mr. Brooks is important as it involves the study of Ideas that may just motivate an individual who has been convinced that their is little to no hope that he, or she can accomplish a meaningful future in the Society that they currently live in.
I was a little put off that he did not mention the Fundamentalist Evangelicals who have limited education, feel that Big Government is the reason, and take those protests to not only their Church, - but now are taking it Public for all to see. To them, Trump is their immediate answer to their perceived problems.
While a large portion of our society recognizes the ideas that push someone to seek out an ISIS like Organization for their justification in life, - perhaps we should also seek the ideas of a vast array of intellectual folks, (let's exclude those in Congress who's intellectual abilities might just be influenced by the elitists they work for, as opposed to the mainstream folks who have great Critical Thinking Skills, well read in History, Philosophy, Psychology and Education. Let the Journalists like Mr. Brooks seek out their Ideas as to how to defeat ISIS, - other than the Carpet Bombing suggestions of another current Presidential Candidate. (As a USAF Pilot I participated in the Carpet Bombing that took place in South East Asia. There, a committed Enemy just shrugged it off as hundreds of thousands of their Countrymen and Women gave up their lives.
A Desert environment allows for Tactical Air Attack.
I was a little put off that he did not mention the Fundamentalist Evangelicals who have limited education, feel that Big Government is the reason, and take those protests to not only their Church, - but now are taking it Public for all to see. To them, Trump is their immediate answer to their perceived problems.
While a large portion of our society recognizes the ideas that push someone to seek out an ISIS like Organization for their justification in life, - perhaps we should also seek the ideas of a vast array of intellectual folks, (let's exclude those in Congress who's intellectual abilities might just be influenced by the elitists they work for, as opposed to the mainstream folks who have great Critical Thinking Skills, well read in History, Philosophy, Psychology and Education. Let the Journalists like Mr. Brooks seek out their Ideas as to how to defeat ISIS, - other than the Carpet Bombing suggestions of another current Presidential Candidate. (As a USAF Pilot I participated in the Carpet Bombing that took place in South East Asia. There, a committed Enemy just shrugged it off as hundreds of thousands of their Countrymen and Women gave up their lives.
A Desert environment allows for Tactical Air Attack.
1
Note that Mr. Brooks fails to see the past half-century of U.S. foreign policy as a factor in radical motivation. Attacks against the West are blow-back: retaliation for our aggression in the Islamic world.
11
So Mr. Brooks save the kicker for the end... that decisive military action is necessary. I found myself nodding and agreeing line by line here, paragraph by paragraph, and was reluctant to go along with the end because I don't wish for war. Is there no other way? Who else besides Hoefler explores this subject? What else can be done?
3
"The golden future begins to seem more vivid and real than the present . . ."
"The individual’s identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups."
Much of Mr. Brooks' description of mass movements seems to apply equally well to Christian fundamentalists in this country.
"The individual’s identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups."
Much of Mr. Brooks' description of mass movements seems to apply equally well to Christian fundamentalists in this country.
12
An number of reasons have contributed to the feeling among Moslems of powerlessness. Most recently it has been the West's disintegration of the tradional social fabric, the imposition of Jude's Christian values or a feudal and tribal societies. The high point of Islamic culture existed in the thirteenth century prior to the Mongol razing of Bagdad. In the preMongol period Islam was the transmitter of Classical culture. In large measure Islam has failed to respond in to western eyes in a rational way to positive developments originating in the west. A reference to westerners as "Crusaders" is a case in point. Another is the Hamas response to the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Rather than using the greenhouses left by the Israel, Hamas in a fit of pique chose to destroy them because they were built by Israelis.
The San Bernardeno shooters were obsessed with the destruction of Israel and Jews as the path their path to an Islamic paradise.
I do not claim to all the answer to the problem of Fanatical Islam except to suggest that most western pundits have no clue what drives Islamic cultures and seen to delight in displaying their ignorance.
The San Bernardeno shooters were obsessed with the destruction of Israel and Jews as the path their path to an Islamic paradise.
I do not claim to all the answer to the problem of Fanatical Islam except to suggest that most western pundits have no clue what drives Islamic cultures and seen to delight in displaying their ignorance.
5
We are a nation of laws. The Republican Party has thwarted nearly all attempts for reasonable gun control laws since the 1960's. These outrageous, cowardly, corrupt politicians have become American terrorists of a type unrecognized until recently. Yet, real in their responsibility for our carnage-nation. Let us hope that San Bernardino is the beginning of the end of the Republican Party in America.
4
According to David Sullivan (in Maria Konniva's 12/5 opinion piece "Born to Be Conned"), "nobody thinks they're joining a cult. They join a group that’s going to promote peace and freedom throughout the world or that’s going to save animals, or they’re going to help orphans or something. But nobody joins a cult.” Konniva adds: "We don’t knowingly embraces false beliefs. We embrace something we think is as true as it gets. We don’t set out to be conned. We set out to become, in some way, better than we were before. That is the true power of belief. It gives us hope."
Let's start by understanding this.
Killing innocent people to become better in some way is as absurd as it gets but so is thinking that military force and a military defeat will solve this problem.
Let's start by understanding this.
Killing innocent people to become better in some way is as absurd as it gets but so is thinking that military force and a military defeat will solve this problem.
9
Another one of Brooks' book reviews. He analyses them with his particular erudition, but can't tie its thesis to the very group he belongs to. As my mother said in Yiddish, "He's educated, but doesn't have "sekhel (common sense)."
Oy, my darling David, what are we going to do with you? You're so appealing, yet so wrongheaded.
Oy, my darling David, what are we going to do with you? You're so appealing, yet so wrongheaded.
6
What's missing from this mass movement frame for understanding and explaining the radicalization of terrorists is the same as Cass Sustain's article: Why They Hate Us.
Mass movements, polarizations and group think are epiphenomenon of terrorism and not deep root causes.
Systemic frameworks are psychologically naive in terms of understanding the synergy between intra-personal and inter-personal dynamics of radicalization.
Understand the Deep Root Causes of Terrorism
Amoral terrorist leaders are consumed by a self-righteous rage of fundamentalist thinking that they are absolutely right and never wrong. To manipulate potential terrorists into maintaining a blind loyalty to their ignoble cause, these unscrupulous leaders use the character traits of the Evil Trinity to masquerade:
1. Narcissism as altruism
2. Self-aggrandizing megalomania as liberation ideology
3. Manipulative sociopathy as virtues
Click here to read
Decode the Terrorist's Brainwashing Playbook
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/why-hate-us-does-explain-deep-roo...
Mass movements, polarizations and group think are epiphenomenon of terrorism and not deep root causes.
Systemic frameworks are psychologically naive in terms of understanding the synergy between intra-personal and inter-personal dynamics of radicalization.
Understand the Deep Root Causes of Terrorism
Amoral terrorist leaders are consumed by a self-righteous rage of fundamentalist thinking that they are absolutely right and never wrong. To manipulate potential terrorists into maintaining a blind loyalty to their ignoble cause, these unscrupulous leaders use the character traits of the Evil Trinity to masquerade:
1. Narcissism as altruism
2. Self-aggrandizing megalomania as liberation ideology
3. Manipulative sociopathy as virtues
Click here to read
Decode the Terrorist's Brainwashing Playbook
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/why-hate-us-does-explain-deep-roo...
3
I thought this was an excellent essay until I was disappointed with the very last sentence ".....mass movements are conquered ....... when they are defeated militarily......". I concede that reasonable, focused military action is sometimes justified when it is necessary, & it may be now. But when it is unnecessary & therefore immoral, its consequences are usually counter-productive, as occurred in Vietnam/Cambodia & now in the Middle East thanks to our unnecessary invasion of Iraq in 2003.
How does ISIS make radicals? By baiting chickenhawks to engage in massive, unnecessary violence.
How does ISIS make radicals? By baiting chickenhawks to engage in massive, unnecessary violence.
10
What can be more in ticking for a loner of whatever culture or religious persuasion than an apocalyptic ideology willing to endorse sociopathic acts as heroism, even sainthood?
ISIS or homegrown terrorism. Two sides of the same worthless coin.
ISIS or homegrown terrorism. Two sides of the same worthless coin.
4
I read Hoffer's The True Believer back in Jr. High School in 1962 and saw his conversation with Eric Severide (sp) on CBS a year or two there after. Hoffer was a longshoreman and entirely self-taught from San Francisco but he had a persona not unlike Picasso. He joins a number of thinkers....Sidney Hook....Richard Hoffstader...who did much to shape my thinking and a continued grasp of history. Thank you Mr. Brooks for awaking my memory of Hoffer. I still have his book, around here somewhere.
2
Better you should write on how Michael Savage, Mark Levin and your personal favorite ("a good Republican who wants to win") Rush Limbaugh make Donald Trump the GOP frontrunner. All three condemn not just "radical Islam" (like Ted Cruz, etc.) but go much further by blaming all terrorism on Islam itself (as Limbaugh did yesterday just hours before Trump's Muslim ban). You like the fact, apparently, that these radio racists drive plenty of rural voters to the Tea Party and therefor your GOP -- because they are now clearly the main (and sometimes even the only) source of "news" for the millions of rural voters they "educate" three hours a day. But now you reap what you have sown. If you really want to beat Trump, Have the courage to man up and confront these merchants of hate that are all in the Tank for The Donald as his main cheerleaders, along with Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter. They are all way ore influential than Fox News.
2
ISIS is not the only "mass movement" operating in the world right now, only the most visible and international one. I would posit that the radical religious right in America, goaded on and used by cynical Republicans, is just as dangerous as ISIS. Killings at Black churches and Planned Parenthood clinics are terrorist actions just as horrific as Paris and San Bernadino. Any group that is more focused on "end times" and the return of its god to earth, rather than on making the here and now the best it can be, is dangerous.
5
So I imagine Mr. Brooks would argue that this same logic potentially holds for the gunman who attacked Planned Parenthood or the groups terrorizing American Muslims--or even members of gangs in inner city Chicago.
1
Oh, David, if I hadn't known you were writing about ISIS, I would have thought you were describing the Republican "base" and the Republican Congress! What a beautiful summation of Tea Party politics and Trumpism!
"They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams."
"Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration...(they) fear liberty more than they fear persecution."
"The successful mass movement ... celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future...The golden future begins to seem more vivid and real than the present..."
"...mass movements get their followers to believe that ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation...The individual’s identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups."
"The true believer’s feeling that he is selfless can lead to arrogance and merciless cruelty. It can also be addictive."
"These movements generate a lot of hatred. But ultimately...they are driven by a wild hope. They believe an imminent perfect future can be realized if they proceed recklessly to destroy the present. The glorious end times are just around the corner."
WOW! Perfect!
"They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams."
"Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration...(they) fear liberty more than they fear persecution."
"The successful mass movement ... celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future...The golden future begins to seem more vivid and real than the present..."
"...mass movements get their followers to believe that ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation...The individual’s identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups."
"The true believer’s feeling that he is selfless can lead to arrogance and merciless cruelty. It can also be addictive."
"These movements generate a lot of hatred. But ultimately...they are driven by a wild hope. They believe an imminent perfect future can be realized if they proceed recklessly to destroy the present. The glorious end times are just around the corner."
WOW! Perfect!
7
"How ISIS Makes Radicals"
Much the same way reactionaries are made in the US...
As for acknowledging Eric Hoffer: "“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Much the same way reactionaries are made in the US...
As for acknowledging Eric Hoffer: "“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
5
There’s a difference between a mass movement that’s a few years old and one that is hundreds, even thousands, of years old. ISIS’ conceit is that they go back much farther than a decade.
1
What you describe is extreme tribalism. Lets face it, we are all tribal in nature. We want to feel like we belong, have the right cause, have a stong leader and can survive by sticking together. ISIS is just a subset of the Sunni tribe. You cannot join ISIS if you are not of the Sunni tribe. If the ISIS subtribe is going to change their priorities, they need to take their cue from the regional Sunni tribal leaders, particularily the Saudi Arabian monarchy. We should note that 85% of Arab Muslims are Sunni. The Taliban is Sunni. So a military defeat of ISIS that is not Sunni led will only lead to resentment in 85% of the Arab population against the victor and the cycle of extremism starts again. Bernie Sander's approach makes good sense.
11
Great essay, Mr. Brooks. I read Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" when I was a young man in the sixties. He was quite popular, a public intellecctual from the working class, as I faintly recall. You piqued my interest, and I made a mental note after finishing your essay to re-read his book. I'll pick it up during my next trip to the local public library.
1
What Hoffer and Brooks describe are regions where rampant over-population has far outstripped any ability for a society to sustain the growth, economically or otherwise. The masses of young people growing into this dystopia have no future and nothing to lose. The bright lens of the Internet, showing how bright it is on the other side, only compounds the anger and frustration.
This is the fertile soil that leads to ISIS: as long as journalists like Brooks are terrified to talk about over-population as the primary cause of violent discontent, we will continue to spin our wheels and wonder cluelessly why countless thousands are streaming to ISIS. Wearing a black mask with an AK47 is a far more compelling way to live than scavenging for trash in a slum.
We live in an era of the Revenge of the Children: With machine gun in hand, the young man screams, "Mother, oh mother, why on earth did you conceive on such a hellish planet?"
This is the fertile soil that leads to ISIS: as long as journalists like Brooks are terrified to talk about over-population as the primary cause of violent discontent, we will continue to spin our wheels and wonder cluelessly why countless thousands are streaming to ISIS. Wearing a black mask with an AK47 is a far more compelling way to live than scavenging for trash in a slum.
We live in an era of the Revenge of the Children: With machine gun in hand, the young man screams, "Mother, oh mother, why on earth did you conceive on such a hellish planet?"
I have met Mr. Brooks and he is a genuinely intelligent man. However, everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room regarding ISIS. Saudi Arabia's exportation of terror is the root cause of all of this: google any terrorist article for Saudi-Arabian connections and you will get my point. Post World Trade Center disaster Saudi higher-ups were flown out of the US while the regular Americans were grounded from flying...It is a very sad day when our thirst for their oil outweighs our common sense. Don't bomb Syria; bomb the the people responsible for these barbarities.
4
The main problem with ISIS, is that they don't all live in one place, ready for the US to bomb. They "melt" into the general population. But sending in ground troops means savage hand-to-hand fighting. And how do we determine who is an ISIS member? In WW2, the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were horrific, and we almost killed every single Japanese soldier. This won't be possible with ISIS, in my opinion.
1
Muslims have come to this land to realize the American Dream, so theirs is first and foremost an economic, not religious or ideological, impulse. Many of them, given an egregiously poor understanding of Islam itself, are seduced by Islamism because they are made to feel guilty about putting their economic concerns above everything else. A handful then slide further down the slope to radical Islamism.
The first responders, if you will, of our homegrown radicalism problem must be Muslims themselves. Our parents, community leaders, teachers, scholars, and holy figures need to educate the young about the doctrinal fallacies of Islamism and how it is a perversion of our faith. Normal Islam, heavy on tradition, Sufism, and accepting reality as it actually is, does not guilt-trip its followers, but instead accepts the reality of the modern world and strives to show the paths to piety and spiritual enlightenment within the modern context. Islamism and Islam are polar opposites.
The second step would be (if the political will can be found) for Americans at large to forcefully and in a united voice demand that Islamism be made wholly pacifist by its American preachers. Otherwise, they may 'self deport'. This would drain the proverbial septic tank backed up by decades of frankly immature American Muslim leadership.
American Muslims already have all the political freedoms their citizenship affords them. We need no Islamist to help us there, thank you very much.
The first responders, if you will, of our homegrown radicalism problem must be Muslims themselves. Our parents, community leaders, teachers, scholars, and holy figures need to educate the young about the doctrinal fallacies of Islamism and how it is a perversion of our faith. Normal Islam, heavy on tradition, Sufism, and accepting reality as it actually is, does not guilt-trip its followers, but instead accepts the reality of the modern world and strives to show the paths to piety and spiritual enlightenment within the modern context. Islamism and Islam are polar opposites.
The second step would be (if the political will can be found) for Americans at large to forcefully and in a united voice demand that Islamism be made wholly pacifist by its American preachers. Otherwise, they may 'self deport'. This would drain the proverbial septic tank backed up by decades of frankly immature American Muslim leadership.
American Muslims already have all the political freedoms their citizenship affords them. We need no Islamist to help us there, thank you very much.
7
We make radicals. Isis just scoops them up and sends them to kill us.
8
Mr. Brooks is correct in what he says. However, the immediate problem in the US is still civilian weapons control.
3
Hoffer might as easily be describing the cult of Donald Trump.
5
The same analysis could be applied to the Trump wing of the Republican party.
5
Eric Hoffer, a longshoreman by trade, was nominated for the faculty of UC Berkeley by Clark Kerr but was tuned down because he didn't have a graduate degree. So how could he have written such an insightful book more than sixty years ago?
I wonder by what stretch of mental gymnastics David Brooks fixates on psychological tools employed by the Islamic State to radicalize a Califonia couple while ignoring the proliferation of guns which fuels their rage.
1
Amazing how the very people who are fear mongering are the very people who create the conditions of inequality that cause all the problems in the world.
2
Can we say that George Soros is trying to initiate a mass movement of his own for virulent political hate matched with wealth envy? He certainly has thrown the cash into it. How sad that the man will go to his grave with greenmailing and hatred as his legacies.
I don't see the Islamist terrorists' tricks working on the educated, although several prominent terrorists have been expensively educated. You don't lure intact minds to Syria with the promise of a free truck and all the prisoner sex you need.
The terrorists appear to be educated like Barack Hussein Obama was - in exclusively liberal-statist, anti-capitalist institutions. Such a pr3eparation was not considered authentic fifty years ago, and won't be in another fifty years, I daresay.
I don't see the Islamist terrorists' tricks working on the educated, although several prominent terrorists have been expensively educated. You don't lure intact minds to Syria with the promise of a free truck and all the prisoner sex you need.
The terrorists appear to be educated like Barack Hussein Obama was - in exclusively liberal-statist, anti-capitalist institutions. Such a pr3eparation was not considered authentic fifty years ago, and won't be in another fifty years, I daresay.
1
Where on earth does one find the arrogance to paint Hatvard Law as "liberal, statist, anti-capitalist," and to conclude the education there, or at Occidental College, foments the kind of dissolution imagined as the cause of the attraction to terrorist mass movements?
1
Great analysis, but the conclusion with the three steps is missing a precursor: while we are figuring out how to heal social disintegration, offer inspiration and destroy Isil's charisma, shouldn't we first disarm them here in the US and not provide the tools to carry out mass shootings?
1
While this analysis resonates with the current reality in many ways, it does not discuss the peculiar political and economic power of Wahabism, a factor that must be addressed in order to understand the "making" of these radicals.
2
The final paragraph of Mr. Brooks' column in which he prescribes antidotes to the True Believer problem is not the way Eric Hoffer addresses the same challenge. Hoffer concluded that mass movements driven by true believers could not be resolved by any means other than substitution of a more attractive alternative movement or a more desperate immediate need.
4
We can and probably should intercede with the mechanisms used by ISIS and others to radicalize our and other people. That mechanism is primarily the Internet and the social media operations. It is time to either terminate the corporate charters of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc, or hold their feet very, very close to the fire so that they immediately install and operate processes which prevent such uses. Fix it or we will bring you down.
Surely such organizations as the nearby Navy's "Center for Information Dominance" has the capability to bring them down. If not, they too should go.
We do not have to allow enemies to undermine us using corporations chartered by our own government and systems supported by our institutions.
Surely such organizations as the nearby Navy's "Center for Information Dominance" has the capability to bring them down. If not, they too should go.
We do not have to allow enemies to undermine us using corporations chartered by our own government and systems supported by our institutions.
2
What could be more enticing for a loner of whatever culture or religious persuasion than an apocalyptic ideology, ready to anoint acts of anarchy as heroism or even sainthood?
Homegrown or not. Same end point.
Homegrown or not. Same end point.
1
Mr. Brooks notes:
"...when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration. This is a pretty good description of parts of the Arab world. To a lesser degree it is a good description of isolated pockets of our own segmenting, individualized society, where some people find themselves totally cut off."
I thought this was an essay on a future America under a Trump/Cruz/Carson presidency.
"...when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration. This is a pretty good description of parts of the Arab world. To a lesser degree it is a good description of isolated pockets of our own segmenting, individualized society, where some people find themselves totally cut off."
I thought this was an essay on a future America under a Trump/Cruz/Carson presidency.
1
I suppose it is no coincidence that even as Bernie Sanders is embracing "mass movements", that Mr. Brooks conflates them with violent extremism. Not all "mass movements" are built the same. Some are based on legitimate grievances toward dysfunctional or unjust institutional structures. Some at their core are just and peaceful (Gandhi, Suffragette, Climate). In an effort to protect the power status quo, Mr. Brooks dangerously paints this term with too broad a brush.
1
Reading the latest comments from our own government's security organizations, it is clear that the Redlands couple were radicalized long before they came to the U.S., partially denying a major point of Mr. Brooks' argument. Also interestingly, in the first sentence of this article, the importance of mass gun availability is subtly denied. And finally, as others have pointed out, listening to the ranting and relentless blathering of all the GOP candidates for president, much obviously fascist in nature, and members of Brook's conservative tribe, it is possible to replace ISIS in the title with GOP. and make the exact same arguments.
2
There is a large literature on cult recruiting of converts especially recruiting to utopian and apocalyptic movements. Vulnerable persons are "searching" for higher purpose, escape from mundane life or a way to take revenge on those perceived as persecuting them. In the case of aggressive cults like ISIS these warriors are willing to sacrifice themselves and others for some higher goal. Peaceful and suicidal cults simply escape to a place of isolation and seek to govern and support themselves until the end comes or is forced upon them. In "globalized terrorism" the world is the stage and all external enemies are potential victims through inspired or member recruits. The world is "triangulated" into engaging in the "final battle."
2
Aside from summarizing Hoffer, David's aim is to identify ways to prevent radicalization. The attraction of violence for some individuals is so strong that they will grasp any straw to support their actions. Apparently they do not require the feedback of comradeship devoted to a cause, but find sufficient support simply from videos and TV news, reports that make violence symbolic. ISIS is a mass movement, but the shootings we have seen recently are individual acts of destruction, only incidentally related to mass movements because of their connection with violence.
1
That is an incredibly misguided analysis of "mass movements." Almost none of Hoffer's criteria apply to the greatest mass movement in U.S. history: the Black Civil Rights movement, which was indeed about oppression; did not involve followers who lived with "unrelieved boredom" and had plenty of reason to blame others besides themselves.
It seems that what Brooks is describing is more like features in a religious cult than a mass social movement, which in the history of the U.S. have acted to bring many positive changes to the nation.
It seems that what Brooks is describing is more like features in a religious cult than a mass social movement, which in the history of the U.S. have acted to bring many positive changes to the nation.
2
Disgruntled, disenfranchised youth are vulnerable to suggestion whether they live in the United States or elsewhere.
Reaching out and talking to them continually is a crucial first step.
Parents must not leave young people alone to their own devices -- to wander dark places on the Internet, experiment secretively with explosives, chemicals, or guns, or conjure up paranoid schemes and aggressive plots -- without proactive monitoring or controls.
Parents, no matter what their culture, know when their child, teenager, or young adult is veering into dangerous mind patterns and activities. It is incumbent on the parents to stop their out-of-control progeny, not ignore them, languish in denial, or encourage them to darker territory.
Just reflect for a moment on the preposterousness of the Newtown and Umpqua shooters, whose own mothers kept deadly arsenals at home within easy reach of their deranged sons.
And now, the mother who babysits her infant grandchild at home while her son and his wife go on a terrorist inspired shooting spree. She never opened the door to the assembly room of murder weapons? She never called the police or a family member to report her concerns?
When did parents become so dumbfounded, so pathetically weak? Isn't it time to take a personal active role in what your children are doing and stand up to them when they go astray? Maybe it's time to call a crisis hotline?
The deep historical rationalization of this editorial is interesting, but unabsolving.
Reaching out and talking to them continually is a crucial first step.
Parents must not leave young people alone to their own devices -- to wander dark places on the Internet, experiment secretively with explosives, chemicals, or guns, or conjure up paranoid schemes and aggressive plots -- without proactive monitoring or controls.
Parents, no matter what their culture, know when their child, teenager, or young adult is veering into dangerous mind patterns and activities. It is incumbent on the parents to stop their out-of-control progeny, not ignore them, languish in denial, or encourage them to darker territory.
Just reflect for a moment on the preposterousness of the Newtown and Umpqua shooters, whose own mothers kept deadly arsenals at home within easy reach of their deranged sons.
And now, the mother who babysits her infant grandchild at home while her son and his wife go on a terrorist inspired shooting spree. She never opened the door to the assembly room of murder weapons? She never called the police or a family member to report her concerns?
When did parents become so dumbfounded, so pathetically weak? Isn't it time to take a personal active role in what your children are doing and stand up to them when they go astray? Maybe it's time to call a crisis hotline?
The deep historical rationalization of this editorial is interesting, but unabsolving.
1
These two people were not destitute. They had jobs, a home, a baby, a welcoming group of people around them who would throw them a baby shower and invite them for Thanksgiving dinner. These are fanatics inspired by a hateful ideology that is masquerading as a religion and because of this gets a pass from the highly tolerant Western societies. I spent half of my life living in a communist country where hatred for the West was a centerpiece of the ruling ideology. Luckily the communist ideology lost its inner source of energy after too many clashes with reality and fell into oblivion. Radical Islam is only getting started.
4
"First, try to heal the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements. Second, offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones. Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated. Then they can no longer offer hope, inspiration or a plausible way out for the disaffected."
Well put, Mr. Brooks. I'm looking for your Republican friends to get number three off the ground with their usual relish, fudge number two with Rumsfeldian arrogance, and completely ignore number one as it would fly in the face of undeclared business interests.
Which would result in the number four you omitted: look forward to the return of the same in a different form then repeat one, two, and three, ad nauseam.
Well put, Mr. Brooks. I'm looking for your Republican friends to get number three off the ground with their usual relish, fudge number two with Rumsfeldian arrogance, and completely ignore number one as it would fly in the face of undeclared business interests.
Which would result in the number four you omitted: look forward to the return of the same in a different form then repeat one, two, and three, ad nauseam.
This is a perfect description of why people follow Donald Trump. I know several who support him, and to a person, each is enormously insecure and fears being labeled a failure as a white person from a stable family who is unsuccessful in education, financially, or personally (often divorced and/or single parent).
Hoffer's Western-leaning writing misses one point about those from the Levant - they belong to group cultures, not individual cultures. Playing upon a fear they are not wholly integrated into a similar U.S. group identity (which must happen because there are no U.S. group identities that correlate to Mediterranean groups), recruiters can create a sense of belonging even from a great distance.
Hoffer's Western-leaning writing misses one point about those from the Levant - they belong to group cultures, not individual cultures. Playing upon a fear they are not wholly integrated into a similar U.S. group identity (which must happen because there are no U.S. group identities that correlate to Mediterranean groups), recruiters can create a sense of belonging even from a great distance.
2
The logic of mass movements you present based upon Eric Hoffer's book (which I will have to take a look at---thanks for the reference) seems simplistic but compelling.
But what really strikes me is how well the Tea Party/Republican conservative agenda fits the mass movement mould, especially as espoused by Donald Trump. (1) America used to be great, but (2) now we're victims who are being taken advantage of, and (3) we need to return things to their former glory no matter what the cost.
I understand why calculating politicians and morally bankrupt corporate overlords rally for the movement. They want power and money, and obviously they'll have more of both if they can keep taxes and social programs as low as possible. In the race to line their pockets far beyond what they could even spend in a lifetime, they have good reason to champion the cause of reduced regulations, social welfare, and democratic thinking.
But I've always been puzzled that lower middle class Americans (the heart of the Tea Party), who most need government protection from greedy corporations and who often depend upon government support to obtain food and basic health care, are keen to rally to the opposite way of life. They can't be so stupid as to think that life will really be better for them, and yet they no only advocate for the Tea Party cause, they appear ready to sacrifice their own welfare, and the welfare of their children, all for the movement.
It's just so sad.
But what really strikes me is how well the Tea Party/Republican conservative agenda fits the mass movement mould, especially as espoused by Donald Trump. (1) America used to be great, but (2) now we're victims who are being taken advantage of, and (3) we need to return things to their former glory no matter what the cost.
I understand why calculating politicians and morally bankrupt corporate overlords rally for the movement. They want power and money, and obviously they'll have more of both if they can keep taxes and social programs as low as possible. In the race to line their pockets far beyond what they could even spend in a lifetime, they have good reason to champion the cause of reduced regulations, social welfare, and democratic thinking.
But I've always been puzzled that lower middle class Americans (the heart of the Tea Party), who most need government protection from greedy corporations and who often depend upon government support to obtain food and basic health care, are keen to rally to the opposite way of life. They can't be so stupid as to think that life will really be better for them, and yet they no only advocate for the Tea Party cause, they appear ready to sacrifice their own welfare, and the welfare of their children, all for the movement.
It's just so sad.
1
"Healing the social disintegration that is the seed bed" of terrorism and mass shootings by citizens in the USA could be achieved by stopping the unneeded flood of 1-2 million immigrants per year that our political class encourages to segregate into diaspora, salad bowl not assimilate in to American society, so they can be exploited as 1/3 living wage labor for longer, and serve as "gate ways" to ever more rapidly send US jobs overseas and conduits to bring in every more "compliant" immigrant workers. Trust surveys in the immigrant ghettos of the US reveal scores as low as those in the failed states south of our border precisely due to this greedy pluralism, polyglot 'divide and conquer' rigging of our society by our resentful and fearful of the democratic majority elites who increasing appear to want the US to be just like the 3rd world nightmares in which people of their class rule like kings and murder and thieve like Gods.
David Brooks is just as blind about radicalization as pundits, politicians, and progressives who embrace the idea that self-determination is dead, caput. What I mean is that individuals who are "radicalized" have radicalized themselves. For the love of the true God, people, wake-up: victimization has gone so far that now radical killers are radicalized from something "outside" of themselves, not from what is on the inside. Those who join killer organizations are responsible for their own radicalization, not the social media, not ISIS in Syria, not the lack of jobs, not unhappiness, and not Western values. The progressive West, whether Europe or the U.S., has lost all bearings when it comes to individual responsibility. Those who radicalize and sympathize with ISIS approve of the crucifixion of children, the beheading of children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children, the torture and rape of children, the drowning of enemies in cages, throwing homosexuals from high towers to their deaths. Anyone who joins this stealth killing machine approves of brutality and evil. Brooks better go back to the intellectual drawing board and re-think his foolish portrayal of radicalization. And, he should read, very soon, Michel Houellebecq's novel Submission.
2
The Islamic State can radicalize people because it has at its center a religion. People who get sucked in by religion are sometimes successful in secular terms, as were the San Bernardino terrorists, The selflessness and cruelty of religious dedication is easily found in the history of Christianity, and some of our modern Christians used terrorism to preserve their God-given Southern way of life.
Our social disintegration is caused mainly by the income inequality produced by the class warfare victories our ruling class have achieved. The silent majority was offered a dream by St. Ronnie to replace the good-paying, unionized jobs they were losing. Their salvation was to be the very business leaders who were chipping away at their lives. Our mass movement is the Republican party.
Our social disintegration is caused mainly by the income inequality produced by the class warfare victories our ruling class have achieved. The silent majority was offered a dream by St. Ronnie to replace the good-paying, unionized jobs they were losing. Their salvation was to be the very business leaders who were chipping away at their lives. Our mass movement is the Republican party.
5
Very good points, especially the one about social media contributing to a rise in fanaticism. Not enough is said about this. But Brooks in his opening paragraph casually brushes aside the impact of easy access to weapons and ammo. The self-radicalized jihadist couple could not have caused nearly the destruction they did had they not been able to buy guns and ammo with apparent ease. Maybe guns don't kill people, but why on earth put them in the hands of one willing to die for his cause?
"...mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated."
Except in the case of the Middle East where one plays 'whack-a-mole' with these mass movements. We knock them down one place and they appear in a another failed state in a different guise. Until the whole Middle East reforms itself, starting with the Saudis, I'm afraid we are in for a very long siege.
Except in the case of the Middle East where one plays 'whack-a-mole' with these mass movements. We knock them down one place and they appear in a another failed state in a different guise. Until the whole Middle East reforms itself, starting with the Saudis, I'm afraid we are in for a very long siege.
1
Brooks has turned a modus operendi into a theory. Brutality and random terror was not invented by Islam in the 20-21st centuries. Neither is it confined to Muslims in our time. Most of the motivating forces cited have been delineated in the past.
The most telling factor (not sufficiently emphasized by Brooks) is the breakdown of social control and traditional values. This is also a dynamic which is eroding American society. Homo sapiens is a genetically aggressive bestial creature, and only his complementary need to be in a protective group can moderate his aggressive nature. When the group weakens and no longer affords protection, man reverts to his animal origins.
The most telling factor (not sufficiently emphasized by Brooks) is the breakdown of social control and traditional values. This is also a dynamic which is eroding American society. Homo sapiens is a genetically aggressive bestial creature, and only his complementary need to be in a protective group can moderate his aggressive nature. When the group weakens and no longer affords protection, man reverts to his animal origins.
1
"The correct response is still the same, however. First, try to heal the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements." How would you do this, Mr. Brooks? You have been a strong supporter of Israel and thought that your son's participation in Operation Protective Edge was for a just cause. Yet the very creation of a "Jewish State" against the will of majority of people living there created massive social disintegration among Palestinians, who lost their property, means of livelihood and social structure so that Israel could have a Jewish majority on expanded territory (beyond what the UN had proposed for them). Rather than deal with the injustice, Israel has chosen to try to force the Palestinians to submit to the injustice. This is not some old wound. The process of Israeli expansion onto Palestinian land and the forced dislocation of Palestinians to make way for this expansion continue to this day. Physician, heal thyself. America, wake up! We need to change our foreign policy from one that exacerbates injustice to one that is based on making the world more just. Listen to what the jihadists say about what angers them and sets them off. It's our support for Israel and our disregard for Muslim lives and rights.
2
Funny that so many of the 9/11 terrorists and even today's suicide bombers come from at least middle class and a surprising number have college degrees - many earned here in the U.S. Doesn't seem to fit Brooks's formula. To prep people to believe the propaganda, you have to plow the ground first, then plant the seeds, and then the growing plants are susceptible to the claims of the propagandists. Whenever we involve ourselves militarily in essentially inter-sect or civil wars in the Muslim world, we seem to be confirming in the minds of ordinary Muslims exactly what the propagandists are charging. When our Presidential Candidates and pundits attack all of Islam and (like Donald Trump), call for making all Muslims register and carry IDs or forbid all Muslims, even American-born people out of the country on business or vacation, from entering or re-entering the country, we are simply convincing ordinary moderate Muslims that the radicals' picture of the West and its goals is true. And thus the radicalization is promoted, both sides playing their roles - ours instilling ever-greater fear at home and violence in the ME and theirs calling for "revenge."
ISIS was born as an organization fighting the Shi'ite ruler of Syria and Shi'ite oppression in Iraq. They didn't turn their attention to us or anybody else in the West until we began using drones and bombers on them to help their rivals. Truth to tell, we drew first blood. From their point of view, they are fighting back.
ISIS was born as an organization fighting the Shi'ite ruler of Syria and Shi'ite oppression in Iraq. They didn't turn their attention to us or anybody else in the West until we began using drones and bombers on them to help their rivals. Truth to tell, we drew first blood. From their point of view, they are fighting back.
Alternate headline: How GOP Makes Radicals
2
This is very interesting but it doesn't really explain the San Bernardino shooter. He had a good job --- one that many Americans would like to have. Why did he come to hate his country so much? I don't get it.
2
Yes, he had a very good job, a good mind, but his religious beliefs took precedence. His beliefs told him of a insecure, Hitler like god, Allah, to kill all infidels.
His good mind was marred by lack of critical thinking skills. Lack of compassion and empathy for "others" took their toll too. He hated America because most of us are not believers in this form of Islam. He felt compelled to help his God or Allah by obeying his commandment.
The Old Testament God fits this profile too. It's really a wonder that the Being who created this vast. powerful Universe is so helpless. Amazing.
His good mind was marred by lack of critical thinking skills. Lack of compassion and empathy for "others" took their toll too. He hated America because most of us are not believers in this form of Islam. He felt compelled to help his God or Allah by obeying his commandment.
The Old Testament God fits this profile too. It's really a wonder that the Being who created this vast. powerful Universe is so helpless. Amazing.
1
May I suggest my own view on this:
It's the charisma of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that attracts young Muslims around the world. He has an amazing hold on them especially young women.
The woman who participated in massacre declared her allegiance to Baghdadi, not Daesh. The news reporters say to ISIS, not to Baghdadi. Some reports specifically said it was to Baghdadi. She may have fantasized to become his mistress.
In the book, "The Life & Times of Chairman Mao," the author, Mao's personal physician for 22 years until his death, said, in Mao's 70s, sex was his only recreation. He had some sort of mild venereal disease. Many girls in their 20s took pride if they caught that (minor) disease from Mao. Those girls fell for Mao.
Chinese people revered Mao, even now after they have turned a 180 away from Mao's preaching. China is a pure capitalist country. But Mao is still revered.
Some rare single individuals have incredulous impact on the populace. For some reason, in spite of all the scientific advancements, we fail to recognize this simple fact!
It's the charisma of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that attracts young Muslims around the world. He has an amazing hold on them especially young women.
The woman who participated in massacre declared her allegiance to Baghdadi, not Daesh. The news reporters say to ISIS, not to Baghdadi. Some reports specifically said it was to Baghdadi. She may have fantasized to become his mistress.
In the book, "The Life & Times of Chairman Mao," the author, Mao's personal physician for 22 years until his death, said, in Mao's 70s, sex was his only recreation. He had some sort of mild venereal disease. Many girls in their 20s took pride if they caught that (minor) disease from Mao. Those girls fell for Mao.
Chinese people revered Mao, even now after they have turned a 180 away from Mao's preaching. China is a pure capitalist country. But Mao is still revered.
Some rare single individuals have incredulous impact on the populace. For some reason, in spite of all the scientific advancements, we fail to recognize this simple fact!
1
Brooks delves into mass movements without discussing the obvious.
Religion, which is primary weapon of the ISIS mass movement.
He quotes Hoffer so here is more Hoffer:
"Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power."
-- Eric Hoffer, Reflections on the Human Condition, aph. 13 (1973).
Brooks has struck the mother lode with his discussion of Eric Hoffer's philosophy, a migrant worker and longshoreman without a GED.
Much as he may wish to dodge a discussion of religion and the role it plays in twisting week minds, he and the rest of us are going to have to come to grips with reducing the power of clerics and religious politicians who preach hate, intolerance and violence in the name of religion to gain power.
To wit:
Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.
-- Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind, aph. 225 (1955)
Religion, which is primary weapon of the ISIS mass movement.
He quotes Hoffer so here is more Hoffer:
"Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power."
-- Eric Hoffer, Reflections on the Human Condition, aph. 13 (1973).
Brooks has struck the mother lode with his discussion of Eric Hoffer's philosophy, a migrant worker and longshoreman without a GED.
Much as he may wish to dodge a discussion of religion and the role it plays in twisting week minds, he and the rest of us are going to have to come to grips with reducing the power of clerics and religious politicians who preach hate, intolerance and violence in the name of religion to gain power.
To wit:
Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.
-- Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind, aph. 225 (1955)
5
Military and Political leaders have been sending young men to fight and die since the first war. They know how to psychologically manipulate the young to sacrifice their lives so they can accumulate wealth and power. It isn't the psychological manipulation of the young men that is the problem. It is the insatiable thirst for wealth and power of the leaders that is the problem.
1
Last night I watched American television and saw the panic in the eyes of the pundits, prognosticators and planners of American politics. It has been 65 years since Joseph Raymond McCarthy made his Wheeling speech and it matters not whether William F. Buckley Jr or McCarthy wrote the speech the speech is lost to history. The legacy however came to fruition when the inheritors of Fred C Koch and William F Buckley Senior came together under the banner of the GOP and American Conservatism.
I have my foot planted in two very distinct cultures, by disposition I am a very conservative Canadian and believe in peace, order and good government. I believe in a government that is as strong and potent as it needs to be.
The other part of me is 18th century American a product of the enlightenment I am very liberal and believe we are the architects of our future. I find American and conservative oxymoronic. To be American is to embrace change. America is about radical ideas to solve the problems brought about by dramatic change. The enlightenment and the American Revolution were about evolution. The revolution was about recognizing that there was no Deity involved in having a King who was congenitally mentally impaired have dominion over the citizens of his Empire.
The answer to ISIS is a revitalized Radical America finding human meaning in an age of radical change to counter the conservative reactionary solutions of ISIS and the GOP.
I have my foot planted in two very distinct cultures, by disposition I am a very conservative Canadian and believe in peace, order and good government. I believe in a government that is as strong and potent as it needs to be.
The other part of me is 18th century American a product of the enlightenment I am very liberal and believe we are the architects of our future. I find American and conservative oxymoronic. To be American is to embrace change. America is about radical ideas to solve the problems brought about by dramatic change. The enlightenment and the American Revolution were about evolution. The revolution was about recognizing that there was no Deity involved in having a King who was congenitally mentally impaired have dominion over the citizens of his Empire.
The answer to ISIS is a revitalized Radical America finding human meaning in an age of radical change to counter the conservative reactionary solutions of ISIS and the GOP.
5
I disagree. I think ISIS is much more similar to the cults that swept America in recent decades. People who joined included affluent kids...ISIS shooters include people who are doing quite well including this couple and the brothers who attacked the Boston Marathon. That is why these attacks are so difficult to predict. The same is true of American radicals who demonize immigrants as the source of all our troubles and these pronouncements come from people who are reaping all the benefits that America has to offer.
I think it has much more to do with power for the older leaders and the tendency toward unrealistic idealism on the part of the younger followers who are much more prone to it in their 20's. In the case of ISIS and other forms of religious extremism, there is also the threat to a patriarchal society that more open societies pose. I am having a hard time figuring out how arranged marriages and institutionalized rape inside and outside of marriages as well as a promise of a hedonistic afterlife is self-sacrifice. Deception is more like it.
I think it has much more to do with power for the older leaders and the tendency toward unrealistic idealism on the part of the younger followers who are much more prone to it in their 20's. In the case of ISIS and other forms of religious extremism, there is also the threat to a patriarchal society that more open societies pose. I am having a hard time figuring out how arranged marriages and institutionalized rape inside and outside of marriages as well as a promise of a hedonistic afterlife is self-sacrifice. Deception is more like it.
1
Tell me how ISIS simply obeying the commandments of the Quran is not a part of true ISLAM!
I believe that THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY SHOULD IMMEDIATELY PUBLICLY REFUTE AND DISAVOW THE QURAN as an evil instrument that commands Muslims to convert or murder Christian, Jewish, and other non-believers by cutting off their heads if they refuse to convert to Islam!
Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were only following the commands of their Islamic religion as required by the Quran!
These shootings were not "radical Islamic terrorism" but simply Muslims obeying the commandments of the Islamic Quran (bible).
The True devout Islamic Believer will obey the Quran which commands Islamic believers as follows:
Quran (8:12) – "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them."
I believe that THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY SHOULD IMMEDIATELY PUBLICLY REFUTE AND DISAVOW THE QURAN as an evil instrument that commands Muslims to convert or murder Christian, Jewish, and other non-believers by cutting off their heads if they refuse to convert to Islam!
Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were only following the commands of their Islamic religion as required by the Quran!
These shootings were not "radical Islamic terrorism" but simply Muslims obeying the commandments of the Islamic Quran (bible).
The True devout Islamic Believer will obey the Quran which commands Islamic believers as follows:
Quran (8:12) – "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them."
2
I think you should watch the PBS show Life of Muhammad before you jump to any conclusions.
1
Saudi Arabia, that is one of the constants in this dilemma, and that is where she got radicalized. Whether he got radicalized on his own via the internet or whether she managed that after they married is not really relevant.
But two things are evident; most of the radicalization in the Middle East comes from Saudi Arabia and most of the deaths in the U.S. come from easy access to assault weapons, and other tools of mass destruction.
In the U.S. and entire political party has waved the white flag and surrendered to fear being instigated by a .......cult.
M.Brooks, I hope your stint as a philosopher in waiting is nearing its end. I for one am tiring of your self-righteous drivel.
But two things are evident; most of the radicalization in the Middle East comes from Saudi Arabia and most of the deaths in the U.S. come from easy access to assault weapons, and other tools of mass destruction.
In the U.S. and entire political party has waved the white flag and surrendered to fear being instigated by a .......cult.
M.Brooks, I hope your stint as a philosopher in waiting is nearing its end. I for one am tiring of your self-righteous drivel.
1
This explanation doesn't seem to apply to this particular couple. He had a good job with opportunities for advancement in a diverse workplace where his co-workers seem to have been supportive (the baby shower, the friendly conversation before the training session started). She had been an outstanding pharmacy student, so she could have had a successful career. She chose to stay home with their new baby, with the help of his mother. They were connected to his family, and he had been connected to friends through his mosque. They had a fairly nice home. They might not have realized their dreams yet, but they had a clear path for getting there. It's hard to see how they were cut off or why they would be particularly frustrated.
1
How ISIS Makes Radicals? They do it like all of the religions do, by promising idiots that there is a 'right' way, a 'right' group, and an afterlife to gloat in. Idiots all!
Military power is more of an accelerant than a deterent to violence carried out by ideologues motivated by mass movements. Terrorists invite death, for themselves as well as for others. Their willingness to die for their "cause" is seen as giving hope to others in order to sustain that "cause".
Military power is generally ineffective in killing ideologies, but it's relentlessly effective in killing human beings.
Military power is generally ineffective in killing ideologies, but it's relentlessly effective in killing human beings.
For a while there I thought you were were talking about the followers of Mr. Trump and Dr. Carson and not ISIL.
Thank you for your observations and the summary of Mr. Hoffer's work. It is insightful and the conclusions seem very relevant. I fear that the somewhat hysterical response to date will make matters progressively worse for some time to come. I'm not sure at all that we are ready to begin a constructive course of action that will address the frustration felt by Muslims and the inspiration offered by ISIL. We need our own inspiration and it just seems so far away right now.
Thank you for your observations and the summary of Mr. Hoffer's work. It is insightful and the conclusions seem very relevant. I fear that the somewhat hysterical response to date will make matters progressively worse for some time to come. I'm not sure at all that we are ready to begin a constructive course of action that will address the frustration felt by Muslims and the inspiration offered by ISIL. We need our own inspiration and it just seems so far away right now.
1
David Brooks' lucid piece points to the urgent need for nations and societies around the world, to reach out to young men and women who feel frustrated with their lot, and who therefore need immediate attention - guidance and avenues to give wholesome meaning and purpose to their lives - that would prevent them from falling into the bottom-less pit of violence, cruelty and self-imposed suffering.
Who will do this? All of us, together, working with young people in our respective spheres of influence. Depending on politicians alone for solutions is a grave mistake, because not only do they not address the real causes of any problem ( yes, any and every problem!), they aggravate the issues with their irresponsible statements and attacks on those who really care for humanity.
Who will do this? All of us, together, working with young people in our respective spheres of influence. Depending on politicians alone for solutions is a grave mistake, because not only do they not address the real causes of any problem ( yes, any and every problem!), they aggravate the issues with their irresponsible statements and attacks on those who really care for humanity.
"They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams. They sometimes live with an unrelieved boredom. Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration because they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity." The unraveling young men and women pining for sex, society and security and unable to realize it on their own in a healthy productive process. A recipe for violence, rage and hyperbolic actions for attention and validation when encouraged instead of addressed. Brooks sees it in the human condition not the political. we've all seen this before.
Instead of wondering "how is it that the Islamic State is able to radicalize a couple living in Redlands, Calif.," Babbling Brooks should explain to us why psychiatric professionals and social workers flood the media with such trivia night and day without ever discussing the motivations of gun lovers, particularly those whose joy in watching birds and animals die overrides their concerns about America's insane gun violence.
1
Sometimes I want to smack David Brooks. Today I want to hug him!
"The central preoccupation of a mass movement, on the other hand, is self-sacrifice. "
Couldn't we apply this statement to any army?
Couldn't we apply this statement to any army?
1
There's a lot to like in Brooks' column. I even recognize points I have made in discussions with family and friends. I do have a quibble, probably a very small one.
"The correct response is still the same, however." And Brooks lists three broadly sketched actions. i am reminded of being in a meeting led by by my senior VP. He, too, offered three broad statements, and then said, essentially, now go do it. After a few minutes of everyone looking at each other, I asked some questions about implementation. You know - who, what, when, is there funding, do we have acceptance and commitment from other areas to provide resources, minor things like that. The summary of the VP's response was that those were just details - get started.
Ah. It's been observed that both the devil and God are in the details.
Just once, I wish offerings as this from Brooks would include some recognition of the details. "Heal the disintegration." Whose? Where do we - or anyone - start? What are causes of disintegration? What resources are available? "Offer positive inspiring causes ..." Whose? Where are they found (mass movements, remember)? "...defeated militarily and humiliated." Who is being fought? Who fights against the movement? For how long? Where? How is a mass movement, stretching across continents, to be defeated militarily, much less humiliated?
Are we willing to accept the costs of these three ideas?
Chalk up another pie in the sky proposal. And it started so well.
"The correct response is still the same, however." And Brooks lists three broadly sketched actions. i am reminded of being in a meeting led by by my senior VP. He, too, offered three broad statements, and then said, essentially, now go do it. After a few minutes of everyone looking at each other, I asked some questions about implementation. You know - who, what, when, is there funding, do we have acceptance and commitment from other areas to provide resources, minor things like that. The summary of the VP's response was that those were just details - get started.
Ah. It's been observed that both the devil and God are in the details.
Just once, I wish offerings as this from Brooks would include some recognition of the details. "Heal the disintegration." Whose? Where do we - or anyone - start? What are causes of disintegration? What resources are available? "Offer positive inspiring causes ..." Whose? Where are they found (mass movements, remember)? "...defeated militarily and humiliated." Who is being fought? Who fights against the movement? For how long? Where? How is a mass movement, stretching across continents, to be defeated militarily, much less humiliated?
Are we willing to accept the costs of these three ideas?
Chalk up another pie in the sky proposal. And it started so well.
I believe that this article is loaded with partial thoughts that have the potential for stray conclusions. It seems to state that practical organizations, those leading to “self-advancement” are good, and mass movements, those leading to “self-sacrifice” are bad. Using the atheist Eric Hoffer as the prince of reason behind this simplistic notion, the article blankets condemnation on all but the self-serving materialist. Yet, Hoffer was principally, as least overtly so, concerned about the rise of Godless fascism and communism when he wrote “The True Believer.”
Two quotes from Hoffer in later publications illustrates where I’m going:
“It was the craving to be a one and only people which impelled the ancient Hebrews to invent a one and only God whose one and only people they were to be.”
“The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets”
Does Brooks want his article to include self-sacrificing mass movements such as Christianity in his mix of movements that must be “defeated militarily and humiliated”? Times readers might quietly rejoice at this horrifying prospect, but I think any reasonable person would distinguish good mass movements, self-sacrificing though they may be, from bad mass movements. In fact many “practical organizations,” stressing self-advancement, often feed into today’s negative narcissistic, materialistic, and hedonistic tendencies.
Two quotes from Hoffer in later publications illustrates where I’m going:
“It was the craving to be a one and only people which impelled the ancient Hebrews to invent a one and only God whose one and only people they were to be.”
“The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets”
Does Brooks want his article to include self-sacrificing mass movements such as Christianity in his mix of movements that must be “defeated militarily and humiliated”? Times readers might quietly rejoice at this horrifying prospect, but I think any reasonable person would distinguish good mass movements, self-sacrificing though they may be, from bad mass movements. In fact many “practical organizations,” stressing self-advancement, often feed into today’s negative narcissistic, materialistic, and hedonistic tendencies.
Wonderful and thoughtful article. The conclusions are also clear as our the choices. Unfortunately, if we fail to reform with reason, understanding and compassion those who are part of this movement the only choice left is the use of force, the worst of all choices.
The writer is author of the upcoming book,"2016, Selecting the President, The Most Important Decision You will Ever Make "
The writer is author of the upcoming book,"2016, Selecting the President, The Most Important Decision You will Ever Make "
An excellent column that leaves out one element: many people, for whatever personal reason, want their five minutes of fame more than anything else, and the current media reality allows that with orders of magnitude greater ease and impact than existed just several decades ago. For such people, the cause is secondary, merely a self-justifying excuse to personal "fulfillment." The current over-saturated media frenzy, exacerbated by a pack of craven, inexperienced, self-serving presidential aspirants, not only grants the perpetrators their wish but provides ample motivation for others to follow their path.
Brooks' most important observation is that the best way to fight the attractiveness of destructive mass movements is to "offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones." Europe has lost its vision, the self-confident belief in liberty and tolerance that it spread around much of the world, albeit at the point of a gun. The Communist vision collapsed along with the Soviet Union. American vision is treading water, barely staying afloat, the bouyancy of the Apollo program and expanding rights weighted down by fear, polarization, and national political dysfunction. China has a vision, but one that simply does not include anything but China. The rest of the world is just trying to get by day-to day.
ISIS and its ilk offer the grand vision that satisfies the all-too-human desires described by Hoffer and Brooks. It is up to us to offer a better alternative.
Brooks' most important observation is that the best way to fight the attractiveness of destructive mass movements is to "offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones." Europe has lost its vision, the self-confident belief in liberty and tolerance that it spread around much of the world, albeit at the point of a gun. The Communist vision collapsed along with the Soviet Union. American vision is treading water, barely staying afloat, the bouyancy of the Apollo program and expanding rights weighted down by fear, polarization, and national political dysfunction. China has a vision, but one that simply does not include anything but China. The rest of the world is just trying to get by day-to day.
ISIS and its ilk offer the grand vision that satisfies the all-too-human desires described by Hoffer and Brooks. It is up to us to offer a better alternative.
20
That the San Bernardino attackers swore allegiance to ISIS is not the same as saying that they were radicalized by it. Isn't at least as likely that they already held compatible opinions and sought to attach themselves to it for that reason rather than that ISIS exerted some magical form of mind control and brainwashed them by remote?
1
The part about leaders who trash the present, while making pie-in-the sky claims about how fantastic the future is going to be, is uncannily reminiscent of Donald Trump. He is a charismatic figure who is creating a mass movement that is completely unhinged from reality and which relies on scapegoating the "other" to whip people up into a frenzy of hate and irrationality.
8
Trump references reality - the really excellent American economy of the mid-1980's and the decently growing economy of the mid-1990's.
Besides, you are all about the charismatic speaker as long as the political side lines up for you. If you just hate non-liberals, you could just say that.
Besides, you are all about the charismatic speaker as long as the political side lines up for you. If you just hate non-liberals, you could just say that.
Again. Thank you, Mr. Brooks for your clear-headed and bang-on assessment of the situation. Of course being the materialistic society that we are, it's hardly surprising that the buck would START there when addressing the elements of this attack. However what I found most alarming is how quickly the pathos of the San Bernadino shooting was forgotten, and replaced with a vehement, bordering on rabid forum on the gun control both in the Opinion Pages of this paper, and across the entire country.
At this point one thing is abundantly clear. We have to find a way to deal with ISIS. Trying to understand that kind of mentality and philosophy is a good beginning, and of course that is easier said than done because they are so ruthless and abhorrent. But in the end, it still might be more feasible than fulfilling a host of lost ambitions and shattered dreams.
At this point one thing is abundantly clear. We have to find a way to deal with ISIS. Trying to understand that kind of mentality and philosophy is a good beginning, and of course that is easier said than done because they are so ruthless and abhorrent. But in the end, it still might be more feasible than fulfilling a host of lost ambitions and shattered dreams.
Religion has never died, neither will ISIS.
Brooks is very eloquent in describing violent mass movements. This description is equally applicable to another mass movement -- the US (or any) military.
* It takes its recruits from people who are generally the less successful members of society -- poor job prospects, history of trauma, etc.
* It erases any form of individuality.
* It believes in a golden age of the past (the American revolution, WWII) and the future (a Pax Americana maintained by military might).
* It trains them to perform irrational acts of murder and self-sacrifice
* It focuses on external "enemies" and stirs up hatred and dehumanizaiton of others
* It takes its recruits from people who are generally the less successful members of society -- poor job prospects, history of trauma, etc.
* It erases any form of individuality.
* It believes in a golden age of the past (the American revolution, WWII) and the future (a Pax Americana maintained by military might).
* It trains them to perform irrational acts of murder and self-sacrifice
* It focuses on external "enemies" and stirs up hatred and dehumanizaiton of others
2
This is a well thought out and well written article and right on target. It seems like the Republications are feeling frustrated with what they want and haven't been able to attain.
1
Thoughtful column. But you seem to argue in the end for a military solution.
This endless "whack-a-mole"we play (whack Taliban, get Al Qaeda; whack Al Qaeda, get ISIS...) is what happens when we take the military approach. On the other hand, nothing seems to happen using a diplomatic approach. Meanwhile, the hoped-for "organic", from-within transformation of the Middle East (Sunni/Shiite rapprochement, finding an economic niche to own apart from oil that will drive development and establish a middle class; a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, etc.) is a total Spruce Goose. It just never takes flight.
Agree we have to take military action, but am not hopeful that this will kill the "inspiration" for would-be Jihadi Joes and Jills. I think we're looking at a century or more of this activity. The citizenry themselves have got to get tired of it and force change from within. I don't think they're anywhere close to having that sentiment...
This endless "whack-a-mole"we play (whack Taliban, get Al Qaeda; whack Al Qaeda, get ISIS...) is what happens when we take the military approach. On the other hand, nothing seems to happen using a diplomatic approach. Meanwhile, the hoped-for "organic", from-within transformation of the Middle East (Sunni/Shiite rapprochement, finding an economic niche to own apart from oil that will drive development and establish a middle class; a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, etc.) is a total Spruce Goose. It just never takes flight.
Agree we have to take military action, but am not hopeful that this will kill the "inspiration" for would-be Jihadi Joes and Jills. I think we're looking at a century or more of this activity. The citizenry themselves have got to get tired of it and force change from within. I don't think they're anywhere close to having that sentiment...
1
Nice description of the current policy, strategy and tactics of the GOP. So, what do you gotta say about the ISIS threat, now!?!?
When will the fact US Christians believe and want the same things both the Koran and the Bible prophesies be introduced into the conversation?
Epic apocalyptic battle between the East and the West sets the stage for the end of days, the rapture, and blah, blah, blah.
When wil the fact that many wealthy and powerful Christian Americans believe the same as Isil be included in the news media's narrative?
Epic apocalyptic battle between the East and the West sets the stage for the end of days, the rapture, and blah, blah, blah.
When wil the fact that many wealthy and powerful Christian Americans believe the same as Isil be included in the news media's narrative?
5
This "give 'them' a viable alternative" argument is being touted by many in the media. How about a government job and relatively cushy life in San Bernardino?
You can put these people on a couch and recount the causes all you want. But the real problem here is that most muslims are predisposed to believing in the Koran and ISIS offers those "true believers" a "glorious" opportunity.
Fortunately, ISIS is so extreme it will fall under its own weight.
You can put these people on a couch and recount the causes all you want. But the real problem here is that most muslims are predisposed to believing in the Koran and ISIS offers those "true believers" a "glorious" opportunity.
Fortunately, ISIS is so extreme it will fall under its own weight.
2
Not a bad column but two points: First you do not mention the role that a very messed up faith plays in this particular fanatical movement. Without a reformation they have not entered the modern world and updated the teachings of the raw faith. As long as the Muslim world in general accepts genital mutilation of females and beheading of minor criminals, this faith will continue to be a negative and dangerous force. Did you overlook this David? Or are you afraid that presenting the warts of one fundamentalist faith will also call into question American Christian fundamentalism? Secondly, your claim that the past 60 years have allowed one to follow a movement online is factually false. The internet hasn't even been around 60 years and one can easily assert that the rise of social media (only 10 years old) is what has allowed this fanaticism to travel and grow with the speed of dangerous light. Maybe undoing this phenomenon is where Mr. Zuckerburg should invest his billions.
2
The calls for an Islamic reformation are absent-minded. ISIS is a reform movement, so are Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Hammas. Same goes for The Muslim Brotherhood, Jammat-i-Islami, and all their sympathizers, affiliates, etc. around the world. The reformists ARE the terrorists and terrorism promoters/enablers!
What we need in the West is an Islam that is NOT reformist but traditional, infused with Sufism and not troubled at the doctrinal level by the ubiquity of modern freedoms. Traditional Islam made peace with modernism 200 years ago; reformist Islam refused to accept the writing on the wall.
What we need in the West is an Islam that is NOT reformist but traditional, infused with Sufism and not troubled at the doctrinal level by the ubiquity of modern freedoms. Traditional Islam made peace with modernism 200 years ago; reformist Islam refused to accept the writing on the wall.
You can't kill bad ideas with bullets. But you can with money. The Soviet Union didn't die because we beat it on the battlefield but because we out spent them. Ask Friedman or Kristoff to write about what they would do with a mass of money to heal social disintegration and create inspiring causes in the Arab world. And leave Brooks' notion of the third step of destroying, defeating and humiliating in dead last place where it should be.
1
And Mr Hoffer also wrote, "The Challenge of our Times, and the Ordeal of Change......Whether economic, political or religious, the impetus to join gives meaning to the life of a follower once considered meaningless.....Impossible to avoid that which is derived from the existential angst of the being.
2
Mr. Brooks' profile of the "mass movement"--in which the millennial hopes of discontented youth are pinned on theatrical gestures of self-sacrifice--so perfectly describes the spread of Christianity in Roman Palestine, it would be interesting to hear how he distinguishes the two. Where exactly does one draw the line between faith and fanaticism?
1
Mr. Brooks, exactly how were the San Bernadino killers frustrated? They lived a comfortable middle class lifestyle in the United States, with family and child. Exactly how were the educated Saudis who crashed the 9/11 planes the victims of a decaying social structure?
Instead, you have the predisposition of human beings to authoritarian, dichotomous thinking and the grandiosity of power over others. These individuals prefer a fanatical faith in absolutes over cooperation and compromise. These human beings can belong to any social strata, from any country. Fanatical, fundamentalist Islam is no more quashed by Western military action than Christianity was quashed by Roman persecution.
Instead, you have the predisposition of human beings to authoritarian, dichotomous thinking and the grandiosity of power over others. These individuals prefer a fanatical faith in absolutes over cooperation and compromise. These human beings can belong to any social strata, from any country. Fanatical, fundamentalist Islam is no more quashed by Western military action than Christianity was quashed by Roman persecution.
2
Why do the GOP presidential candidates advocate for war? The same reason ISIS advocates for war; the End Times. Both are convinced we're living in the End Times and that prophecy calls for it; forget about peace and diplomacy.
5
Use of violence apparently becomes necessary when fear of perceived loss of self-determination rises to a certain level, both in individuals and/or groups. Perceived or real social injustices are themselves a sense of a loss of self-determination, lost to a more socially powerful individual or group. This is how we human beings work, and if we didn't, we wouldn't be here today. We have a fight or flight (hide) natural response when no other paths to self-determination seem to work. What does work? First, lessen the fear on one or both sides of the fence, no matter which side you live. My guess is that strong military threat or response increases fear and thus increases participation in any kind of violence, as we have seen over and over since the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. What is missing? Our strong support for leaders who strive to lessen fear, who can get congress to mobilize Americans to respond to human suffering first, and help America become recognized a leader in the now-critical social justice issues and environmental actions needed to reverse the pollutants and toxins and recover lost beneficial habitats (forests and oceans/lakes/bays worldwide). Imagine the impact on human health as well as on ISIL recruitment if we were known for that kind of leadership instead of threatening our Muslim et al potential allies?
3
No, the problem is Islam. Read this next part slowly - not Muslim people, but Islam itself. Something about the scriptures, something about the way it's taught and interpreted makes the minds of its adherents fertile ground for extremism. On its face it's a much more orthodox religion than Christianity/Judaism. Even a moderate Muslim drops to his knees 5 times a day for prayer. Just going to services on Sunday and saying your prayers before bed isn't nearly enough. And it's the only religion that doubles as a social governing ideology. Parents fill their kids' heads with a deathly fear of offending God and then act surprised when the kids take it to its logical extreme.
3
Well that's an interesting argument, but the San Bernardino shooters were living a middle-class lifestyle and appeared to be integrated with the local community. Their own friends and family said they saw nothing to suggest radicalization. Mr. Brooks description of the "mass movement" process seems not to capture how there two were radicalized.
1
Religious fanaticism is not a new human condition. We seem, as a species, particularly susceptible to its siren call - albeit that in many of the world's other major religions, the calls have become more subdued in the present era. It is difficult to separate this modern fanaticism from the geopolitical environment, however. Note that the country with the largest Muslim population, India, appears fairly immune to the call of Al Qaeda or ISIS, yet its sub-continental neighbor, Pakistan, is not. It is absolutely notable that India is a true democratic country, whereas Pakistan - and all the other countries where these murderous ideologies have taken hold - is not.
Brooks quickly dismisses the 'materialistic element of the atrocity' (guns) as irrelevant to the issue. Yet the contrast between the San Bernardino massacre and the contemporaneous 'Muslim terror' attack on the crowded London subway could not present a more stark contrast. With assault rifles, 14 killed, 17 injured. With a knife, 3 wounded. It is next to impossible from preventing dedicated terrorists (or an occasional insane person) from ever attempting to hurt people, but if you take away their most lethal weapons, the pain suffered will be less by orders of magnitude.
It is the USA instead of ISIS that primarily makes radicals in the Middle East. By hypocritically betraying it's values by American alliances with the likes of al-Sisi of Egypt, Salman of Saudi Arabia and Netanyahu of Israel who consistently deny the divine equal certain unalienable rights of people under their dominion supported by American arms, money and diplomacy. American interests would be best served by promoting civil secular plural egalitarian democracy every where for every one most of the time.
"Self-sacrifice is an irrational act, so mass movements get their followers to believe that ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation." If this doesn't describe the foolhardy fantasy of the American Dream and its insidious influence on the American masses, I don't know what does. Liberalism implies a rational basis for self-sacrifice, the health of the whole community supported by some diminishment of one's own self-interest. Conservatism at its worst adopts the view that self-sacrifice (paying more taxes, for instance, to serve the common good) is indeed irrational, and the mass movement the crankiest kind of conservativism is currently inspiring will be the downfall of any dream America has of remaining a civilized country.
Brooks--"The correct response is still the same: First, try to heal the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements. Second, offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones. Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated..."
The foremost, urgent need is to defeat them militarily. Here's why:
ISIS is an apocalyptical cult. We must take seriously their leaders' statements that they are in an apocalyptic struggle against the west and that martyrdom for all will deliver the world to God's (Allah's) kingdom. We cannot be dismissive of what this means. With a sincere messianic, apocalyptic drive of even a small number of their top leaders, and with fearsome weapons, especially radiological, within reach in the Middle East, the threat is real. Moreover, despite them being messianic, we should not assume they are stupid. They could draw on history to conclude that through some horrific attack on our society, in our reaction to it we would destroy ourselves.
In assessing the threat of ISIS and what we should do about it, the vast majority of commentators are lulled into thinking that the nature of past attacks is indicative of what we face. Many commentators feel that an apocalyptic threat to us from ISIS is farfetched and the biggest threat is a rouge US government. But this is delusion and denial and we need to act accordingly.
The foremost, urgent need is to defeat them militarily. Here's why:
ISIS is an apocalyptical cult. We must take seriously their leaders' statements that they are in an apocalyptic struggle against the west and that martyrdom for all will deliver the world to God's (Allah's) kingdom. We cannot be dismissive of what this means. With a sincere messianic, apocalyptic drive of even a small number of their top leaders, and with fearsome weapons, especially radiological, within reach in the Middle East, the threat is real. Moreover, despite them being messianic, we should not assume they are stupid. They could draw on history to conclude that through some horrific attack on our society, in our reaction to it we would destroy ourselves.
In assessing the threat of ISIS and what we should do about it, the vast majority of commentators are lulled into thinking that the nature of past attacks is indicative of what we face. Many commentators feel that an apocalyptic threat to us from ISIS is farfetched and the biggest threat is a rouge US government. But this is delusion and denial and we need to act accordingly.
Given what you have written here, is it too wild to speculate on the growth of a completely American version of ISIS? Not anchored to a religion but on the failure of a large (and growing) percentage of the population to see any upward movement in their economic and political circumstances.
As the wealth of this nation accrues more and more to just a few and the rest of us spend our time trying to survive on pittances the disparity in quality of life festers like a sore that simply refuses to heal. 15 of every 100 Americans lives in poverty. It is not only unconscionable but it is destroying the very notion of upward mobility on which the so-called American dream is based.
That fact is a recipe for constant and growing political unrest.
As the wealth of this nation accrues more and more to just a few and the rest of us spend our time trying to survive on pittances the disparity in quality of life festers like a sore that simply refuses to heal. 15 of every 100 Americans lives in poverty. It is not only unconscionable but it is destroying the very notion of upward mobility on which the so-called American dream is based.
That fact is a recipe for constant and growing political unrest.
1
Your points are valid. Put more simply and to understand it at an individual level, the human desire or need for 'acceptance' is what motivates disaffected people to be attracted to those who accept them. The perpetrator (whether ISIS, drug dealers, or others) provide a false sense of empathy, inclusion, and security plus (empty) promises of something better. It's a powerful and deadly combination that exploits human weakness and makes individuals, communities, and countries weaker. These problems don't have easy solutions but people must see opportunity, hope, AND a path to achieve it or (some) will fall prey to the predators ways.
1
Whether it's Aurora, Newton, San Bernardino, Planned Parenhood, the Boston bombing, German wings or the GOP/NRA, there is one common factor: An all consuming self-absorption, resulting in a bunch of immature men, who take out their frustrations on others, including children. They don't seem mature enough to even like children, let alone protect them.
2
"Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed"
To some extent, the blind need an external beacon of light to tread down that dark alley. On the other hand, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Hitler was ugly. In the online world, fanaticism is preceded by fantasy that can be duplicated, melded, mended, monitored, and reacted instantly and globally. There is no such equivalent power. During last weekend Sunday's morning talks, there were two school of thoughts. One is that ISIS has thrived on its ideology, which is much harder to eradicate than some entity with base camps in Afghanistan called Al Qaeda. Ideology is universal and human, so everyone is a "potential." The other school of thoughts, more in line with the warmongers, is that ISIS is an extremist, us versus them, freak of nature, the normal versus the crazies. Neutralizing the crazies will bring order back to the normal. This is an oxymoron in of itself. The power of online networks aid the first school of thoughts, which I think is more correct of this modern mass movement. This is because ISIS, unlike Hitler, do not have to send troops across the Siberian plains in the middle of winter. There is no time-space relativity with the minds of the fanatics. Psychology is not enough. You'll need sociologists, anthropologists, and historians. The 2012 movie "The Master" was well-done and prophetic. It costed $32 million, but collected $28 million at the box office. Society is not interested.
To some extent, the blind need an external beacon of light to tread down that dark alley. On the other hand, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Hitler was ugly. In the online world, fanaticism is preceded by fantasy that can be duplicated, melded, mended, monitored, and reacted instantly and globally. There is no such equivalent power. During last weekend Sunday's morning talks, there were two school of thoughts. One is that ISIS has thrived on its ideology, which is much harder to eradicate than some entity with base camps in Afghanistan called Al Qaeda. Ideology is universal and human, so everyone is a "potential." The other school of thoughts, more in line with the warmongers, is that ISIS is an extremist, us versus them, freak of nature, the normal versus the crazies. Neutralizing the crazies will bring order back to the normal. This is an oxymoron in of itself. The power of online networks aid the first school of thoughts, which I think is more correct of this modern mass movement. This is because ISIS, unlike Hitler, do not have to send troops across the Siberian plains in the middle of winter. There is no time-space relativity with the minds of the fanatics. Psychology is not enough. You'll need sociologists, anthropologists, and historians. The 2012 movie "The Master" was well-done and prophetic. It costed $32 million, but collected $28 million at the box office. Society is not interested.
2
I think what I find unfortunate about David's piece is that it tries to take the focus away from the real problem: the weapons used. For some reason we think the "foreign" aspect of the killers makes the mass murder far more horrible. It doesn't. This was done by an American citizen as nearly all mass murders every year are done by American citizens. David facilitates those murders by taking the view away from the instrument that facilitates mass murders. I don't know why somebody's ideology makes the death of 14 and the injury of 21 warrant so much attention on the "beliefs" and the self-sacrifice. Let's call a spade a spade: anyone that does what these people or Robert Dear or Adam Lanza did is NOT RIGHT IN THEIR HEAD. The best way to avoid this result is to remove the primary instruments of death, the weapons. They didn't use machine guns because they are illegal and so lethal. Take away semi-automatic weapons and more lives will be saved, regardless of the beliefs.
7
Not being pro-gun here, but how many people did McVeigh kill with bags of fertilizer?
Unfortunately, crazy ideas can be mightier than the sword (or AK-47s).
Unfortunately, crazy ideas can be mightier than the sword (or AK-47s).
The war against ISIS is also a marketing/sales war, which they are winning. With their glossy, slick magazine and excellent use of modern Internet and communication technology, ISIS has been very effective at winning new recruits.
We can counter this by using disenchanted former ISIS jihadists, both male and female, who escaped ISIS and are willing to expose it for the fraud it is. By putting a team of our best marketing and advertising people together, a strong counter message to the one given by ISIS could flood mass media and the Internet, showing that ISIS is not the glorious path to heaven that many are brainwashed into believing.
While this would not stop all prospective recruits from joining ISIS, it may give pause to those on the fence. Someone who has been a jihadist for ISIS will likely have more credibility than most. Let's use advertising, marketing and modern communication against them, in addition to other means.
We can counter this by using disenchanted former ISIS jihadists, both male and female, who escaped ISIS and are willing to expose it for the fraud it is. By putting a team of our best marketing and advertising people together, a strong counter message to the one given by ISIS could flood mass media and the Internet, showing that ISIS is not the glorious path to heaven that many are brainwashed into believing.
While this would not stop all prospective recruits from joining ISIS, it may give pause to those on the fence. Someone who has been a jihadist for ISIS will likely have more credibility than most. Let's use advertising, marketing and modern communication against them, in addition to other means.
3
Thanks for a thoughtful article. I'm inspired to read " The True Believer" again. I wish some of our presidential candidates were as thoughtful.
1
Your ideas are interesting and well thought out but I would argue they miss the bigger point. There is always going to be some movement or ideology or anger and as long as we have guns they will end up with episodes of mass killings. In England there have been several terrorist attacks recently but they have been with knives, as there is limited access to guns there. Those attacks caused very minimal injuries. Yes one cannot stop all mass murder as in Paris but if you compare homicides, suicides, and mass terrorists attacks in countries with strict gun bans they will all be much lower than ours. In a complex world there will always be some injustice that a small minority will perceive and act out on. The best we can do is limit the carnage.
Thank you for finally helping me understand the workings of this thinking which seems so illogical on the surface, especially given the seemingly decent lives of some of the recent attackers. This is the best analysis of what's driving them that I have read so far. Everyone seems to be scratching their heads, honestly, and this at least attempts a credible explanation.
Spot on David. Eric Hoffer's seminal work, The True Believer, was one of my dad's favorite books on Philosophy which was spurned by first the beatniks and then the hippies in the late 50's and early 60's. I see commentators here use the principals set forth by Hoffer to describe the Republican Party; the truth is it describes elements of both parties.
1
The "True Believer,” by Eric Hoffer was required reading in my freshman class in 1963. How is it that wisdom and intelligent observation are no longer the norm?
Thank you David Brooks.
Thank you David Brooks.
2
"First, try to heal the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements. Second, offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones . . ."
This reads more like God's checklist for Creation than an executable plan of action.
This reads more like God's checklist for Creation than an executable plan of action.
1
I suspect that Mr. Brooks is getting the message that just about everything he says in this column about manipulated "belief," toxic "charisma," and make-believers with their shoot-'em-up fantasies (I'm lookin' at the Cliven Bundy / BLM standoff cowboys) has been challenged in these reader comments as applicable to the charismatic demagogues of the Republican Party and their evangelical consorts. Let's see if he addresses the American version of radicalism.
1
David Brooks mentioning Eric Hoffer's work is really relevant and important. In my own writings I add the notion that what makes extremism so attractive is that individuals can believe they have personal ACCESS to the ULTIMATE -- and that by their own action they can bring about that ULTIMATE vision.
David, you open your column with the statement that "After the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, some people’s minds flew to the materialistic element of the atrocity — the guns that were used in the killing."
You seem to dismiss so easily the most important and readily remedied element of the carnage in San Bernardino, namely the easily available assault weapons used by the deranged couple. Instead of looking elsewhere for some esoteric causes, over which we have little to no control, why don't you first convince your Republican Party's colleagues in Washington to take some common sense steps to address those weapons, before wasting more blood and treasure sending American troops to the middle east on another misguided and hopeless mission.
You seem to dismiss so easily the most important and readily remedied element of the carnage in San Bernardino, namely the easily available assault weapons used by the deranged couple. Instead of looking elsewhere for some esoteric causes, over which we have little to no control, why don't you first convince your Republican Party's colleagues in Washington to take some common sense steps to address those weapons, before wasting more blood and treasure sending American troops to the middle east on another misguided and hopeless mission.
1
Which seedbeds of social disintegration produced the 9/11 attackers, the shoe bomber, the London and Madrid murderers, the Tsarnaev's, the Paris attackers, the Mali attackers, the Sydney and Bali attackers, the Chattanooga shooter, the UC stabber, and now the San Bernardino attackers?
All of these people came from stable families - or at least nothing more unstable than a garden variety split family. Many of these people were actually well educated and raised in upper middle class homes. Many had wives and children, and decent jobs.
There's no social disintegration to be addressed. All of these people were devotees of a radical, tyrannical, and eliminationist ideology - Salafi Sunni Islam. And they were fairly open about harboring these beliefs prior to coming out and attacking non-combatants.
As far as offering positive, inspiring causes - how does this sound? If you persist in harboring these ideas and in the acts of terror that follow, we're going to wipe you, your families, and your communities off the face of the earth. Do you like to breath, eat, and be happy? Wonderful! How positive! You can have all of this and more, for the small price of dropping the murderous Jihad and Islamic supremacy. The world is big enough for all of us.
As to number three, yes. Let's smash this particular mass movement. Let them hit us a few more times so when we do, it's a guilt-free affair, but on this I agree with Brooks.
All of these people came from stable families - or at least nothing more unstable than a garden variety split family. Many of these people were actually well educated and raised in upper middle class homes. Many had wives and children, and decent jobs.
There's no social disintegration to be addressed. All of these people were devotees of a radical, tyrannical, and eliminationist ideology - Salafi Sunni Islam. And they were fairly open about harboring these beliefs prior to coming out and attacking non-combatants.
As far as offering positive, inspiring causes - how does this sound? If you persist in harboring these ideas and in the acts of terror that follow, we're going to wipe you, your families, and your communities off the face of the earth. Do you like to breath, eat, and be happy? Wonderful! How positive! You can have all of this and more, for the small price of dropping the murderous Jihad and Islamic supremacy. The world is big enough for all of us.
As to number three, yes. Let's smash this particular mass movement. Let them hit us a few more times so when we do, it's a guilt-free affair, but on this I agree with Brooks.
David Brooks wonders “how is it that the Islamic State is able to radicalize a couple living in Redlands, Calif.?”
His reference to Eric Hoffer’s distinction “between practical organizations and mass movements,” is interesting, but seems irrelevant.
The dormant Islamic giant was first awakened after the Arabs revolted against the Ottomans, their Islamic brethren, declaring them the enemies of Islam.
That revolt was fulfilling an agreement the Arabs made with Great Britain that the revolt would lead to emancipating the Arabs from Ottoman rule and to the formation of a united Arab state from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf.
After World War One, however, in violation of their commitments, the allies dismembered the Arab world and created a Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim world, acts taught in Arab schools as the Great Deception.
The subsequent removal of a secular, democratically elected government in Iran in 1953, the Tri-Partite aggression against a secular Egyptian Government in October of 1956, the unrelenting financial and military support of Israel while it oppresses the Palestinian people, the US-stirred eight-year Iraq-Iran War and finally the scandals of Abu-Ghraib, where Iraqi Army officers were raped and sodomized during the Iraq War are the injustices that gave birth to ISIS.
Addressing these injustices thoughtfully and peacefully may heal the region more effectively and render the Islamic State unable to radicalize more of its youth than more war.
His reference to Eric Hoffer’s distinction “between practical organizations and mass movements,” is interesting, but seems irrelevant.
The dormant Islamic giant was first awakened after the Arabs revolted against the Ottomans, their Islamic brethren, declaring them the enemies of Islam.
That revolt was fulfilling an agreement the Arabs made with Great Britain that the revolt would lead to emancipating the Arabs from Ottoman rule and to the formation of a united Arab state from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf.
After World War One, however, in violation of their commitments, the allies dismembered the Arab world and created a Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim world, acts taught in Arab schools as the Great Deception.
The subsequent removal of a secular, democratically elected government in Iran in 1953, the Tri-Partite aggression against a secular Egyptian Government in October of 1956, the unrelenting financial and military support of Israel while it oppresses the Palestinian people, the US-stirred eight-year Iraq-Iran War and finally the scandals of Abu-Ghraib, where Iraqi Army officers were raped and sodomized during the Iraq War are the injustices that gave birth to ISIS.
Addressing these injustices thoughtfully and peacefully may heal the region more effectively and render the Islamic State unable to radicalize more of its youth than more war.
3
Mr. Brooks:
This hodgepodge of wisdom doesn't amount to much more than, this is a really complicated problem that cannot be solved by gun control. Unless the military uses guns to persuade ISIS that they should look for more aspiring causes or get shot. Then, they will be dead or humiliated. Doesn't humiliation breed resentment? Isn't that how we got where we are? Complicated?
This hodgepodge of wisdom doesn't amount to much more than, this is a really complicated problem that cannot be solved by gun control. Unless the military uses guns to persuade ISIS that they should look for more aspiring causes or get shot. Then, they will be dead or humiliated. Doesn't humiliation breed resentment? Isn't that how we got where we are? Complicated?
It takes chutzpah to write a book that claims in its preface
to be about _all_ mass movements without ever defining the term,
but that's exactly what Hoffer did. You could read a few months
of Op-Ed pieces in this newspaper -- and maybe a few articles
in the science section -- and acquire a conceptual tool kit that
will be more effective for thinking about the problems that
ISIS has created. Or just read "The Crisis of Islam" by Bernard
Lewis.
to be about _all_ mass movements without ever defining the term,
but that's exactly what Hoffer did. You could read a few months
of Op-Ed pieces in this newspaper -- and maybe a few articles
in the science section -- and acquire a conceptual tool kit that
will be more effective for thinking about the problems that
ISIS has created. Or just read "The Crisis of Islam" by Bernard
Lewis.
"Have you ever observed," said Hildebrant, "that the most decisive actions of our life -- I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole course of our future -- are, more often than not, unconsidered?"
~ André Gide's "The Counterfeiters"
Some years ago, James McPherson wrote a book about the motivations of men in the Civil War called "For Cause and Comrades." Few of those who fought for the Old South did so to defend slavery. Similarly, few of the men and boys who fought for the Third Reich did so because they believed what Hitler believed, even among those who perpetrated the Holocaust (see Browning's "Ordinary Men").
But the majority of those who aid Islamic State's cause do so for ENTIRELY ideological reasons. The fight against Islamism will last years and those years will become decades. However, the struggle against Islamic State in particular must not be permitted to last that long. The two issues, obviously related, are distinct.
The ideology Islamic State embodies is far more difficult to combat than Nazism because of its global reach. Islamists don't (yet) possess the capabilities to wreak Hitlerian havoc, though they intend it. President Obama dangerously downplays the threat these ideas represent. When it comes to Islamic State, careful consideration of what we are allowing to perdure and metastasize is obligatory. Here's another view:
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/A-Global-Strategy-for-Com...
~ André Gide's "The Counterfeiters"
Some years ago, James McPherson wrote a book about the motivations of men in the Civil War called "For Cause and Comrades." Few of those who fought for the Old South did so to defend slavery. Similarly, few of the men and boys who fought for the Third Reich did so because they believed what Hitler believed, even among those who perpetrated the Holocaust (see Browning's "Ordinary Men").
But the majority of those who aid Islamic State's cause do so for ENTIRELY ideological reasons. The fight against Islamism will last years and those years will become decades. However, the struggle against Islamic State in particular must not be permitted to last that long. The two issues, obviously related, are distinct.
The ideology Islamic State embodies is far more difficult to combat than Nazism because of its global reach. Islamists don't (yet) possess the capabilities to wreak Hitlerian havoc, though they intend it. President Obama dangerously downplays the threat these ideas represent. When it comes to Islamic State, careful consideration of what we are allowing to perdure and metastasize is obligatory. Here's another view:
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/A-Global-Strategy-for-Com...
David, then you do understand that Christianity was a mass movement.
1
I believe that ISIS' appeal is largely the desire to be anchored and void of personal decisions in a rapidly changing world. I've echoed something of Hoffer's assessment in the past, so obviously, I think he's right. But I don't think military "humiliation" is a solution in that "humiliation" in any form only gives rise to another movement. These movements - I prefer to term them cults - are about despair, a kind of alienation that is so painful that belonging to something greater than self is an immense relief.
Humanity is experiencing profound scientific understandings that threaten traditional thinking and traditional mores. And for some, it truly is a precipice, and very frightening. But to salvage those souls we need to first
consider their need for pride and security, and not add to humiliation. We must try to respect or at least tolerate their beliefs without tolerating their actions. Mocking them only serves to make them more resolved and becomes a potent recruiting tool. ISIS will disintegrate for good when it cannot pinpoint a common enemy, but rather exist in turmoil within a world that is neither obliging or condemning but rather disinterested. That is why it's imperative not to put a face on its opposition and to keep military action broad and from multiple sources, why it's important not to mock religious belief, and to limit ISIS' social recruitment by limiting its social media propaganda, replacing it with help numbers and community sites.
Humanity is experiencing profound scientific understandings that threaten traditional thinking and traditional mores. And for some, it truly is a precipice, and very frightening. But to salvage those souls we need to first
consider their need for pride and security, and not add to humiliation. We must try to respect or at least tolerate their beliefs without tolerating their actions. Mocking them only serves to make them more resolved and becomes a potent recruiting tool. ISIS will disintegrate for good when it cannot pinpoint a common enemy, but rather exist in turmoil within a world that is neither obliging or condemning but rather disinterested. That is why it's imperative not to put a face on its opposition and to keep military action broad and from multiple sources, why it's important not to mock religious belief, and to limit ISIS' social recruitment by limiting its social media propaganda, replacing it with help numbers and community sites.
Among the correct responses, did a "not" get lost prior to "... when they are defeated militarily and humiliated."? What precedes seems to suggest that military defeat and humiliation would contribute to the isolation and destruction of the social structure and promote the frustration. Some would say that's what got the middle east into its current state.
Nicolas Henin, a French ISIS hostage who was eventually released, has gone public with his insider understanding of the goals of ISIS, and he recently opined that responding positively to the Syrian refugee crisis, especially Western nations like the US, that is, taking in refugees, is probably one of the most powerful things we can do to undermine ISIS. This belief fits well with Brooks' editorial today.
"As an example of how the international community had responded well, he described the recent escalation of the refugee crisis – and corresponding offers from Europe of homes to fleeing Muslims – as “a blow to Isis”.
He said: “Hundreds of thousands of refugees, fleeing this Muslim land that is like a dream for Isis – that is supposed to be their Israel? And fleeing that land to go to the land of the 'unbelievers'?" (The Independent, 3Dec15).
"As an example of how the international community had responded well, he described the recent escalation of the refugee crisis – and corresponding offers from Europe of homes to fleeing Muslims – as “a blow to Isis”.
He said: “Hundreds of thousands of refugees, fleeing this Muslim land that is like a dream for Isis – that is supposed to be their Israel? And fleeing that land to go to the land of the 'unbelievers'?" (The Independent, 3Dec15).
43
just around the corner....but just after death...
Good recap of Hoffer. One lesson: If it isn't ISIS, it will be something else unless we attempt to fulfill your last paragraph.
I am watching with fear and disbelief the radicalization of nearly half of my fellow Americans.
I wonder when they will come for me.
The best weapons against these radicals is not to meet them on their own terms. They want your hate, and their best recruiting tool is aggression on foreign soil.
As hard as it is not to escalate, escalation will harm us all more than refusing to take the bait, treating these adolescent haters with contempt and ridicule.
I wonder when they will come for me.
The best weapons against these radicals is not to meet them on their own terms. They want your hate, and their best recruiting tool is aggression on foreign soil.
As hard as it is not to escalate, escalation will harm us all more than refusing to take the bait, treating these adolescent haters with contempt and ridicule.
10
Thank you, David Brooks. Fear ignites anger, and though it makes us feel powerful short term, it leads to muddled thinking, rash solutions and demagoguery. Your compassionate wisdom offers cooling relief and hope. It's brilliant to bring in Hoffer from the McCarthy era, when in our Now Trump has found similar fuel to throw on the fire. Reaching out to understand how personal inner deserts match up with the mass movement of desert fundamentalism that is ISIS and Al Qaeda is a powerful antidote to crazy. Thanks in particular for suggesting solutions of offering inspiring causes (how about ending poverty by 2035 as www.RESULTS.org is doing, for example), working for thriving communities, and, yes, defeating and humiliating the inciters to violence. These, too, feel bigger than any one of us, and worth working for together.
1
"How David Brooks Makes Radicals"
We do not need another war-mongering President. I've had enough of Lyndon Johnson,... George W. Bush ... any current Republican presidential candidate war-monger...
Dr, Jihn Goldhammer wrote this essay over 10 years ago, but it till reads like a description of Mr. Brooks' column:
"Why the Bush "War on Terror" is Fated to Fail"
http://www.commondreams.org/scriptfiles/views03/1122-06.htm
We do not need another war-mongering President. I've had enough of Lyndon Johnson,... George W. Bush ... any current Republican presidential candidate war-monger...
Dr, Jihn Goldhammer wrote this essay over 10 years ago, but it till reads like a description of Mr. Brooks' column:
"Why the Bush "War on Terror" is Fated to Fail"
http://www.commondreams.org/scriptfiles/views03/1122-06.htm
2
What percentage of true believers does a mass movement need to have? Do all the actors need to be true believers? Could Malik have had her baby simply to fit in and STAY under the radar? It seems that these movements happen much more insidiously. If you were to look at the Nazis, my guess is that they all weren't TRUE believers. Probably quite a few 1/2 true believers. This is the scary part to me. How LITTLE does it take for a person to act this way? People do the craziest things for no reason at all and then justify it afterward. We all want to have a purpose and goals but with these movements, the purpose and goals are so PURE and directed, it appeals. Perhaps, it's more complex than what Hoffman is saying. Perhaps, It's not that linear. Just like our other human endeavors, we do things for many reasons simultaneously. What we do know is even BAD ideas can spread and we can't just try to kill the idea by killing the perpetrators. Doesn't that give them more to fight about? I know that personally, when I'm being bullied, I don't fight back. This confuses and squashes the bully's power. I guess my question is the people that are spreading these ideas, even the more moderate aspects of these ideas NEED to call out even inklings of these ideas when they see them or hear them. People who are even in universities and mosques need to be hypervigilant against these dangerous and misguided ideas. It is imperative.
2
Could it be "the climate of hate" and "the chickens coming home to roost", as Malcolm X said of the JFK assassination?
7
Freedom is just a word for nothing else to lose.
1
Are radical Islamic terrorists here to stay? Will it ever be possible to rid the mindset that makes an organization like ISIS attractive to someone? If not, I don’t see how every US boot on the ground will ever alter the equation.
3
I imagine this is exactly the kind of thoughtful and cogent analysis Donald Trump and the rest of the GOP field put to the task as they consider what to do about ISIS.
4
Its simple all it take is religion, remember Jim Jones?
3
I am afraid that our political leadership does not take ISIS's apocalyptic vision of the "end" seriously enough. (When it was reported that David Koresh was writing and teaching about the book of Revelation, who was surprised that the Compound was destroyed in a fire? Evidently the FBI was!) ISIS may be actually trying to provoke a concerted attack from the "west" and from "Persia" in order to fulfill what it sees as its divine role in bringing about the unveiling of the Messiah. Can we discredit their theology without playing their game?
7
Instead of asking "How ISIS Makes Radicals," the troubling question to ask how radicals in the US (or neocons or whatever label you choose) made ISIS.
To dislodge Russians from Afghanistan we supported the mujahideen which metamorphed into Al-Qaeda and attacked us. To destroy Al-Qaeda we ill-advisedly invaded Iraq and created ISIS.
ISIS is now enlisting supporters by claiming the U.S, and the West are out to get the Muslims. Your friends on the right, with their fixation on using labels, such as "radical Islamic terrorists," are no doubt helping ISIS's recruting efforts. Trump's call, however illegal and impractical, to bar all Muslims from entering the US would only accelerate ISIS's recruitment efforts.
Thanks, neocons. You've been very helpful.
To dislodge Russians from Afghanistan we supported the mujahideen which metamorphed into Al-Qaeda and attacked us. To destroy Al-Qaeda we ill-advisedly invaded Iraq and created ISIS.
ISIS is now enlisting supporters by claiming the U.S, and the West are out to get the Muslims. Your friends on the right, with their fixation on using labels, such as "radical Islamic terrorists," are no doubt helping ISIS's recruting efforts. Trump's call, however illegal and impractical, to bar all Muslims from entering the US would only accelerate ISIS's recruitment efforts.
Thanks, neocons. You've been very helpful.
12
An article on the front page of today's NYT describes how the current head of Da'esh welcomed Bush's war in Iraq called it "blessed". He was waiting for something like this to dislodge Saddam and start his jihad. Radical Islamist ideology is at least 70 years old and has nothing to do with the American intervention in the Middle East. Blaming the West for the ideological choices made by the people of the Middle East is unjust to the former and patronizing to the latter.
contributing factors yes. But in the essence, it is a very sick religion that drives this.
Unless we deal with the marginalization of the Sunnis in Iraq and Syria, any war against radicals will only spawn new ones. This article appears to completely ignore the horrors of Syria and how that, more than any other factor, has enabled the growth of ISIL.
2
Sure, there are a couple of mentions of ISIS and the Arab world in the column, but if you take those out, the column would be changed not at all. The two main images that it brought to my mind were the followers of Savonarola in 16th century Florence and the followers of Donald Trump today.
ISIS doesn't make radicals any more than Donald Trump has created the hateful, racists and misogynists who he excites so well. ISIS and Trump are more symptoms, ready and able to capitalize on conditions that are already there. If Donald Trump were to grow bored and step out of the presidential race tomorrow, that wouldn't affect the underlying anger, fear and hopelessness of his supporters. Similarly, annihilating all of ISIS, while it might give us a respite, would do nothing about the underlying conditions and it is those conditions that lead to ISIS (and Trump).
ISIS doesn't make radicals any more than Donald Trump has created the hateful, racists and misogynists who he excites so well. ISIS and Trump are more symptoms, ready and able to capitalize on conditions that are already there. If Donald Trump were to grow bored and step out of the presidential race tomorrow, that wouldn't affect the underlying anger, fear and hopelessness of his supporters. Similarly, annihilating all of ISIS, while it might give us a respite, would do nothing about the underlying conditions and it is those conditions that lead to ISIS (and Trump).
8
Mr. Brooks. ISIS is not a bunch of religious idiots that kill without meaning or cause. No ISIS (It's leadership) is the phoenix like resuscitation of the Iraqi Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. They are capable soldiers who know their Sun-Tzu. They use religious people, like the trough years of Saudi indoctrination so-caled Jihadis for their cause and, as good atheist, they have no problems what so ever to sacrifice them by the dozens.
So instead of listing to our (Sunny) friends (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar etc.) it is better to neutralize the foe with a twofold strategy.
First we should make clear tot the Kurds and Sunny of Iraq that the future state of Iraq will be a loose federation with sovereign rights withs its federative borders. This will take all the wind out of the Sunny rebellion (based on the (rightfully) fear of Shiite domination).
Secondly their should be a ban on any transfer of money from the middle east to religious centers in the West. All of this centers are nothing more and nothing less than hatred and indoctrination centers to further the policies of the Saudi sheikh.
Take an example of for example (Muslim) Morocco, witch has recognized how possession this money is.
Mr. Brooks, like every good fire one should look at the cause, why it burns and who is blowing. And yes there will be people who will pick up a gun to make a point. The thousands already slaughtered this year in the US shows that without any doubt.
So instead of listing to our (Sunny) friends (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar etc.) it is better to neutralize the foe with a twofold strategy.
First we should make clear tot the Kurds and Sunny of Iraq that the future state of Iraq will be a loose federation with sovereign rights withs its federative borders. This will take all the wind out of the Sunny rebellion (based on the (rightfully) fear of Shiite domination).
Secondly their should be a ban on any transfer of money from the middle east to religious centers in the West. All of this centers are nothing more and nothing less than hatred and indoctrination centers to further the policies of the Saudi sheikh.
Take an example of for example (Muslim) Morocco, witch has recognized how possession this money is.
Mr. Brooks, like every good fire one should look at the cause, why it burns and who is blowing. And yes there will be people who will pick up a gun to make a point. The thousands already slaughtered this year in the US shows that without any doubt.
1
David,
How to make Isis?
Invade a country unnecessarily and set the whole region ablaze.
Courtesy of your political friends.
How to make Isis?
Invade a country unnecessarily and set the whole region ablaze.
Courtesy of your political friends.
5
Very insightful piece. Thank You.
Interesting column but how do your defeat an ideology militarily?
4
Mr. Brooks: dealwith parts one and two.
Not surprisingly, you skipped over the most fundamental component, the willingness to embrace faith as the basis for belief.
6
With some slight modifications, and a sense of humor, Brooks could be describing the far-right in America.
8
Excellent, excellent article. Most sophisticated.
Incredibly poor headline for this particular piece. Does not pair with the article at all. Worse than weak. Offhanded and juvenile.
Incredibly poor headline for this particular piece. Does not pair with the article at all. Worse than weak. Offhanded and juvenile.
There are tens of millions of Muslims growing up in oppressive and dysfunctional states in the Middle East. They have virtually no opportunity to make a decent life for themselves or their children and their rulers have wisely directed their anger towards the West, rather than the incompetent, cruel and corrupt governments which oppress them. It is difficult to be optimistic that there is much we can do to change their circumstances, but there is a lot we can do to protect ourselves from those who wish to destroy the West out of envy, confusion and anger.
4
I too am a great admirer of Eric Hoffer and "The True Believer". Your summary was very well done.
David Brooks's process, in order (as I read it):
1. Fix the social issues in the Middle East
2. Inspire the Middle East population
3. Conquer and humiliate just the bad guys
I'm not on board with this yet. President Obama's process is better - contain the mayhem in the region, maintain the flow of oil and protect ourselves internally with intelligence.
1. Fix the social issues in the Middle East
2. Inspire the Middle East population
3. Conquer and humiliate just the bad guys
I'm not on board with this yet. President Obama's process is better - contain the mayhem in the region, maintain the flow of oil and protect ourselves internally with intelligence.
1
"how is it that the Islamic State is able to radicalize a couple living in Redlands, Calif.? "
Another hypothesis would be that the white-dominated American society did the job. Perhaps local conditions produce the result.
Another hypothesis would be that the white-dominated American society did the job. Perhaps local conditions produce the result.
3
In contrast to what Mr. Brooks posits, many experts have explained that one reason we have fewer Islamist-motivated attacks in this country relative to our population than European countries is that Muslims here are better integrated into the larger society. While there will always be individuals who are internally dissatisfied with their lives for whatever reason, making people feel welcome will decrease the chance that they will be enticed into joining a radical group.
2
Mr. Brooks is the master of writing off the real issue in the first paragraph before transitioning to a column of gobbledygook. Nice flourish on this article, using the 'materialistic' modifier to describe the weapons of war easily obtained to commit this atrocity.
I like the materialistic analysis. It detracts from the emotional tug to overreact that is the core of terrorism. After all, how else do you motivate a nation to abandon it's values and spend trillions on wars for a threat that kills about as many people in the US each year as cows.
So let's hit the material of terrorism, guns, and cut down the number of people killed by terrorists so that it's closer to the number of people killed by chickens. While we're at it, we'll have a nice side effect of reducing the 10,000 people killed by guns in normal, old-fashioned homicides and the 20,000 people who die by gun suicide every single year.
I like the materialistic analysis. It detracts from the emotional tug to overreact that is the core of terrorism. After all, how else do you motivate a nation to abandon it's values and spend trillions on wars for a threat that kills about as many people in the US each year as cows.
So let's hit the material of terrorism, guns, and cut down the number of people killed by terrorists so that it's closer to the number of people killed by chickens. While we're at it, we'll have a nice side effect of reducing the 10,000 people killed by guns in normal, old-fashioned homicides and the 20,000 people who die by gun suicide every single year.
2
Excellent psychological explanation of what makes a frustrated person a mass murderer. It isn't only about jihad. You can see it in many other aspects of life closer to us and less dramatic.
What I find missing in this article is to mention that the political reaction of demagogues to these tragedies may be as irresponsible and destructive as the actions triggered by them, and that's exactly what the manipulators of those causes are counting on for their goals, a tit for tat.
What I find missing in this article is to mention that the political reaction of demagogues to these tragedies may be as irresponsible and destructive as the actions triggered by them, and that's exactly what the manipulators of those causes are counting on for their goals, a tit for tat.
2
your description sounds very much like what a religious vocation offers its potential recruits. much of their spiel is based on an afterlife, an alternative to this sinful existence. as the catechism asked : why are we here-the last part of the simplistic answer was :to live happily in heaven(paradisde) with God(Allah). this earthly life is unimportant. this is fed to six year old minds. thank you religious orders.
2
Stephen Sondheim covers ground similar to Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" in "Assassins"
1
It's hard to tell whether this article is discussing ISIS or a large portion of today's Republican party. Either way, it's refreshing to hear more on this essential issue, which seems to have been drowned out by militant voices.
1
For once Brooks has hit it out of the park! Congratulations Dave! This is probably the best analysis of the Donald Trump movement I have seen to date!
1
Omit a sentence or two.
Omit the reference to the last act of terrorism in California, and you'll find David Brook's article referring to a major part of the world's population.
A population that has lost hope in achieving dreams that by now have become a relic of a past that can no longer reappear.
The more disgruntled the population becomes, the less hope people have for a better future, the more terror will be seen.
As David just wrote, and as we have experienced, terror is not just an ISIS issue.
Omit the reference to the last act of terrorism in California, and you'll find David Brook's article referring to a major part of the world's population.
A population that has lost hope in achieving dreams that by now have become a relic of a past that can no longer reappear.
The more disgruntled the population becomes, the less hope people have for a better future, the more terror will be seen.
As David just wrote, and as we have experienced, terror is not just an ISIS issue.
1
May we just leave the whole Middle East now. Let us stop fueling ISIS hatred with intervention. Haven't they made it clear that insinuating ourselves in their world infuriates and stimulates their hatred of us and our freedoms. Just leave. We don't want to lose lives or money trying to make them give up their thousands of years old ways. It is not our job to make them see things as we do. We really have a great deal of strife in America, at the moment. Time to concentrate on making things better, for more people, here.
3
Trying to kill all of the terrorist reminds me of what happened here in Texas when they tried to eradicate Coyotes. What happened is they killed all the slow, dumb Coyotes. The smart, fast ones that where left bred a much faster, smarter Coyote that is next to impossible to kill.
4
"how is it that the Islamic State is able to radicalize a couple living in Redlands, Calif.?"
As I'm sure more than one other commentor has already pointed out, the process began long before the Missus had even heard of Redlands CA - i.e. while she was still living in Saudi Arabia and/or attending pharmacy college in Pakistan.
As I'm sure more than one other commentor has already pointed out, the process began long before the Missus had even heard of Redlands CA - i.e. while she was still living in Saudi Arabia and/or attending pharmacy college in Pakistan.
3
It's interesting that Mr. Brooks doesn't equate the online video campaign directed against planned parenthood his summer that inspired Robert Dear to recently commit multiple murders as another example of people being susceptible to radicalized ideology via social media. Like many right wing demagogues of late Mr. Brooks is intent on claiming that there's some kind of judeo-Christian exceptionalism when it comes to terrorist violence which unfortunately plays right into ISIS's hands.
7
Excellent analysis of human behavior at its most perplexing. But I do not believe the basic impetus of the human spirit can entirely disappear. There is evidence that the woman who abandoned her baby expected to return: there were plans for future 'events'; there was money supporting the couple.. It is not unlikely she believed she would be elevated in some way as a proven militant with rewards of some sort, and a return to her child. Crazed as the ISIS ideology appears we should perhaps remember that fanaticism as an historical phenomenon eventually self-destructs from its own excesses as much as from what others manage to do. It is not only our innocent who are being attacked; it is the innocence within the attackers that is being subverted and inverted by ignorance and despair. Some element of this innocence remains, however, and cannot be obliterated. Nihilism is not a human instinct or inevitable response to perceived injustice; it is an imposition on the vulnerable. What we are fighting is the belief that man can become his opposite.
1
And now we have Donald Trump doing precisely the same thing, exploiting fear and ignorance of a too large portion of the American electorate. He says America can be great again - a glorious past and future, just the present is not as it should be. He appeals to people who fear the other, anyone different from them. They resent the changes in society over the past decades which have taken the 1950s vision of America away. This is not so different from the clash of modernity with the Muslim world and its fear of change. Trump demonizes Muslims and radical Islamists demonize the modern Western world.
2
Somehow I don't imagine these self-appointed militant jihadists as purely driven by a some satanic cult of death, like some of our homegrown disaffected & deranged young cult-killers who shoot up our schools have been.
This home-grown jihadist terror seems more like their version of retaliation & revenge. It's war.
There is a war that's been going on which we in the USA all too easily seem to ignore. The result has been blasting & incinerating civilians in a state-sponsored military terror campaigns in Islamic lands for decades. As we see in our own responses, the result of terror, military or otherwise is invariably retaliation, make their 'sand glow in the dark', etc.
William Blum endeavors to describe what powers this retaliatory terror in his piece "Why Terrorists Hate America", recommended reading for those trying to comprehend the actions of terrorists in perpetual wartime.
That said, I think all people, whether in uniform or not, willing to personally take up arms & aggressively slaughter others, are unhinged maniacs sacrificing themselves and their victims to the radical cult of brutality & violence.
This home-grown jihadist terror seems more like their version of retaliation & revenge. It's war.
There is a war that's been going on which we in the USA all too easily seem to ignore. The result has been blasting & incinerating civilians in a state-sponsored military terror campaigns in Islamic lands for decades. As we see in our own responses, the result of terror, military or otherwise is invariably retaliation, make their 'sand glow in the dark', etc.
William Blum endeavors to describe what powers this retaliatory terror in his piece "Why Terrorists Hate America", recommended reading for those trying to comprehend the actions of terrorists in perpetual wartime.
That said, I think all people, whether in uniform or not, willing to personally take up arms & aggressively slaughter others, are unhinged maniacs sacrificing themselves and their victims to the radical cult of brutality & violence.
2
Mr Brooks may well be correct that dissatisfaction with the current state, desire to affect radical change to ensure a greater future and the willingness to self-sacrifice may well be drivers for individuals to join mass movements. But not all mass movements driven by such forces lead to such atrocities as we are seeing perpetrated by ISIS and their ilk. Indeed many of the worlds greatest mass movements have had exactly these drivers and had leaders who epitomized them. Gandhi and the Indian independence movement, MLK and the US civil rights movement, Mandela and the Anti-apartheid struggles not to mention the founding fathers and American Independence.
Mr Brooks writes that mass movements "generate a lot of hate"and that the true believer's selflessness "can lead to arrogance and merciless cruelty" which clearly was not true for the cherished mass movements mentioned above. What determines the route a movement takes?
Mr Brooks writes that mass movements "generate a lot of hate"and that the true believer's selflessness "can lead to arrogance and merciless cruelty" which clearly was not true for the cherished mass movements mentioned above. What determines the route a movement takes?
2
No social-psychological theory explains the appeal of mass movements better than that of Eric Hoffer, and Mr. Brooks does a very competent job of applying it to ISIS.
What so many of Brook's detractors do not grasp is that the Republican party is not a mass movement–it is a formal organization. This is a pivotal difference. With time, some mass movements become institutionalized; the clearest case in point is Christianity.
The True Believer might be found in either social structure, but their options for practical action are vastly different. ISIS supporters cannot become clergy or run for political office. Accordingly, their motivations find other avenues for expression.
What so many of Brook's detractors do not grasp is that the Republican party is not a mass movement–it is a formal organization. This is a pivotal difference. With time, some mass movements become institutionalized; the clearest case in point is Christianity.
The True Believer might be found in either social structure, but their options for practical action are vastly different. ISIS supporters cannot become clergy or run for political office. Accordingly, their motivations find other avenues for expression.
2
Mr. Brooks I used to enjoy your writing but now it just reminds me of boring sociology and anthropology classes.
Very interesting but I find the conclusion disappointing. In what seems like a politically correct gesture in the suggested 3-step solution, steps 1 and 2 are essentially 'social work' that has already proved totally fruitless, like lecturing to oneself. Step 3 is what is now needed - terrorism must be DESTROYED MILITARILY. Too bad our POTUS has not a clue.
Muslim fanatics and zealots are wreaking havoc in their world in the Middle East, and now in our world in the West - thanks to radicalization of Muslims by Internet and those who are aflame with the excitement of a mass movement to change the horrible present into the golden future. Destroying the chimera of the Islamic State, defeating ISIL militarily, will take years of blood and treasure, and war does not offer inspiration for those who are desperate and ignorant and violent intractable believers in their malign cause.
1
Nan, war is a tried and failed method. In the 21st century we should abolish war from the face of the planet. History is witness to the failure of war. Even WWII which everyone views as the defeat of the Nazis came at a tremendous cost to life, in both camps. There has got to be a smarter way to deal with 21st century disputes, conflicts, land grabbing, throat slashing methods.
1
This referring to the Trump followers as well?
5
Donad Trump could not run at a more opportune time. He is playing off the frustration of Americans who find themselves disillusioned but are not quite sure why. They are fed up with the apparent lack of concern for their lives, their fear for their own safety, and the lack of leadership of our President. No matter that Donald Trump has offers no real answers. His promise to "kick some ass and make America great again" is all the frustrated masses need to hear. Trump is instilling fear in the minds of Americans, and we all saw how that played out in Nazi Germany.
2
Brooks dances around the real issue with the San Bernadino jihadis - Saudi and Wahabi extremism. With a new child and a husband with a good job, they were not bored. They had rabid hatred of Israel and Jews. Mr. Farook was in verbal confrontations with a fellow worker who was a Messianic Jew and supporter of Israel. There was no social disintegration when both spent time in Saudi Arabia.
We have apparently not learned yet why the 9-11 attackers from Saudi Arabia hated the US and attacked us. We defiled their holy kingdom by basing Infidels and Jews in their country. Publishing of the missing pages of the 9-11 report would be a good start along with strict vetting of anyone returning from that country and limited express visas for spouses.Defeating Al Queda, ISIS or Hamas will not end the jihadist causes continuously springing up. We need to defeat the extreme Muslim clerics spewing out hatred towards the West and Jews. It all starts with extreme Sunni and Shiite clerics.
We have apparently not learned yet why the 9-11 attackers from Saudi Arabia hated the US and attacked us. We defiled their holy kingdom by basing Infidels and Jews in their country. Publishing of the missing pages of the 9-11 report would be a good start along with strict vetting of anyone returning from that country and limited express visas for spouses.Defeating Al Queda, ISIS or Hamas will not end the jihadist causes continuously springing up. We need to defeat the extreme Muslim clerics spewing out hatred towards the West and Jews. It all starts with extreme Sunni and Shiite clerics.
4
I totally agree and downloaded the book, "The True Believer" too.
Sounds like a wierd cross
between Christianity, Islam and the Democratic party.
between Christianity, Islam and the Democratic party.
ISIS taunts us to over react which then persuades lone wolves to further inflame. Republican criticism calling for dramatic action plays to ISIS's propaganda machine where no drama is the appropriate response and policies that pacify rather than inflame the region are required.
Next, we'll have a Joseph McCarthy reincarnation, with Senate hearings claiming we're all communists.
What folly. You can't defeat an ideology with cruise missles and laser guided bombs. Stop intervening in countries we have no business intervening in. It's amazing how oblivious intelligent people can be.
The civil war didn't end racism and the Nazi's losing didn't end hatred of Jews. Extremists don't like western nations involved in their affairs. How many times over the last 30 years have policy makers made the same mistake???? Let's not pretend it hasn't been about access to oil.
Lastly don't anyone use the excuse of poverty. Many "juhadists" are lawyers - engineers - doctors - etc.
The civil war didn't end racism and the Nazi's losing didn't end hatred of Jews. Extremists don't like western nations involved in their affairs. How many times over the last 30 years have policy makers made the same mistake???? Let's not pretend it hasn't been about access to oil.
Lastly don't anyone use the excuse of poverty. Many "juhadists" are lawyers - engineers - doctors - etc.
2
Hoffer got most of this right, but it was written long before Brooks and his neocon colleagues decided to use our military to meddle in the middle east and try to shape countries to their own liking. Without our actions, the movements Brooks describes would have been far less dangerous and motivational. Brooks chooses to write this column as if our actions had no bearing on the rise if ISIS, which is simply dishonest.
2
This article is not only about ISIS but also the popular response to the radical Republican candidates. The Muslim jihadists and terrorists fit right in as part of a larger mass of the discontented.
America is fostering this by losing our politicians to the wealthy who in turn are telling their minions to reject the needy and the unemployed, science, Planned Parenthood and the ACA, for starters.
Another drawback is the popular response of gun advocates who scream self-protection and are leading America into an age of indiscriminant mass killings.
And as to the recommended cures listed in Brooks' last paragraph . . . What's there to say? None of those solutions seem practical in our political world at this time. That's the sad problem.
America is fostering this by losing our politicians to the wealthy who in turn are telling their minions to reject the needy and the unemployed, science, Planned Parenthood and the ACA, for starters.
Another drawback is the popular response of gun advocates who scream self-protection and are leading America into an age of indiscriminant mass killings.
And as to the recommended cures listed in Brooks' last paragraph . . . What's there to say? None of those solutions seem practical in our political world at this time. That's the sad problem.
2
Combine a messianic belief in a recreated Caliphate and these characteristics of mass movements perfectly described ISIS.
ISIS is led by a brilliant warrior posing as a cleric who dresses in religious garb and has an advanced degree in Islamic studies, both of which give him authority and legitimacy. He has taken a hero's name (important symbolism) and promised a religious Caliphate. What dedicated Muslim could resist his call?
Given this driving force, it's laughable to focus on guns, which are inconsequential to everything that is being done in the name of ISIS. In London, a supporter tried to decapitate someone.
Until we get that this is not the "JV" team or a group of "thugs", we will continue to lose this battle. Of course, for many people that battle is not worth fighting, so they don't care that the president mischaracterizes it and gets it so wrong. Whatever keeps him away from getting too involved.
ISIS is led by a brilliant warrior posing as a cleric who dresses in religious garb and has an advanced degree in Islamic studies, both of which give him authority and legitimacy. He has taken a hero's name (important symbolism) and promised a religious Caliphate. What dedicated Muslim could resist his call?
Given this driving force, it's laughable to focus on guns, which are inconsequential to everything that is being done in the name of ISIS. In London, a supporter tried to decapitate someone.
Until we get that this is not the "JV" team or a group of "thugs", we will continue to lose this battle. Of course, for many people that battle is not worth fighting, so they don't care that the president mischaracterizes it and gets it so wrong. Whatever keeps him away from getting too involved.
1
Christians, Jews, Muslims or any other religious community have always played a part in the massacres that we still see up till this day. What Mr. David has brought up in his description of Eric Hoffer's concept of "Mass movements" is identical to what is happening now. This whole phantasmagoria and lusciousness of some form of a heavenly retreat is a major force that separate those radicalized tribes from the rest of us who, thanks to reasoning, aren't able to "disconnect" from reality and commonplace order.
David, do you see a little of the Trump phenomena in your analysis?
The reality is that the conditions that create fertile ground for ISIS are created on that ground. They are created in the lands of oppressive governments, oppressive religions, and oppressive cultures in so many parts of the Middle East. They are found in the "bad Arab countries (Syria, Iraq) but also the "good" Arab countries (Saudi Arabia) where education is not a right, where women and the non elite are oppressed. Until the US and Europe end emphasize human rights at the expense of commercial interests, the ground for terror will remain fertile.
I have a few thoughts. More is needed to explain the converts from the west who join. As you say, it is unnatural to abandon the self; perhaps one goes down this road when the self is less than intact, meaning the person never feels solidly himself, never really connects as a person to others, always feels he is somewhat floating above it all, and feels the profound lack and loneliness. Searching for something to relieve this pain, he finds this group, which must be over the top, as you say, to make it meaningful. Perhaps on the ground where "everyone is doing it" the dynamic doesn't have to be pathological - people became Nazis and then when the war was over just went back to their normal lives. But for the lone westerners who join up at their laptops something must be profoundly lacking in themselves; they are closer to the other mass shooters we have here, the Adam Lanzas. You could say it's about pathological loneliness.
Aha, the psych 102 analysis of ISIS for those of us who only made it to 101.
Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention in 101.
Anyway, well, we really don't have the time to offer these idiots "positive, inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones".
That's might help get you an "A" if you regurgitate it on the final exam, but at this point Ted Cruz's "carpet bomb them into oblivion" I think captures more of the "zeitgeist" of the moment.
And two firsts for me. The use of "zeitgeist" in a post and agreeing with something Ted Cruz said.
I'm pretty sure neither of those two things are good.
Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention in 101.
Anyway, well, we really don't have the time to offer these idiots "positive, inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones".
That's might help get you an "A" if you regurgitate it on the final exam, but at this point Ted Cruz's "carpet bomb them into oblivion" I think captures more of the "zeitgeist" of the moment.
And two firsts for me. The use of "zeitgeist" in a post and agreeing with something Ted Cruz said.
I'm pretty sure neither of those two things are good.
1
This is one of the most accurate clear descriptions of events and those involved who are creating the current chaos in the world.
Michael Cleavenger
Episcopal Charities and Community Services.
Michael Cleavenger
Episcopal Charities and Community Services.
"what you might call the technology of persuasion"
Well, you might call it that, but really: Weasel-worded constructs like that add nothing to our understanding or to the current policy discussion. Please, Mr. Brooks. As a GOP insider you could be offering us real insights into these events and the American response. Instead, your columns have navigated 2015 in an effete intellectual hovercraft, offering neither real-world insights nor policy solutions.
Let's hope you request clearance for a landing in 2016 to share some earthly insights on the upcoming political season.
Well, you might call it that, but really: Weasel-worded constructs like that add nothing to our understanding or to the current policy discussion. Please, Mr. Brooks. As a GOP insider you could be offering us real insights into these events and the American response. Instead, your columns have navigated 2015 in an effete intellectual hovercraft, offering neither real-world insights nor policy solutions.
Let's hope you request clearance for a landing in 2016 to share some earthly insights on the upcoming political season.
1
It's implausible that Mr. Brooks leaves out the religious beliefs inherent in the San Bernardino attacks & instead seeks to magically explain away the attacks as a consequence of sociological science. If the tables were turned & a foreign country invaded Israel, allowed ancient museums to be ransacked destroying sacrosanct religious artifacts, established a military base within the country & allowed for the new government to be run by puppet politicians from an enemy religion, would the same Mr. Brooks attempt to explain away acts of religious retaliation towards the foreign occupier at home or abroad as a result of sociology or deeply religious held beliefs that required self sacrifice on the part of the believers? Spirituality and the science of social movements are two entirely different strains of thought when it comes to analyzing the motivations of followers or militants within the ISIS movement. Similarly attempting to explain the kamikaze pilots of WWII as merely individuals who are somehow weaklings who need to surrender themselves to a powerful movement fails to deeply understand the self-sacrifice inherent in the Japanese culture at the time & the depth of the Shinto religion combined with a strong & attractive national movement which worshiped the self-sacrifice of the kamikaze as an elite group of people who would live on in immortality due to their heroic actions & dedication to their religion & country.
3
The term "mass movement" fits all religions, including both Islam AND Christianity. To Muslims Islam is a total guide, i.e., political, spiritual, economic, and social. Christians too have divisions and mutations (Mormonism) separate the spiritual from other aspects of life. The conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland was not very dissimilar to that between Shia and Sunni.
Religion insists that one sacrifice now for a better life after death, but offers no proof, insisting instead on faith, i.e., belief a God who can destroy or reward of destroy you arbitrarily. Religion requires suspension of critical thinking and breeds narrow-mindedness, intolerance, and hatred.
Let's be real for a moment: religions are almost invariably started by some man (rarely a woman) claiming that he had a dream or vision in which the Creator of the universe imparted to him precious knowledge, wisdom and secrets to an afterlife. To ignorant, uneducated, unintelligent people religion has great appeal because their limitations become assets - all they have to do is "believe". Stuff like walking on water, virgin birth, 17 virgins and fountains of wine in Paradise, etc. See, all religions are nonsense.
Religion insists that one sacrifice now for a better life after death, but offers no proof, insisting instead on faith, i.e., belief a God who can destroy or reward of destroy you arbitrarily. Religion requires suspension of critical thinking and breeds narrow-mindedness, intolerance, and hatred.
Let's be real for a moment: religions are almost invariably started by some man (rarely a woman) claiming that he had a dream or vision in which the Creator of the universe imparted to him precious knowledge, wisdom and secrets to an afterlife. To ignorant, uneducated, unintelligent people religion has great appeal because their limitations become assets - all they have to do is "believe". Stuff like walking on water, virgin birth, 17 virgins and fountains of wine in Paradise, etc. See, all religions are nonsense.
Jihadism is not caused by "social disintegration" and will not go away if Muslims are hopeful. It has been around for centuries; ask the nations conquered by Muslims in the past. Only widespread reforms in Islam will rid of the violent and intolerant beliefs inherent in it. However, Islam does not allow dissent, hence no solution to their (and our) problems.
1
There have been many protest movements which have resorted to violence in the past. They have been composed of young people who have given their lives meaning by devotion to a cause outside of themselves. However, I don't find Eric Hoffer's analisis very useful in the case of Islamic terrorism.
What makes Islamic terrorism so horrifying is the terrorists total hatred of beliefs outside of their own narrow version of Islam, and their belief that murder of any non-believers and suicide in the service of their beliefs will admit them into paradise after their life on earth ends.
What makes Islamic terrorism so horrifying is the terrorists total hatred of beliefs outside of their own narrow version of Islam, and their belief that murder of any non-believers and suicide in the service of their beliefs will admit them into paradise after their life on earth ends.
2
Radicalization is also apparently a hypnotic trance like state of mind. A state of mind that includes being overtaken with suppressed raw rage. Otherwise, how could someone leave behind their six month old baby who was supposedly being nursed and essentially commit suicide while brutally taking the lives of co workers and friends who had thrown them a baby shower just a few months before. It's disarming and disturbing that a human mind can flip like that (while pretending to be otherwise) and can get into that kind of not understandable heinous state.
And because this kind of vulnerable sick state of mind develops over time it seems that it would take "a village" to prevent it. And prevention would start during the developmental formative years in an environment (where the twig is first bent either constructively or destructively) and where peace is taught and practiced rather than merely preached on the one hand while control and abuse is modeled and practiced on the other.
And because this kind of vulnerable sick state of mind develops over time it seems that it would take "a village" to prevent it. And prevention would start during the developmental formative years in an environment (where the twig is first bent either constructively or destructively) and where peace is taught and practiced rather than merely preached on the one hand while control and abuse is modeled and practiced on the other.
1
Are we there yet, David?
The 14 characteristics of fascism are:
Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
Supremacy of the Military
Rampant Sexism
Controlled Mass Media
Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
Religion and Government are Intertwined
Corporate Power is Protected
Labor Power is Suppressed
Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
The 14 characteristics of fascism are:
Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
Supremacy of the Military
Rampant Sexism
Controlled Mass Media
Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
Religion and Government are Intertwined
Corporate Power is Protected
Labor Power is Suppressed
Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
1
Again Mr Brooks is half right. Frustration, often born from a deteriating socio-economic environment, fuels radicalism and acts of suicide and destruction. But we need to address the sources of this frustration. Huge inequality and diminishing opportunity in the Middle East as well as growing inequality here in part of our society. This is just not a question of changing minds but investing in ways to develop more opportunity so that there is more hope for people in this life. Secondly, the material world is real. Guns are real and we need to make it more difficult for psychopaths, felons and potential terrorist to get guns. I am a full believer in Brooks' proposals to attack the values and ideology of radicalism but that is not enough...
This is weak, weak stuff in comparison with Mr. Matthiensen's analysis.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/12/08/is-saudi-arabia-a-unique...
Psychology is all very nice but when it comes down to it, follow the money.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/12/08/is-saudi-arabia-a-unique...
Psychology is all very nice but when it comes down to it, follow the money.
The ostracization brought about by islamaphobes such as Trump can only accelerate this process among disenfranchised Arabs in the West. In fact, I see a lot of these same features in Trump's supporters.
Everybody should read the Hoffer book. Sounds like a good guide to how we should respond to terrorists. But, that says nothing about the wisdom of regulating guns. Brooks should read McLuhan's "Understanding Media." The medium (guns) is the message. If we restrict people's capacity to builing military arsenals to carry out mass shootings, then these shooting won't be so effective. So, let's do it all -- heal society, provide inspiring causes, destroy terrorist's charisma and restrict military assault weapons. They are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
David,
The first two of the "correct responses" in your last paragraph aren't going to happen, and probably engender laughter from terrorists lying in wait who read the Times. But those terrorists would take the third option seriously. I think one reason candidates like Trump do so well in the polls is because President Obama is so coldly intellectual on the subject of terror that people don't think he is serious about the problem, preferring to use any murderous act to promote his views on gun control or climate change. Yes those are worthy issues but they deflect from what's obviously now a war between evil and civilization. The President should show by body language and tone that he gets it. Otherwise there's a real possibility that his successor will be Donald Trump.
The first two of the "correct responses" in your last paragraph aren't going to happen, and probably engender laughter from terrorists lying in wait who read the Times. But those terrorists would take the third option seriously. I think one reason candidates like Trump do so well in the polls is because President Obama is so coldly intellectual on the subject of terror that people don't think he is serious about the problem, preferring to use any murderous act to promote his views on gun control or climate change. Yes those are worthy issues but they deflect from what's obviously now a war between evil and civilization. The President should show by body language and tone that he gets it. Otherwise there's a real possibility that his successor will be Donald Trump.
We are a nation of millions in a world of billions. The odds predict there will be people who will want do all sorts of atrocities. The US just wants to make sure that here anyway they will have easy access to serious arms and accessories.
1
If the first mode is healing the social disintegration within these groups, we are not doing a good job of that by droning villages to dust. This relentless robotic attack seeds resentment and revolt, and fuels waves of young women and men to join the ranks of ISIS. Healing the social disintegration takes interaction, not robot bombs. Interaction is messy and expensive, and hard to get right also, but it's the only way to build a bridge.
Furthermore, this interaction needs to take place not by "westerners," but by peaceful Muslims in the area. And America should use its power to foster that growth. Rather than blowing up an apartment complex to kill on ISIS leader, surround that complex with alternatives for young teens--vibrant, progressive mosques, access to the internet, healthy communities. The Muslim community must attack this cancer from within. Our chemotherapy droning is not killing it, but making it grow.
Furthermore, this interaction needs to take place not by "westerners," but by peaceful Muslims in the area. And America should use its power to foster that growth. Rather than blowing up an apartment complex to kill on ISIS leader, surround that complex with alternatives for young teens--vibrant, progressive mosques, access to the internet, healthy communities. The Muslim community must attack this cancer from within. Our chemotherapy droning is not killing it, but making it grow.
1
"The correct response is still the same, however. First, try to heal the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements. Second, offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones. Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated. "
Is this advice you would give to the Republican Party which has fomented social disintegration to the point of killing innocents in a Planned Parenthood clinic?
Is this advice you would give to the Republican Party which has fomented social disintegration to the point of killing innocents in a Planned Parenthood clinic?
The great hero of the longshoreman Eric Hoffer was Montaigne. Montaigne was of the mind that certainty is almost impossible. We can never be sure of anything, but we can attempt to understand human nature and deal with it in practical ways. I see this same strain of thought in David Brooks' various columns, not just this one, and perhaps those who are absolutely certain that Brooks is himself a true believer should examine their own certainties. They might also read a little John Dewey, one of the great American progressives.
1
As I read your column about radicalization, I kept thinking about Trump and his supporters. In combination with easy access to weapons, it is only a matter of time before a Trump supporter (or other GOP members) becomes so whipped up by the rhetoric that they take matters into their own hands. Perhaps they have already with Planned Parenthood. Words matter.
1
This piece highlights any radical group, which i consider the current GOP to be part of. It explains how the disaffected and the poor can vote for candidates who are expressly against their best interests. They talk big, promise a part of something bigger in the future, and appeal to the unabated frustration of the disenfranchised.
2
Despite David Brooks's patronizing self-righteousness, his columns are often worth reading. There is great wisdom in this one. To be sure, it is Hoffer's wisdom, not Brooks's, but Mr. Brooks deserves credit for publicizing it. However, Brooks - needing to maintain his Conservative credibility, I suppose - opens his column by speaking dismissively of those who are concerned that the availability of firearms is aiding and abetting these acts of violence. ("...some people’s minds flew to the materialistic element of the atrocity") Dismissing that concern is tantamount to saying that, when we have a behavioral problem, such as when a disease becomes an epidemic due to human behavior (e.g., AIDS), we should not think about curing the disease, but only changing the behavior propagating it. The fact is, however, the "materialistic element" almost always lends itself more readily to solution than the behavioral one and it would be negligent to let the disease run rampant while we wait for behavioral change. Anything that can be done to keep firearms out of the hands of terrorists can only be helpful, no matter the behavioral issues underlying their use.
3
The Islamic region has been engaged in bloody tribal warfare as long as history has been recorded. By wading into their midst, we gave them a common enemy. We need to stay away.
As Brooks notes, (unlike mentally ill Christian mass killers of late) the Muslim shooters (and airplane flyers) have in many cases been highly educated, from good famlies, wealthy, even, and not necessarily unhappy in their regular lives.
But, they have been infected with the virus now coursing through Islam, a deadly virus, we have seen it before, with Cambodians during Pol Pot, with Russians during Stalin, under Mao with his purges, and of course with the Germans when the small marginal faction of brownshirts became the majority.
A societal sickness that passes from individual to individual and ends up being an murderous epidemic.
That is what is happening within Islam now. And we have not seen the antidote. Long term cures like 'fix the society' do not give comfort.
But, they have been infected with the virus now coursing through Islam, a deadly virus, we have seen it before, with Cambodians during Pol Pot, with Russians during Stalin, under Mao with his purges, and of course with the Germans when the small marginal faction of brownshirts became the majority.
A societal sickness that passes from individual to individual and ends up being an murderous epidemic.
That is what is happening within Islam now. And we have not seen the antidote. Long term cures like 'fix the society' do not give comfort.
3
Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future, but the present is just an uninspiring pit.
It has been years since I read True Believer. I DO recall looking at it and seeing Christianity (Christianism) and the GOP spring forth from its pages. Jim Crow was the "good old days"; climate change isn't real; trickle down economics works; if you ban abortion it will go away [and reverse the demographic change that is taking place].
They don't "hate us for our freedom". They hate us for centuries (we are a continuum of Great Britain) of meddling and destabilization. How well would America would have fared with more borders and 2 fewer oceans and neighbors arming Native Americans, Blacks and Mexicans?
Mass movements become destructive because they are aided and abetted by people whose words and deeds do not shed light on their ugliness even when looking at that ugliness square on, by people who refuse to accept that devastating economic policies pose imminent danger to minorities and creeping danger to the majority.
It has been years since I read True Believer. I DO recall looking at it and seeing Christianity (Christianism) and the GOP spring forth from its pages. Jim Crow was the "good old days"; climate change isn't real; trickle down economics works; if you ban abortion it will go away [and reverse the demographic change that is taking place].
They don't "hate us for our freedom". They hate us for centuries (we are a continuum of Great Britain) of meddling and destabilization. How well would America would have fared with more borders and 2 fewer oceans and neighbors arming Native Americans, Blacks and Mexicans?
Mass movements become destructive because they are aided and abetted by people whose words and deeds do not shed light on their ugliness even when looking at that ugliness square on, by people who refuse to accept that devastating economic policies pose imminent danger to minorities and creeping danger to the majority.
2
I was surprised to hear that "The True Believer" was still being read. I read it in the '60s and still refer to it now and then.
Mr. Hoffer still has something to teach us about mass movements.
Mr. Hoffer still has something to teach us about mass movements.
I believe that one of the primary reasons we are seeing the spread of Islamist radicalism is that, since George W. Bush took office in 2001, we have behaved largely in a way that demonstrates the truth of their radical clerics' frequently invoked description of America as "The Great Satan."
Nothing makes you want to attack the people of a nation more than losing a son or daughter, a friend or parent, to an attack mounted by an infidel invader, or seeing your countrymen tortured in captivity.
Nothing makes you want to attack the people of a nation more than losing a son or daughter, a friend or parent, to an attack mounted by an infidel invader, or seeing your countrymen tortured in captivity.
I read Hoffer's book as a freshman in college. His ideas resonated then as they do now//but on a worldwide scale. I remember sitting in my dorm room feeling like I finally understood the Symbionese Liberation Army, the Black Panthers, The Hell's Angles, the Ku Klux Klan, as well as right and left wing radical groups supporting or opposing our involvement in Vietnam. But, we didn't have the internet back then. We had newspapers, television news, a few manifestos that made their way into print, so recruitment was slow, limiting the size of groups overall. They were more easily assimilated or contained...with the extreme radical factions more quickly marginalized.
2
Brooks is right on one point, but ignores his own party and country: "Mass movements, he argues, only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration. This is a pretty good description of parts of the Arab world." In this case substitute "Arab world" with the Republican party driven by Fox News and the Koch Brothers. These clowns, like Trump, is creating a mass movement among conservatives of hate and war mongering. Not seeing the forest for the trees here David.
1
"Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated."
Where do I sign up to join the effort to defeat Trump-sis.
Where do I sign up to join the effort to defeat Trump-sis.
2
This is an excellent article that places Da'esh exactly where it belongs: in the continuum of mass utopian-apocalyptic movements alongside Communism and Nazism. The difference is that the former two were quasi-religious in their appeal to the true believer mentality but ostensibly secular. Da'esh is explicitly religious. This makes it both more and less dangerous. More because it promises what Nazism and Communism could not: an afterlife. Less because Islam, though a universalist religion, winning converts among all races, is too deeply connected to a specific culture to sweep through the West (I just cannot see the Midwest dotted with mosques unless a demographic change happens as well). So yes, it'll be defeated when it suffers a humiliating defeat and when its ideology is exposed for what it is. A good beginning would be to start talking honestly about Da'esh's ideological appeal instead of calling its believers "thugs".
2
Well, according to this reading, and in light of the radicalization of US citizens, a lot of the blame for the alienation and humiliation felt by people can be laid at the doorstep of the corrupt and greedy power structure that runs this planet, whereby a few get to enjoy enormous wealth and the rest are left to fight over the scraps.
Thel argument from Hoffer doesn't fit the facts. A couple with university educations, he's got a good job, they've got a child--not a picture of personal discontent and frustration. No, we have to face up to politics, to perceived grievance in much of the Muslim world against Western humiliation. The problem is political not personal.
Are you saying people with university degrees and a new born or young children can't be frustrated and discontent? Can't feel lost or alienated. Can't look for solace by striking out at random others?
Mr Brooks leaves out one aspect of The True Believer that is pertinent to the current situation. There is a personality type such believers share. They need an all encompassing cause or belief that tells them who they are, what their place in the world is. True believers can move from one cause to another cause so long as their need for this kind of structure is met. With access to the Internet a true believer personality type can find such a cause easily.
1
Good column except for "Self-sacrifice is an irrational act". Not always by any means. "Rational" can be defined as "efficient means to achieve a given end." Poorly educated parents working 2 jobs to send kids to university can be very rational. In my case, serving on my HOA board of directors often seems self-sacrificing but I feel better about myself helping our community be in better shape than it would be otherwise, which helps me have a rosier outlook on life and get other things done and be kinder to my loved ones. What Brooks means is the self-sacrifice of the martyr. Somehow, volunteer martyrs think they'll be rewarded in the afterlife for their sacrifice, making the martyrdom "rational" from a strictly selfish point of view i.e. dismissing all the grief they burden their families with. I believe the religious world and perhaps in particular Islam needs stronger voices saying that suicide bombers or attackers, as in San Bernadino, are not feted in the afterlife.
That's what I understood; "the self-sacrifice of the martyr". Not serving on a HOA Board which I have done for years. Of course we all have to sacrifice in our lives if we want to live in a civil society. That's not the same as martyrdom.
People have commented on the similarity between the current GOP and its Utopian followers.
I just wondered whether Mr Brooks thinks that the GOP can provide the "correct responses". For example healing the social disintegration in the US is difficult when you deny the existence of inequality as a major problem and blame individuals , rather than the rigged system, for their own poverty.
"The successful mass movement tells such people that the cause of their frustration is outside themselves, and that the only way to alter their personal situation is to transform the world in some radical way."
That would include building walls along the border, getting rid of immigrants and cheering on demagogues like Mr Trump who promise a future they can't possibly deliver.
I just wondered whether Mr Brooks thinks that the GOP can provide the "correct responses". For example healing the social disintegration in the US is difficult when you deny the existence of inequality as a major problem and blame individuals , rather than the rigged system, for their own poverty.
"The successful mass movement tells such people that the cause of their frustration is outside themselves, and that the only way to alter their personal situation is to transform the world in some radical way."
That would include building walls along the border, getting rid of immigrants and cheering on demagogues like Mr Trump who promise a future they can't possibly deliver.
6
Brooks prefers philosophical speculation over action. Most security experts agree that the ready availability of guns makes us more vulnerable. We can do something about that, now. The struggle in the Middle East, centuries in the making, will take generations to resolve. The best we can hope for is to mitigate the human suffering and protect ourselves.
4
Why start an otherwise interesting article with such a blatant false choice? We can both examine the ideological and psychological methodology of ISIS, and also try to prevent their adherents from arming themselves. They are both "critical issues." We can do both Mr. Brooks. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. Believe in yourself.
I'd also like to point out that the phrase "mass movements get their followers to believe that ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation" is itself a fairly accurate description of religion in general. Find me a religion that doesn't have a gnostic element, that doesn't ask its followers to turn from this world and instead value another, perfect, more spiritual realm. Mathew 6:19-20. Movements such as ISIS challenge their followers to act on this belief.
I'd also like to point out that the phrase "mass movements get their followers to believe that ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation" is itself a fairly accurate description of religion in general. Find me a religion that doesn't have a gnostic element, that doesn't ask its followers to turn from this world and instead value another, perfect, more spiritual realm. Mathew 6:19-20. Movements such as ISIS challenge their followers to act on this belief.
5
Another thought provoking editorial by Mr. Brooks. But he omits the single causative variable of the rise of the Islamic revolution against Western dominance. The West invaded Islam when Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1980, followed quickly by the USA invasion of Afghanistan shortly thereafter when we invaded Afghanistan with our guns, culture, and civilian killers and agents to fight the Russians; a sad variation of the Great Game played by Britain one hundred years before.
This was followed by similar USA invasions of Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq again, and a general invasion of all of the Middle East by USA culture and civilian agents and killers. Muslims have reacted against this invasion and now, yes, let's use the word, a crusade by the West against the Middle East. We have disrupted and distracted their civilization. And we now we express surprise that they hate us?
We are the Great Satan to them and they will fight to the death to rid their culture of us. The correct response is to declare the crusade over and remove all troops. Stop the killing now. Thirty five years of war against Islam has produced this mess. Stop the war now.
This was followed by similar USA invasions of Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq again, and a general invasion of all of the Middle East by USA culture and civilian agents and killers. Muslims have reacted against this invasion and now, yes, let's use the word, a crusade by the West against the Middle East. We have disrupted and distracted their civilization. And we now we express surprise that they hate us?
We are the Great Satan to them and they will fight to the death to rid their culture of us. The correct response is to declare the crusade over and remove all troops. Stop the killing now. Thirty five years of war against Islam has produced this mess. Stop the war now.
3
Hoffer's 1951 book surely was motivated and influenced by Adolf Hitler's 12-year reign in which he managed to bring about the destruction of Europe and western Russia.
Today's problems stem primarily from Saudi Arabia and Iran and to some extent from Pakistan which have unsustainable, political, civil, and religious structures.
These are the countries without the adults in the room. Unless they see the future as allying with their Western neighbors and reforming their constitutions, we will not see peace in the eastern crescent of the Mediterranean.
One cannot have our everyday rules so markedly different between the Islamic societies and those in modern Europe and expect peace. We cannot live with groups who seek to bring death to the infidels as tool to breed the terrorism industry.
Terrorism is an industry. It has income and expenses and profits and losses. Someone is investing in terrorism.
Do you want proof? Ask yourself how many Afghans and Iraqis became wealthy bleeding off the investments that the USA made in the middle east? Do you remember how the Pakistanis blocked the tanker trucks at the pass seeking to get higher tolls and then how the tankers were blown up? Someone had to buy and pay for a new fleet. Someone made a few bucks. It all adds up.
It's a fog over the entire terrorism industry. The top leaders leading ISIS -- including Iraqis, Syrians and those from other countries are not going die as heroes.
Today's problems stem primarily from Saudi Arabia and Iran and to some extent from Pakistan which have unsustainable, political, civil, and religious structures.
These are the countries without the adults in the room. Unless they see the future as allying with their Western neighbors and reforming their constitutions, we will not see peace in the eastern crescent of the Mediterranean.
One cannot have our everyday rules so markedly different between the Islamic societies and those in modern Europe and expect peace. We cannot live with groups who seek to bring death to the infidels as tool to breed the terrorism industry.
Terrorism is an industry. It has income and expenses and profits and losses. Someone is investing in terrorism.
Do you want proof? Ask yourself how many Afghans and Iraqis became wealthy bleeding off the investments that the USA made in the middle east? Do you remember how the Pakistanis blocked the tanker trucks at the pass seeking to get higher tolls and then how the tankers were blown up? Someone had to buy and pay for a new fleet. Someone made a few bucks. It all adds up.
It's a fog over the entire terrorism industry. The top leaders leading ISIS -- including Iraqis, Syrians and those from other countries are not going die as heroes.
3
All well and good. But the central focus of Islamism is the Holy Quran. With the Hadith in second place as the linchpins of extremist thought in the muslim world.
Those who take those tomes as the literal word of God need look only within themselves (the inner jihad) to determine whether or not they have the guts to pick up the sword and wage the outer jihad.
Some do, some don't. Those believers that do are the problem.
In that light, Eric Hoffer is is just commentary.
Those who take those tomes as the literal word of God need look only within themselves (the inner jihad) to determine whether or not they have the guts to pick up the sword and wage the outer jihad.
Some do, some don't. Those believers that do are the problem.
In that light, Eric Hoffer is is just commentary.
1
This piece closes with 3 solutions, only the last of which is realistic. The implication is a two-step approach: (1) intentionally permit ISIS to evolve into a functioning state, containing it but NOT directly militarily challenging it, (2) crush it militarily. If the West keeps going to step #2 before completing step #1, ISIS will never be defeated.
"Everything unique about an individual is either criticized, forbidden or diminished. The individual's identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups." Gee, Mr. Brooks, that sounds very much like America's right wing.
2
Try to heal social disintegration? Good idea. But the modern Republican Party cynically manipulates "belief" as much as any faction Mr. Brooks writes about. In the sentence "The purpose of an organization like ISIS is to get people to negate themselves for a larger cause," insert "the Republican Party" for ISIS: The purpose of an organization like the Republican Party is to get people to negate themselves for a larger cause. That cause is twofold. First is the standard Republican claim that "big government" is out to get you and you should join ranks with a heavily armed citizen "militia" that erroneously imagines the Second Amendment was intended to create a citizenry that could shoot it out with its own government. Second is the cause of xenophobia that is bubbling to the top in America not so much because of discrete but terrible events, but because of easily manipulated fear and "belief." These two causes are propping each other up at the moment, multiplying their mutual ill effects. Mr. Brooks closes with "movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed." What is the entire Republican Party doing right now, if not letting its most charismatic blowhards of empty rhetoric, like Trump and Cruz, to pull it along by a nose ring?
1
An uneasy balance between Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran...Wahabbi, Sunni and Shia sects...monarchy, theocracy and dictatorship. Add tribalism, poverty and western intervention.
We created a vacuum and it was filled with a most aggressive form radicalism...10 of millions of people displaced, enormous refugee populations, and a descent into regional sectarianism creating untold suffering.
How ISIS Makes Radicals seems to be the wrong headline...perhaps it should read How ISIS Harvests Radicals....the conditions are right for a bumper crop.
What have we learned?
We created a vacuum and it was filled with a most aggressive form radicalism...10 of millions of people displaced, enormous refugee populations, and a descent into regional sectarianism creating untold suffering.
How ISIS Makes Radicals seems to be the wrong headline...perhaps it should read How ISIS Harvests Radicals....the conditions are right for a bumper crop.
What have we learned?
1
At first I thought you were writing about today's GOP. Then I thought ISIS. Now I think maybe both?
2
How short the memory of the disastrous, mishandled war in Iraq; the body bags of US men and women arriving back home and the American public demanding for withdrawal and ending of military operations. We tired of seeing the media showing our troops being shot and blown up in the streets of Iraq.
Now we tremble with fear because the same is happening here in our cities. And the immediate response; send in our troops to relieve this fear, not giving any serious thought as to the consequences. Watching the cheering mob behind Trump in one of his outbursts, is a study in how ignorance and fear is manipulated by those seeking to control them for their own ambitions.
Fear, anger and frustration leads many unfortunate people to violence as a solution, those same uncontrolled emotions leads others to respond in like fashion. The vicious circle continues.
Now we tremble with fear because the same is happening here in our cities. And the immediate response; send in our troops to relieve this fear, not giving any serious thought as to the consequences. Watching the cheering mob behind Trump in one of his outbursts, is a study in how ignorance and fear is manipulated by those seeking to control them for their own ambitions.
Fear, anger and frustration leads many unfortunate people to violence as a solution, those same uncontrolled emotions leads others to respond in like fashion. The vicious circle continues.
68
It would be pointless for me to argue with your apparent conclusion that seems to be all that is happening is due to the "mishandled war in Iraq." I would suggest that, although I was against the war without all of Europe (at least) going along, so to speak, that no war, and Saddam still in power, would have had at least as many "Bob79s" saying that our failure to take down this despot has led to these terrorist acts, and ISIS or whatever uprising that might have taken place. The situation is far more complicated and the answer, if there is one, has yet to be found.
And of course, Brooks redirects away from our gun epidemic in the opening sentence of his latest. Apparently to be conservative is to shutter the ears and the mind against any discussion of our over-armed culture.
I am not surprised, but I am still disappointed.
I am not surprised, but I am still disappointed.
1
In this 'how to' column, it seems that there is one step missing. All of the steps are social, but are characterized by terms of emotional individuality transforming into mass emotions -- a movement from frustration to a fanatical and fantastic hope. But a catalyst may be missing – e.g., not just frustration, but a real live personal ‘incident’ that convinces each and every individual to ‘sign up.’ There has to be something very akin to a perceived ‘insult’ for each individual – a keenly felt traducing -- of one's self, friends and family, or, in this case, religion or 'tribe.' Since all of the steps Brooks outlines are social, these insults have to be social too, and so widely spread that not only can everyone joining such a movement have been said to experience these, but so widely spread that those on the ‘inside’ of such movements could say to someone on the outside, ‘how can you not have seen this?’ In other words, if you don’t join us, you are part of them, and horrific anger is part of imagining the better tomorrow and ‘fighting back.’ Part of the solution, then, must be elimination of these social insults or, conversely, the conference of dignity to 'aggrieved' individuals. The fact that our Western governments seem almost puzzled by the frustrations of radical youth suggests that they have not figured out what the insults or traducing -- real or imagined -- are and have, at best, ineffective policies in place to address this issue.
1
Thanks, Mr. Brooks, for a cogent, persuasive analysis of terrorist organizations, such as those opposed abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood, who believe that the federal government is plotting to take away their gun rights and put Texas under martial law, who seek separate enclaves in which to practice cultist religions or preserve "white" culture (no minorities allowed), etc. The list could be extended, a list of fanatical groups spawned on the right. They are all "true believers", more often "religious" than not. They are domestic terrorists. Until the conservatives in America clean their own house, they will continue to thrive.
2
Mr. Brooks,
Read the article below, published by Der Spiegel on 12/4/2015, to find a real, 21st century way to stop ISIS making radicals.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/islamic-state-uses-satellite-i...
Read the article below, published by Der Spiegel on 12/4/2015, to find a real, 21st century way to stop ISIS making radicals.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/islamic-state-uses-satellite-i...
1
As the President seems well aware, killing an idea is extraordinarily difficult. Bullets, bombs, threats of death can pass right through it. Intelligence, understanding and patience are required, which smart leaders dedicated to the good understand.
1
These atrocities require both the intent and the tools to carryout the intent. David focuses on the formation of the intent, something essential to understand, but we cannot ignore the access to the tools to carry out the intent. We need both understanding of the formation of the intent and commonsense gun control on a nationwide basis, not one or the other, but both.
Very astute of David Brooks to cite the landmark book about fanaticism by Eric Hoffer. It deserves a place on high school and college reading as prominent as Orwell's "Animal Farm." Another thing "true believers" (maybe "false believers" is more accurate) reject is the notion or sense that they are part of a common humanity. They become so blind to the existence of their fellow creatures, even co-workers and classmates, that they can obliterate them without feeling anything but their own power. I don't know what role video games, Hollywood's obsession with violent stories of revenge, the faceless Internet or the rise of fact-free political ideology plays in making these believers so numb. But I wish Hoffer were still around to write a sequel exploring these ever more disturbing factors in his brilliant analysis.
1
"'For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap.'"
Huh. Sounds a lot like the Donald; or the rest of the Republican presidential contenders.
Huh. Sounds a lot like the Donald; or the rest of the Republican presidential contenders.
2
ISIS radicalized nobody. They did take advantage of people who were already radicalized (or who wanted to be - which is not much different). If "Mass movements ... only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration", might that not also apply to the West?
Remember Chaplin's movie "Modern Times"? Things have changed but have certainly not gotten better. What has changed is that there is much less hope for a better future.
Flip burgers or take any other minimum wage job and see how fulfilled you feel. Add in that wages are "stagnating" (i.e., not even keeping up with inflation), and "job satisfaction" is not a term that represents many jobs.
"The people who serve mass movements are not revolting against oppression. They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams."
To a certain extent - yes. But I do not, at all agree, that "Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration because they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity."
That is standard GOP pablum.
Blame the victim & assume that because some people are limited, all who do not succeed have only themselves to blame. Mine explosions are caused by miners. Madoff did not steal, the victims were stupid; Bush did not rip off the savings & loan, the depositors were to blame, Enron's shareholders & customers caused its failure. No !
Remember Chaplin's movie "Modern Times"? Things have changed but have certainly not gotten better. What has changed is that there is much less hope for a better future.
Flip burgers or take any other minimum wage job and see how fulfilled you feel. Add in that wages are "stagnating" (i.e., not even keeping up with inflation), and "job satisfaction" is not a term that represents many jobs.
"The people who serve mass movements are not revolting against oppression. They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams."
To a certain extent - yes. But I do not, at all agree, that "Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration because they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity."
That is standard GOP pablum.
Blame the victim & assume that because some people are limited, all who do not succeed have only themselves to blame. Mine explosions are caused by miners. Madoff did not steal, the victims were stupid; Bush did not rip off the savings & loan, the depositors were to blame, Enron's shareholders & customers caused its failure. No !
1
"Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated. Then they can no longer offer hope, inspiration or a plausible way out for the disaffected."
This should have been first. Without it the first two responses recommended by Brooks sound a lot like the recent electioneering slogan: Hope and Change.
This should have been first. Without it the first two responses recommended by Brooks sound a lot like the recent electioneering slogan: Hope and Change.
guns are merely "materialistic. it's only coincidental they are the means of execution in the hundreds of mass murders we have seen this year. until a couple of decades ago, the NRA believed in excluding the most dangerous weaponry and even registration. it's only the creation of intense fear and greed, through the largess of the weapons industry, that has so perverted elected officials.
I read your columns faithfully and though I don't always agree, I find them thought provoking and worthy of careful consideration. I must say that paragraphs six and seven could be written with our current presidential candidates in mind. Denigrating the present, glorifying some utopian future and hateful talk will take it's toll on our democracy. Truth telling and mutual problem solving is sorely needed.
2
I do not think Hoffer's analysis is relevant to American Muslims - it may be applicable to the state of Arab muslims. American muslims live in a free society, a democratic country with liberal constitution and Muslims have all the opportunity of a free country. Why the children of a particular religion on this country are trying to kill their own citizens - we need to find answer to this question. At present we do not have any answer. Only plausible explanation can be childhood exposure in the family of a religious ideology that is based on hate. This created the ground for future Internet materials to corrupt the brain and create a monster based on ideology that is against life and civilization. This is a unique phenomena and it never happened - communist movement was not against life and civilization. Modern liberal democracy have to find ways to eliminate this virus, without sacrificing its values - today we are confused and clueless. We need creative idea not recycled old views.
This society is kinder to some than others. Not everyone has "all" the opportunity. Many don't and that number increases amongst all creeds and races. Family is not the only plausible explanation, especially in light of her family's expressed horror and shame at this.
By setting "family" up as the reason, you implicitly head down the path of blaming a clan, then the community, then everybody of the faith.
By setting "family" up as the reason, you implicitly head down the path of blaming a clan, then the community, then everybody of the faith.
How to deal with the problem of mass movements, which is to say how to deal with this problem even though not all manifestations of mass movement are negative, but to have a clear reply to mass movements in case they do become negative?
This seems to me a rather straightforward and easy question to answer: What you do is either not have an unwieldy mass of people to begin with (get quantity of humans correct and manageable in area) or even better, have the individuals who make up a mass become true individuals, separate humans with various qualities and therefore unlikely to just fall together and fuse in irrational manner.
But just listen to the response to mass phenomena by, for example, the two major political parties in the United States: First, we rarely hear anything about mass phenomena being a problem of too many people. Instead, we hear absurdities such as, and first from the right wing party, that there is too much individuality! As if the response to mass phenomena must be reduction of individuality and creation of apparently a mass of people to counter mass!
To give credit to the left wing party, the left is the party most likely to mention overpopulation--problem of numbers. But the left is also the party of socialism--a movement merely to get the mass to act in a certain way and is not at all a movement to get at the individuality of people. Getting at individuality means society of true merit, intelligent discrimination between individuals, not socialism.
This seems to me a rather straightforward and easy question to answer: What you do is either not have an unwieldy mass of people to begin with (get quantity of humans correct and manageable in area) or even better, have the individuals who make up a mass become true individuals, separate humans with various qualities and therefore unlikely to just fall together and fuse in irrational manner.
But just listen to the response to mass phenomena by, for example, the two major political parties in the United States: First, we rarely hear anything about mass phenomena being a problem of too many people. Instead, we hear absurdities such as, and first from the right wing party, that there is too much individuality! As if the response to mass phenomena must be reduction of individuality and creation of apparently a mass of people to counter mass!
To give credit to the left wing party, the left is the party most likely to mention overpopulation--problem of numbers. But the left is also the party of socialism--a movement merely to get the mass to act in a certain way and is not at all a movement to get at the individuality of people. Getting at individuality means society of true merit, intelligent discrimination between individuals, not socialism.
It's been a long time since we agreed on any topic Mr. Brooks. I would add that when religion is used to further the "true believer" and their doctrine the cocktail becomes very dangerous. There is no negotiation possible with people who cannot . They actually want a final battle where they perish and spend eternity in "heaven" with 70 virgins. This is how religious values, including Christianity, demean the present by offering a guilded future .
An excellent review of Hoffer who if I remember was a long shoreman. But the poverty of the Middle East is barely mentioned. While there is an ideology driving this, the ground of the fanaticism is not just ideas but actual real physical suffering, the have nost versus the haves.
Finally, Brooks finishes with this: we must defeat them militarily. No--that makes them stronger.
Finally, Brooks finishes with this: we must defeat them militarily. No--that makes them stronger.
2
The "social disintegration" Brooks points out is widespread in the Arab world, characterized by corrupt dictatorships and widespread poverty, but with a few fabulously rich potentates who have been largely supported by the U.S. lust for oil. Who wouldn't resent this situation and the oil-consuming nations which aid and abet it? If we did not consume tremendous amounts of oil and it were just some gooey substance in the ground -- best left un-burned -- would we have all this turmoil, fanaticism and terrorism?
Your entire article should have been entitled "A Description Of The Republican Party In This Election Cycle".
5
We live in a predatory society in which people feel powerless to solve our real, entrenched problems - a medical industrial complex milking Americans and denying real care to the poor, a heartless economic system that abuses the average American for the benefit of established interests, a rigid political system unresponsive to the real problems facing our society, and so on.
The spectacle of violence that ISIS represents simultaneously fulfills the need of both ISIS members to believe that they have the power to make change, and also of the people and politicians who loudly oppose ISIS, so they can continue to ignore the real problems and profound economic violence that allow such radical idealogies to flourish.
The spectacle of violence that ISIS represents simultaneously fulfills the need of both ISIS members to believe that they have the power to make change, and also of the people and politicians who loudly oppose ISIS, so they can continue to ignore the real problems and profound economic violence that allow such radical idealogies to flourish.
.
ISIS "destroyed militarily & humiliated" ???
Just not possible when no one wears uniforms. Lots (& lots) of "collateral damage" however. A "war" under those conditions only strengthens the enemy.
You need to re-title your column to "How AMERICA makes Radicals."
ISIS "destroyed militarily & humiliated" ???
Just not possible when no one wears uniforms. Lots (& lots) of "collateral damage" however. A "war" under those conditions only strengthens the enemy.
You need to re-title your column to "How AMERICA makes Radicals."
1
No lesson learned from Vietnam. Destined to make the same mistake.
1
Hoffer also said: "To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance." And one might add his idea that "It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak." I think it may be off the mark to think that ISIS makes radicals in so far as the terrorists seemingly start off as human beings. Take the Palestinian woman Tashfeen Malik for example. She grew up in Palestine, perhaps, with a feeling of statelessness and then at 18 went to Saudi Arabia where to be a woman is fairly close to being property. It is conceivable that she was already beyond what we think of as a normal human being. Some describe her as a diligent student, but her formative years had so tainted her sense of reality that hope of what we in America call a better life was already beside the point. The perversion of bad for good is beyond what we can normally understand because its motive is so deep and complex it defies easy explanations. While I admire Mr. Hofer, a philosopher is hardly the person to go to to understand so apparent an EVIL. He was talking about mass movements behind the Iron Curtain which though ruthless and bloody still had a plan and did manage to take control. Whereas ISIS' likelihood of success is marginal even though it is a nasty piece of business. The idea that the 7th Century will prevail against the 21st may be a bit too far of a stretch. A modern Freud will no doubt help us understand this!
David says, "The successful mass movement tells such people that the cause of their frustration is outside themselves," And "These movements generate a lot of hatred." Those are true statements, but they ignore the sub-conscious. We were all born with fear in our DNA from long ago. It is part of evolution, explains how we got this far and is sub-conscious. The more you have, the more your healthy fear begins to resemble symptoms of paranoia and the most common one is the sense that everyone is out to get you. Inner fear makes one predisposed to movements like ISIS, with all the hatred and disregard for mankind. We are very close to being able to detect fear in our DNA. The challenge will be what to do about those with too much of the stuff.
Agreed, the Middle East is in decay and has been for decades. We've tried everything we can to help it. Foreign aide, military aide, war, peace talks, doesn't matter it still decays. Maybe its time to "Let-Go" and let nature take its course. Maybe the best thing we can do is protect ourselves, our people, our land, our property from them. We've given it a great try, but its time to stop. No action might be the best action for us to take.
It seems that, intentionally or not, this column stands as an indictment of 30+ years of policies and public pronouncements that have left most of our own families wallowing in income stagnation, inequality and unrealizable potential while a small group walks off with most of the gains of our common labor. Read the comments here and elsewhere daily - across the political spectrum, people are convinced (rightly) their futures have been hijacked and (wrongly) that there is little they can do to recover it.
Is it therefore not a common sense - as opposed to ideological - argument to draw from this the lesson that only government can effectively referee the distribution of opportunity, that only a government that truly represents all the people and not a host of atomized interests can effectively promote the general welfare?
But we have un-created such a government. We need to start the long, painful and inevitably difficult work of putting that particular Humpty Dumpty back together again.
And by the way there is much to be optimistic about in doing so. Is it not the inspiring work of a generation or more to rebuild our planet, re-invent our energy systems, revitalize education, infrastructure, health care and other basic human needs, and once again set an example for all the world of what a society dedicated to broad-based human uplift can achieve?
And where is the leader who will articulate such a vision?
Is it therefore not a common sense - as opposed to ideological - argument to draw from this the lesson that only government can effectively referee the distribution of opportunity, that only a government that truly represents all the people and not a host of atomized interests can effectively promote the general welfare?
But we have un-created such a government. We need to start the long, painful and inevitably difficult work of putting that particular Humpty Dumpty back together again.
And by the way there is much to be optimistic about in doing so. Is it not the inspiring work of a generation or more to rebuild our planet, re-invent our energy systems, revitalize education, infrastructure, health care and other basic human needs, and once again set an example for all the world of what a society dedicated to broad-based human uplift can achieve?
And where is the leader who will articulate such a vision?
I watched the Donald Trump rally in South Carolina on the news last night. Your arguments of how people are radicalized could easily be applied to his "followers."
You liken Trump's followers to people buying carpets. When I listen to Trump, Cruz, Carson and the rest spur anti-Islam tirades and suggest we carpet bomb people and see if sand can glow (Cruz), or only allow Christians into our country (Bush), or that no Muslim can be president (Carson) and finally, that all Muslims should be barred from entering this country (Trump), I really think you should have your next article analyze this trend on the RIght.
How about an article, Mr. Brooks, entitled, "How Republicans Make Radicals"?
You liken Trump's followers to people buying carpets. When I listen to Trump, Cruz, Carson and the rest spur anti-Islam tirades and suggest we carpet bomb people and see if sand can glow (Cruz), or only allow Christians into our country (Bush), or that no Muslim can be president (Carson) and finally, that all Muslims should be barred from entering this country (Trump), I really think you should have your next article analyze this trend on the RIght.
How about an article, Mr. Brooks, entitled, "How Republicans Make Radicals"?
5
Mr. Brooks ignores the psychological parameters of these particular individuals who killed coworkers so horrifically. The female shooter was socially paranoid even at her conservative school in Pakistan. The male shooter was a survivor of a home in which his mother endured domestic violence. Only the coworkers of the male shooter were killed. The shooters did not perpetrate further slaughter and then stand their ground to achieve martyrdom. Perhaps mass movment radicalization provided some sort of pretext, but to me this incident seems similar to mass shootings propelled by mental illness and enabled by the ready availability of weaponry.
62
There are no media reportings that the female shooter was "socially paranoid" other than she was shy which describes many female college students. The majority of survivors of domestic abuse don't commit murder let alone mass murder. There is still some question about why the terrorists target was his workplace although perhaps he felt secure enough to know he could get away with his plot there & had reached his tipping point at the holiday party which lit the ticking time bomb of their planned jihad on the homeland. They did stand their ground against the swarms of police, even armored tank, that cornered them by throwing objects out the window & firing back at the police which could've been their way of achieving martyrdom instead of quietly sneaking off across the border in another getaway car. I don't believe they were mentally ill but rather followers of a radical jihadist movement that seeks to support the ISIS goal of building a caliphate against the infidels in the West. Mentally ill individuals are rarely able to spend months plotting their activity without bringing attention to themselves & their aberrant behavior unless all military planning to kill the enemy is classified as "mentally ill".
1
Nice book report, but t doesn't explain the San Bernadino couple, who weren't disaffected.
Uh, yes, they were.
Thank you for this interesting piece, and, yes, we feel the need to make sense of what is likely to be a long-term challenge, with innocents of all beliefs continuing to die. In this case, however, it might be reasonable also to take the father of one of the terrorists at his word when he said that his son "obsessed" about Israel. What sense can we make of that?
Thank you, David, for bringing Eric Hoffer said into the discussion. In the mid-1960s, "The True Believer" was required reading in my high school. It has informed my political thinking since then, keeping me off a number of reefs. I frequently ask folks if they are familiar with it and get blank stares. Perhaps as part of our national response to the broad set of available ideologies currently challenging us, we should all read it, share it, require it in schools.
56
"The people who serve mass movements are not revolting against oppression. They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams. They sometimes live with an unrelieved boredom. Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration because they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity. Fanatics, the French philosopher Ernest Renan argued, fear liberty more than they fear persecution."
Sounds like a very apt description of the republican base, especially the evangelicals. They seem to have much in common with the Islamic fundamentalists psychologically. If they were not as well fed as they are, chances are they might resort to some level of violence themselves. People are people no matter where they live and how they pray.
Sounds like a very apt description of the republican base, especially the evangelicals. They seem to have much in common with the Islamic fundamentalists psychologically. If they were not as well fed as they are, chances are they might resort to some level of violence themselves. People are people no matter where they live and how they pray.
1
Trenchant analysis until the very end when your understandable frustration throws you hopelessly off the rails. How will we defeat ISIS militarily, David? Which country will we invade first? Which next? How many innocent muslims will we kill along the way? How many Americans will die in the process? It's pretty easy for you and the Republican presidential candidates to call for war and military humiliation in op-ed columns and prepared speeches, but it's another thing entirely to actually do it. And no amount of military humiliation is going to stem the tide of reckless, fundamentalist terrorism until we stop propping up both the source (Saudi Arabia) and the petri dish (Egypt).
2
David is using ridicule to discredit in advance the advancing revolution in America. Frustration is growing not just among "oddballs", but among the former and nearly departed denizens of the middle and working classes. Calling them losers is to dehumanize them, the prerequisite to .... The winning class loves the unrestricted freedom of the market as almost all were born into it or are its well paid apologists. But, as every breathing citizen knows, the American free market has destroyed the "sturdy" social contracts it was once founded upon. Yes, they fear the free market more than they fear persecution because at least when your persecuted somehow you matter to the perpetrators, but if you are abandoned, it is if you don't exist. That is the growing existential crisis.
You are missing (or prefer to ignore) the real point: most of the terrorist groups have been financed by Saudi Arabia via universities, books, sessions, trainings. Once more, US is quite naïve by ignoring the facts: in Syria, via the ignorance of certain politicians, we have provided assistance to the real terrorists groups....like in Irak.....who are now fighting against us with our own arms. Time to wake up. Iran is not the enemy...Saudi Arabia is.
2
"If the true believer permitted himself to lose faith in his creed then all that self-imposed suffering would have been for nothing."
Brooks has put his finger on something here, at least in my experience, that's very real. Where Apocalyptic groups such as ISIS are concerned, however, the real becomes the surreal. Both Islam and Christianity indulge heavily in end-of the-world scenarios, in both cases in response to a level of evil in the world beyond God's ability to tolerate it. For true believers, then, it's an absolute must that this end-of-the-world as we know it actually occur. If it doesn't, especially in times as evil and perverse as our own, then the creed must be false, and that's what's really intolerable. Better to destroy the world than to accept the error of one's faith. Ironically, the Bible over and over refers to this aspect of humanity as "overweening pride."
Brooks has put his finger on something here, at least in my experience, that's very real. Where Apocalyptic groups such as ISIS are concerned, however, the real becomes the surreal. Both Islam and Christianity indulge heavily in end-of the-world scenarios, in both cases in response to a level of evil in the world beyond God's ability to tolerate it. For true believers, then, it's an absolute must that this end-of-the-world as we know it actually occur. If it doesn't, especially in times as evil and perverse as our own, then the creed must be false, and that's what's really intolerable. Better to destroy the world than to accept the error of one's faith. Ironically, the Bible over and over refers to this aspect of humanity as "overweening pride."
Eric Hoffer remains the "touchstone" for understanding the maddness that infects us as we lose the vision of hope in finding a cure for what ails us.
1
'If the true believer permitted himself to lose faith in his creed then all that self-imposed suffering would have been for nothing.'
This pinpoints, I think, a key element of absolutist ideology: underlying that aggressive zeal is a mountain of doubt. The mere existence of a competing ideology suggests the Believer could possibly be wrong. This is why ISIS must suppress and kill infidels; why Christianity spent more than 1500 years punishing the Jews for rejecting Jesus' claim to Messiah-hood; and why Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge purged intellectuals (which it defined as anyone who wore glasses). The mere existence of an alternative is an implicit challenge, raising the possibility the Believer is wrong. This is why simply minding our own business, as many neo-isolationists among the NYT commentariat, advocate, will never work. As long as somewhere there is a woman driving a car, wearing shorts, learning to read, using birth control, they will come after us. GW Bush, like a stopped clock, was right twice a day: They really do 'hate our freedoms'.
Thanks for bringing up Hoffer! It has continually mystified me that we're trying to conduct an intelligent discussion of extremism without quoting one of the key works on the topic - it's like trying to discuss capitalism without The Wealth of Nations or Judaism without Maimonides.
This pinpoints, I think, a key element of absolutist ideology: underlying that aggressive zeal is a mountain of doubt. The mere existence of a competing ideology suggests the Believer could possibly be wrong. This is why ISIS must suppress and kill infidels; why Christianity spent more than 1500 years punishing the Jews for rejecting Jesus' claim to Messiah-hood; and why Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge purged intellectuals (which it defined as anyone who wore glasses). The mere existence of an alternative is an implicit challenge, raising the possibility the Believer is wrong. This is why simply minding our own business, as many neo-isolationists among the NYT commentariat, advocate, will never work. As long as somewhere there is a woman driving a car, wearing shorts, learning to read, using birth control, they will come after us. GW Bush, like a stopped clock, was right twice a day: They really do 'hate our freedoms'.
Thanks for bringing up Hoffer! It has continually mystified me that we're trying to conduct an intelligent discussion of extremism without quoting one of the key works on the topic - it's like trying to discuss capitalism without The Wealth of Nations or Judaism without Maimonides.
1
David pooh-poohs the "materialistic" influence of guns, but technology ended the war with Japan and significantly altered our conflict with the U.S.S.R. If we really followed the historical reasons for the Second Amendment, we'd all be able to buy personal nuclear weapons. We need to lessen the lethality of some of the guns we can buy in America. I'm not disagreeing with what Brooks said, it's just that conservatives are good dangling bright, shiny objects in front of us to distract us from other equally present dangers or problems that need addressing.
1
What is it about modern life in general that encourages people half a world away to throw themselves into a "mass movement" that will cost them their lives in the end? We do live in a society that is afraid of practically everything, and our support systems are disintegrating because we have become afraid of being part of any community except the online community. Our kids hid away in their rooms with their computers and by the time they reach their mid-20s, they have been sucked into the online community and isolated from the people around them who are real.
We need to reach out to those among us who are sinking into the online mire and reestablish our real communities. Otherwise, the next generation is going to be full of radical individuals looking for some online cause to feel like they are a part of something, and they will be taken in by the ISIS of their times.
We need to reach out to those among us who are sinking into the online mire and reestablish our real communities. Otherwise, the next generation is going to be full of radical individuals looking for some online cause to feel like they are a part of something, and they will be taken in by the ISIS of their times.
1
They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams. They sometimes live with an unrelieved boredom.
Hoffer but somewhat twisted out of shape, but ok.
Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration because they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity. Fanatics, the French philosopher Ernest Renan argued, fear liberty more than they fear persecution.
This is found no where in Hoffer's work. In fact, the says the opposite and this is a shameful grafting of other ideas onto Hoffer for the republican anger machine agenda.
Mass movements, he argues, only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration.
This is also a pretty good description of what the republican agenda is for America from refusing to support a large enough recession recovery package, on to dismanteling the safety net right out from under the millions still un and under employed and now refusing to raise the minimum wage that is now half the value of what it was when reagan took office.
Doctor, heal thyself.
Hoffer but somewhat twisted out of shape, but ok.
Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration because they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity. Fanatics, the French philosopher Ernest Renan argued, fear liberty more than they fear persecution.
This is found no where in Hoffer's work. In fact, the says the opposite and this is a shameful grafting of other ideas onto Hoffer for the republican anger machine agenda.
Mass movements, he argues, only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration.
This is also a pretty good description of what the republican agenda is for America from refusing to support a large enough recession recovery package, on to dismanteling the safety net right out from under the millions still un and under employed and now refusing to raise the minimum wage that is now half the value of what it was when reagan took office.
Doctor, heal thyself.
69
Read the following quote from Brooks' column. Doesn't it describe the "populist" element in the Republican party today -- with its nostalgia for the past, its poisonous racial resentment, and its contempt for climate science and "fact-based" understanding of reality?
The successful mass movement tells such people that the cause of their frustration is outside themselves, and that the only way to alter their personal situation is to transform the world in some radical way. / To nurture this self-sacrificing attitude, the successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future, but the present is just an uninspiring pit. . . . ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation. . . . These movements generate a lot of hatred.
The successful mass movement tells such people that the cause of their frustration is outside themselves, and that the only way to alter their personal situation is to transform the world in some radical way. / To nurture this self-sacrificing attitude, the successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future, but the present is just an uninspiring pit. . . . ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation. . . . These movements generate a lot of hatred.
But many of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia, a country which is not disintegrating. Those behind the train bombings in London and Madrid were also not from disintegrating countries and were not marginalized, alienated people. Major Hassan (Fort Hood) was a major in the U.S. army. Do I need to go on? While many Muslim-majority countries are disintegrating, that doesn't seem to be the motivator behind these atrocities.
Brooks is attempting to off load the responsibility for these attacks onto sociological phenomena when he should be looking into the beliefs themselves.
Brooks is attempting to off load the responsibility for these attacks onto sociological phenomena when he should be looking into the beliefs themselves.
1
With only a few tweaks, he could be talking about the Tea Party instead of ISIS.
2
Interestingly, Mr. Brooks' description of "mass movement" describes Christianity (or any religion really) to a T. "self-sacrifice" and "glorious past and a utopian future" are fairly central concepts in fact.
The US should be aware of Mr. Brooks' observation as it selects a president from a group of zealots each striving to be more hateful than the next; each more devout than the next. Perhaps the most important insight implicit in Mr. Brooks' article is that ISIS is succeeding in remaking America in its image.
The US should be aware of Mr. Brooks' observation as it selects a president from a group of zealots each striving to be more hateful than the next; each more devout than the next. Perhaps the most important insight implicit in Mr. Brooks' article is that ISIS is succeeding in remaking America in its image.
86
ISIS makes radicals because Wahhabism makes ISIS.
Absent the theological underpinnings of Wahhabist doctrine, ISIS has no validation for its claim to a caliphate.
Absent the ~$14B Saudi funding since 9/11 and export of Wahhabist doctrine through imans, mosques and madrassas, ISIS has no local pools of recruits.
Absent the daily human rights violations of unbelievers in the Saudi kingdom, ISIS has no role theocratic role model for governance.
The only real issue is why US and European governments remain complicit in the continued role that Wahhabism plays in the world. None of the civilized countries in the world sanction Saudi Arabia for human rights abuses. So Wahhabism continues to infect Islam beyond the kingdom's borders and the world suffers for it.
That's how ISIS makes radicals.
Absent the theological underpinnings of Wahhabist doctrine, ISIS has no validation for its claim to a caliphate.
Absent the ~$14B Saudi funding since 9/11 and export of Wahhabist doctrine through imans, mosques and madrassas, ISIS has no local pools of recruits.
Absent the daily human rights violations of unbelievers in the Saudi kingdom, ISIS has no role theocratic role model for governance.
The only real issue is why US and European governments remain complicit in the continued role that Wahhabism plays in the world. None of the civilized countries in the world sanction Saudi Arabia for human rights abuses. So Wahhabism continues to infect Islam beyond the kingdom's borders and the world suffers for it.
That's how ISIS makes radicals.
4
It's fairly clear that Hoffer's context was the recent experience of fascism, communism, and the cold war that permeated American and world politics at the time. It's also clear that we are currently experiencing far too many events and attitudes that mimic those that led to WWII: extremist ideology rising around the world, well-publicized acts of bizarre cruelty, and everyone's favorite go-to solution: demonizing a certain group. Toss in fear, tribalism, military buildups and recklessness, and all you need is a major attack on the US military and voila! Another era of gonzo profits for military contractors!
An excerpt from David Brooks’ column citing an Eric Hoffer’s book:
Hoffer summarizes his thought this way, “For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap.”
For us regular mortal human beings, all the aforementioned could be summarized into only three words: FAITH AND HOPE.
Hoffer summarizes his thought this way, “For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap.”
For us regular mortal human beings, all the aforementioned could be summarized into only three words: FAITH AND HOPE.
David's descriptions sound a lot like the GOP and its current crop of delusion bound candidates. They think that they know what Americans want. They think they know that all unemployed Americans are lazy moochers. They know that being unemployed is walk in the park. They tell us that we have to work hard to get ahead. But they don't walk among us or listen to us because we don't give them money or flatter their egos. They listen to the same tapes over and over again, tapes that say America is great if you work hard. Reality is out here in the suburbs and cities, on the unemployment lines, in the soup kitchens, in overcrowded clinics, in homes where money is running out and parents are upset because they cannot provide a decent life now for themselves or their offspring.
The GOP and big business should be more worried about what's happening in America as a result of their decisions not to pay us decent wages, not to offer us decent medical care, decent education, and other things that countries less rich than ours offer all their residents. Perhaps it's a remnant of our slave owning days but this country seems determined to keep on fighting the Civil War, about a woman's right to choose, the right to vote, and the right to live without someone shoving their religious beliefs on everyone else. In fact the GOP has encouraged some of the radical actions it claims to despise like killings of abortion providers, hate crimes against Muslims, etc.
The GOP and big business should be more worried about what's happening in America as a result of their decisions not to pay us decent wages, not to offer us decent medical care, decent education, and other things that countries less rich than ours offer all their residents. Perhaps it's a remnant of our slave owning days but this country seems determined to keep on fighting the Civil War, about a woman's right to choose, the right to vote, and the right to live without someone shoving their religious beliefs on everyone else. In fact the GOP has encouraged some of the radical actions it claims to despise like killings of abortion providers, hate crimes against Muslims, etc.
1
"driven primarily by frustration...personal ambitions are unfulfilled...lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams' after 7 years of Democratic Administration and unemployment falling to 5%. This sounds like the Tea Party. It also sounds like the Bernie Sanders Democrats. Yearning for a mythical good old days that aren't coming back.
Mr. Brooks, you offer a great analysis of the psychology behind ISIS, but you ignore the actual causes. The West has been exploiting and committing atrocities in the Middle East for centuries. First we take over most of the area through colonialism, even defining the political boundaries given to the postcolonial states. We prop up oppressive dictators; we claim to be in favor of democracy but support corrupt governments with morals antithetical to ours, like Saudi Arabia. We assassinate democratically elected leaders, like we did in Iran. And this is all well before the past two decades, when we took over two countries, bombed them to all hell, and were caught torturing people in obscene ways. Meanwhile many Muslim immigrants in the West do feel cut off, unable to get secure employment, experiencing racism. For all these reasons, bombing them more out of a reaction to them attacking us just fuels their same drive to kill us. The only way such attacks will respond is with love - love for the immigrants (or refugees) who come to the U.S., non-intervention in the Middle East, and sensible efforts to build the place up. ISIS will collapse under it's own brutality. But to make them do so, we need to look within ourselves and realize that it is our politics, rather than their religion, that created them.
98
Amen!
Tommyrot. Well before colonialism, the Middle East was a stew of warring tribes. If you read up on the history of Islam itself, you'll find they were busy killing each other in the days of Muhammad and his immediate successors - that's where the Sunni-Shia schism originates - not to mention persecuting the Jews. We may provide them with an excuse, or a pretext, if you like: but it has been said any stick will do to beat a dog, and I would add, if your goal is to beat something, so will any dog.
As for 'sensible efforts to build the place up', that IS colonialism and imposing our lifestyle.
As for 'sensible efforts to build the place up', that IS colonialism and imposing our lifestyle.
I cannot shake this idea that we have a well-organized military structure that shapes minds people to accomplish military goals in contrast to places where no such structure exists. What do people in such places do with their quest for power, validation, need for security and in some cases their hero complex?
We have learned that this "structure" is not something we can GIVE to a group of people. This movement has been constructed out of the chaos of their civilization and radicalization is a product of chaos, and perhaps a way to force re-generation.
And yes, we have some of that at home too in our own political environment which is why we really need to pay attention.
We have learned that this "structure" is not something we can GIVE to a group of people. This movement has been constructed out of the chaos of their civilization and radicalization is a product of chaos, and perhaps a way to force re-generation.
And yes, we have some of that at home too in our own political environment which is why we really need to pay attention.
Mr. Brooks,
Are you talking about ISIS or the Trump faction of the GOP?
Are you talking about ISIS or the Trump faction of the GOP?
2
If one applies Hoffer's thesis to America's current irrational, suicidal, apocalyptic game plan, one must conclude either that Obama is the most heavily-armed delusional radical extant–(the only radical of true existential consequence), or that Obama is completely mad.
“I’ve been very clear that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on my watch.”
– Barack Obama to Thomas Friedman, NYT
Obama's hollow commitment covering only his remaining months in office exposes his delusions, his true intentions, his dangerous pathology.
DELUSIONS:
Obama's insane nuke deal put the world on an inexorable path to nuclear holocaust.
Obama owns the post-Obama years in perpetuity.
INTENTIONS:
• To burnish his legacy with transformational and Leftist bona fides: Security of America and the world not on his radar
• To protect his legacy at all cost, e.g., WSJ: "Obama Says Iranian Missile Test Won’t Derail Nuclear Deal"
• To shift the balance of power in ME from the West to apocalyptic radical Islam with a nuclear-armed Iran & a marginalized if not vaporized Israel
• To set the predicate for dishonest Leftist historians/hagiographers/professors to hold him blameless when–NB: "when," not "if"–Iran gets the bomb… and uses it
The magnitude & frequency of Obama's acts of irreversible damage to America vary inversely and exponentially with his time left in office.
A despot can do a lot of damage in 14 months and a deluded one blinded by his own imagined brilliance will.
“I’ve been very clear that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on my watch.”
– Barack Obama to Thomas Friedman, NYT
Obama's hollow commitment covering only his remaining months in office exposes his delusions, his true intentions, his dangerous pathology.
DELUSIONS:
Obama's insane nuke deal put the world on an inexorable path to nuclear holocaust.
Obama owns the post-Obama years in perpetuity.
INTENTIONS:
• To burnish his legacy with transformational and Leftist bona fides: Security of America and the world not on his radar
• To protect his legacy at all cost, e.g., WSJ: "Obama Says Iranian Missile Test Won’t Derail Nuclear Deal"
• To shift the balance of power in ME from the West to apocalyptic radical Islam with a nuclear-armed Iran & a marginalized if not vaporized Israel
• To set the predicate for dishonest Leftist historians/hagiographers/professors to hold him blameless when–NB: "when," not "if"–Iran gets the bomb… and uses it
The magnitude & frequency of Obama's acts of irreversible damage to America vary inversely and exponentially with his time left in office.
A despot can do a lot of damage in 14 months and a deluded one blinded by his own imagined brilliance will.
2
Once again, Brooks uses terms incorrectly, and clearly for purposes of elite propaganda. Yes, I'm using the "p" word.
A "radical" is someone who works for fundamental systemic change, as opposed to the liberal who seeks modest reforms to the existing system, or the conservative who seeks to return to the system's previous status during a "better time" in the past. Martin Luther King Jr. was a radical. Helen Keller and Dorothy Day were radicals.
Brooks is using the elitist trick (he's not alone in this) of equating radical with "extremist." An extremist is someone who is willing to kill large numbers of people to achieve their political/religious/social goals. This couple who murdered those folks in San Bernardino are extremists. So are the KKK and Al-Qaeda. And if we'd be willing to apply an equality of principle to corporate and state actors, Dow Chemical, Andrew Mellon, Jay Gould, King Leopold II of Belgium, and George W. Bush belong in that category as well. We usually don't use that language for elites, which is one of the benefits of running the system - you can control what words are used and how.
Finally, King, Day, and Keller participated in and organized mass movements to create the changes they saw as essential. Though they had only limited success, mass movements are the only reason we've made any substantive changes in this country. Brooks, who is terrified of substantive change, has equated mass movements to international terrorism.
Shameful, but typical.
A "radical" is someone who works for fundamental systemic change, as opposed to the liberal who seeks modest reforms to the existing system, or the conservative who seeks to return to the system's previous status during a "better time" in the past. Martin Luther King Jr. was a radical. Helen Keller and Dorothy Day were radicals.
Brooks is using the elitist trick (he's not alone in this) of equating radical with "extremist." An extremist is someone who is willing to kill large numbers of people to achieve their political/religious/social goals. This couple who murdered those folks in San Bernardino are extremists. So are the KKK and Al-Qaeda. And if we'd be willing to apply an equality of principle to corporate and state actors, Dow Chemical, Andrew Mellon, Jay Gould, King Leopold II of Belgium, and George W. Bush belong in that category as well. We usually don't use that language for elites, which is one of the benefits of running the system - you can control what words are used and how.
Finally, King, Day, and Keller participated in and organized mass movements to create the changes they saw as essential. Though they had only limited success, mass movements are the only reason we've made any substantive changes in this country. Brooks, who is terrified of substantive change, has equated mass movements to international terrorism.
Shameful, but typical.
3
Interesting analysis, but how does it apply to the Redlands couple? He was an environmental engineer, with a good job (how many 28-year-olds are making $70K a year?), a new wife and baby, family nearby. She was a pharmacology graduate, from a family with the ability to travel internationally, and enrol in special courses, without concerns for cost. They don't seem like a case in point of frustration and unfulfilled ambition.
122
This is part of the problem. When the metric is how much money one makes and whether or not you can travel in style at will you miss most of the freaking world.
Because they weren't destitute in financial terms is not important. Their frustration and ambition were not about money.
BTW, $70k in So Cal is not poverty wages but it is still very little for a man to support a wife, a kid, and a mother. It is far from enough to qualify for a mortgage.
BTW, $70k in So Cal is not poverty wages but it is still very little for a man to support a wife, a kid, and a mother. It is far from enough to qualify for a mortgage.
The mass movement to elect Bernie Sanders has none of Brooks' qualifying features.
The protests against the war in Viet Nam is another glaring example. Let's not forget the warhawks and their supporters were banging the war drums and vilifying opponents in exactly the same manner when the object of their fear was communism.
The protests against the war in Viet Nam is another glaring example. Let's not forget the warhawks and their supporters were banging the war drums and vilifying opponents in exactly the same manner when the object of their fear was communism.
The concept of “suicide bombers” and events like the San Bernardino killings must be reevaluated. Throughout human history, and in the Bible, killing infidels and nonbelievers was advocated as a way to get eternal salvation. These religious “believers” do not think they are going to die with these terrorist/religious efforts. No…..they think that their next breath will be in paradise for eternal bliss. The mindset is just the opposite of suicide and “self death.”
Religious fervor can be “mind altering” and dangerous. How does any society protect against people who wish to enter paradise by killing infidels?
Religious fervor can be “mind altering” and dangerous. How does any society protect against people who wish to enter paradise by killing infidels?
1
It is not unusual for people to be willing to " self-sacrifice " in the pursuit of what they believe is worthy. In The American Revolutionary War, Nathan Hale, after being captured by the British, declared " I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country ". Today he is, rightfully, regarded as a hero.
I do not know how close you are to Ross Douthat or whether or not you read his column. The legacy of the Buckleys and Fred C. Koch has claimed many more lives than ISIL ever will. It remains to be seen whether Hoffer's True Believers will cost us our planet.
I am a liberal and as such I am trying to find the complex solutions to the myriad of problems that plague us today. I do not know all of the solutions but I know tomorrow will bring new and even more difficult problems and less tax and less government will not solve those problems.
I understand the needs of True Believers and I know American history. America was supposed to be a liberal country it was supposed to evolve. I understand how hard it is to evolve when you are the richest most powerful nation the world has ever known but America was founded by liberals who founded a nation whose only guiding principle was evolution.
We cannot solve the problem of men like Ross Douthat who need a Rock on which to stand but we can go back to an America that is always in the process of creating a more perfect union. Our only defense against True Believers is an America that commands us to be the architects of a better future. The Creator of America's founding is not the Deity of Muslims Christians or Jews , He is the Creator of all of us and HE left us in charge and that message is the only message that can dissuade the True Believers.
This is our world and we are all obligated to make this a place that we can be proud of.
I am a liberal and as such I am trying to find the complex solutions to the myriad of problems that plague us today. I do not know all of the solutions but I know tomorrow will bring new and even more difficult problems and less tax and less government will not solve those problems.
I understand the needs of True Believers and I know American history. America was supposed to be a liberal country it was supposed to evolve. I understand how hard it is to evolve when you are the richest most powerful nation the world has ever known but America was founded by liberals who founded a nation whose only guiding principle was evolution.
We cannot solve the problem of men like Ross Douthat who need a Rock on which to stand but we can go back to an America that is always in the process of creating a more perfect union. Our only defense against True Believers is an America that commands us to be the architects of a better future. The Creator of America's founding is not the Deity of Muslims Christians or Jews , He is the Creator of all of us and HE left us in charge and that message is the only message that can dissuade the True Believers.
This is our world and we are all obligated to make this a place that we can be proud of.
2
I don't believe this theory that people become extremist because of frustration: many of them are middle class or higher. People become extremist because they are idealists and want to commit themselves to a cause. What makes Islamism attractive as such a cause is the same thing what made communism attractive 60 years ago: the combination of aura of success and a credible theory for the future.
Look at the world through the eyes of an Islamist: forty years they were nowhere. Then they won in Afghanistan. Nowadays there are Islamist insurrections and attacks in many places in the world. Much of the Islamic world has become more conservative. And now they have their Islamic State that arose out of nothing within a very short time. Satellites are being established right now in Yemen, Libya and Nigeria. And just as in Afghanistan the infidels keep helping, now in Syria, Yemen and Libya. That must be because God has blinded them.
See also my essay:
http://nation-building.blogspot.nl/2013/07/how-communism-is-similar-to-i...
Look at the world through the eyes of an Islamist: forty years they were nowhere. Then they won in Afghanistan. Nowadays there are Islamist insurrections and attacks in many places in the world. Much of the Islamic world has become more conservative. And now they have their Islamic State that arose out of nothing within a very short time. Satellites are being established right now in Yemen, Libya and Nigeria. And just as in Afghanistan the infidels keep helping, now in Syria, Yemen and Libya. That must be because God has blinded them.
See also my essay:
http://nation-building.blogspot.nl/2013/07/how-communism-is-similar-to-i...
1
First -- the US -- the outsiders -- invade a Muslim country (Iraq) create chaos, massive loss of life and no solutions. Then we aid and abet the Saudis by purchasing their oil and ignoring that the majority of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis and that the Saudi royal family supports a brutal form of Islam and finances terror organizations whole oppressing their own people, third the US continues to meddle in the problems we helped to create in the Middle East, fourth we have lunatics running for office in this country who take every opportunity to offend, demean etc. every Muslim and we support one of the most offensive men in the Middle East -- Netanyahu, and with ugly rhetoric we make native American Muslims feel unwelcome in their own country until they become radicalized. It's rather simple but Mr. Brooks doesn't want to look at those facts of the situation.
123
Talk about not wanting to look at the facts! This is nonsense on stilts. Radical Islam existed well before WW I and was well enough established for Hoffer to list Islam among the True Believer ideologies in his 1951 book.
At the bottom of this 'everything's our fault' mantra is, I suggest, just another version of American Exceptionalism. Instead of being the Shining City on a Hill, which can do nothing wrong, we are the Root of All Evil, which does nothing right - but either way the key word is 'do'. Only America has agency and volition: the rest of the world comprises helpless puppets merely reacting. (Shades of the Bush advisor who said 'when we act, we create our own reality'.) This fallacy is reassuring, since if everything is merely a reaction to what we do, then we are 100% in control of events, and all we have to do is stop doing whatever we're doing. It is a naïve, dangerous construction of world events. The proponents of radical Islam are religious fanatics. They hate 'infidels' for existing and offering an implicit alternative to their worldview - and our continued existence calls into question the omnipotence of their deity. Since He doesn't smite us, they feel compelled to do it for Him and earn a golden ticket into Paradise.
At the bottom of this 'everything's our fault' mantra is, I suggest, just another version of American Exceptionalism. Instead of being the Shining City on a Hill, which can do nothing wrong, we are the Root of All Evil, which does nothing right - but either way the key word is 'do'. Only America has agency and volition: the rest of the world comprises helpless puppets merely reacting. (Shades of the Bush advisor who said 'when we act, we create our own reality'.) This fallacy is reassuring, since if everything is merely a reaction to what we do, then we are 100% in control of events, and all we have to do is stop doing whatever we're doing. It is a naïve, dangerous construction of world events. The proponents of radical Islam are religious fanatics. They hate 'infidels' for existing and offering an implicit alternative to their worldview - and our continued existence calls into question the omnipotence of their deity. Since He doesn't smite us, they feel compelled to do it for Him and earn a golden ticket into Paradise.
1
David Brooks fails to mention our own responsibility in creating ISIS. The invasion of Iraq and the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people. While this doesn't exculpate the hideous crimes that were committed in Paris and California it no doubt influenced the mind set of the killers.
4
This is sounding like Trump and the other republican candidates: "the successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future, but the present is just an uninspiring pit."
1
The real question is, "what is in the Islam faith that can cause radicalization remotely, especially people living in free and democratic societies"? You don't see scores of Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Buddahs, etc having these global religious jihadis. Time for the billions of human Muslims to step up and show the world what Islam truley is. If not, someone else will and they won't be happy.
3
If the invasion of Iraq, the bombing of Libya and Syria gave rise to ISIL, why would another invasion be it's demise? This is a cancer of body and mind, that requires deft surgery and physiological assistance.
4
Much of what Brooks says here also applies to Christianity and other faiths. So why should we not follow Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins and reject religion altogether? Quoting Brooks...
(1) "[T]he successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future, but the present is just an uninspiring pit." In Christianity, the glorious past is the Garden of Eden; the Utopian future is the Second Coming of Christ. The present is the sinful period after the Fall of Man.
(2) "[M]ass movements get their followers to believe that ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation." In Christianity, truth comes through divine revelation. Direct observation (i.e., science) is distrusted. Hello, climate denial.
(3) "The individual’s identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups." Religion is tribal. If you believe the right things about God and morality, you're saved. If you don't, you're damned. Hello, gay bashing and holy war.
(4) "The glorious end times are just around the corner." There is a strong current in American Christianity that views the present turmoil in the Middle East as a sign of the Apocalypse.
By Brooks' own lights, the roots of radicalism are all present in mainstream religion. Harris and Dawkins argue that this makes religion dangerous. Brooks owes us an argument for why it is not.
(1) "[T]he successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future, but the present is just an uninspiring pit." In Christianity, the glorious past is the Garden of Eden; the Utopian future is the Second Coming of Christ. The present is the sinful period after the Fall of Man.
(2) "[M]ass movements get their followers to believe that ultimate truth exists in another realm and cannot be derived from lived experience and direct observation." In Christianity, truth comes through divine revelation. Direct observation (i.e., science) is distrusted. Hello, climate denial.
(3) "The individual’s identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups." Religion is tribal. If you believe the right things about God and morality, you're saved. If you don't, you're damned. Hello, gay bashing and holy war.
(4) "The glorious end times are just around the corner." There is a strong current in American Christianity that views the present turmoil in the Middle East as a sign of the Apocalypse.
By Brooks' own lights, the roots of radicalism are all present in mainstream religion. Harris and Dawkins argue that this makes religion dangerous. Brooks owes us an argument for why it is not.
6
How long will it take for refugees living in overcrowded conditions like in Jordan before they decide to choose "wild hope" over the insufferable boredom and misery of everyday life year after year?
2
Maybe Brooks should write about what causes our youth to be radicalized? When we understand what cause white youth to join the Aryan Nation, black youth to join The Bloods or The Crips and Hispanic youth to join gangs like MS13 we can understand what it takes to stop the growth of gangs like Isis. Decades of jailing our gang members has done little to stop their growth. What makes us think bombing Syria or Iraq is going to beat the gang called Isis in to submission. The question that should be asked is why the disenchanted youth of the world are drawn to such a barbaric gang like Isis. We would like to think they are drawn by religion but in reality they are drawn by disillusionment of their current life. Recently it was said most of Isis recruits are not devoutly religious. That means they join Isis not to fight for something but to fight against anything. Truly how religious could the thugs who conducted the Paris attacks be if they were known to the authorities for selling drugs and pity crime.
7
"Mass movements, he argues, only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration," David Brooks paraphrases Eric Hoffer.
Iraq did not decay or disintegrate on its own. Saddam Hussein did not cause the decay and disintegration of Iraq. The United States caused the decay and disintegration of Iraq.
Forget about how ISIS "makes" radicals, much as those like David Brooks wish to distract us. We, the United States, made ISIS. So ultimately, we, the United States, made the radicals.
And people like David Brooks, erstwhile handmaidens of forgetfulness and unreason, try to convince us to fight fire with gasoline.
Iraq did not decay or disintegrate on its own. Saddam Hussein did not cause the decay and disintegration of Iraq. The United States caused the decay and disintegration of Iraq.
Forget about how ISIS "makes" radicals, much as those like David Brooks wish to distract us. We, the United States, made ISIS. So ultimately, we, the United States, made the radicals.
And people like David Brooks, erstwhile handmaidens of forgetfulness and unreason, try to convince us to fight fire with gasoline.
6
They were ricalized in Pakistan
David Brooks learned to write clever book reports as a sophomore in Prep School. He has not advanced very much intellectually, consistently writing banal columns, or, as in this case, taking an important issue and seriously mischaracterizing the problem: Guns not important! Fanaticism on the part of Muslims but no mention of "Christian" fanaticism!
But Brooks' columns ARE valuable. They often generate intelligent responses that focus intelligently on real issues. That has happened here.
But Brooks' columns ARE valuable. They often generate intelligent responses that focus intelligently on real issues. That has happened here.
4
A surprising number of comments here are reasonably intelligent responses, which is unusual for a Brooks column comment thread. More usually no matter what he writes, the cadre will somehow turn it into an occasion for a screed against the Kochs (I hate them, too) and the GOP (I've voted for a Republican only perhaps twice, and not for any office higher than state assembly) yada yada blah blah. Which is why I rarely bother with them.
The comments would be more useful in this case as well if they could somehow be limited to those who've actually read Eric Hoffer's book.
The comments would be more useful in this case as well if they could somehow be limited to those who've actually read Eric Hoffer's book.
How can you dismiss the "materialistic element" as though it were irrelevant? If it weren't for the "materialistic element" of people's flesh being torn apart by bullets, nobody would care. You are truly a blinkered ideological idiot.
3
But David, if they hadn't acquired the guns, then simply couldn't have done what they did. I might be able to outrun a knife, not a bullet however.
6
And, remember, most of ISIS' weaponry came from the Iraqi Army as they cut and ran instead of fighting. The U.S. left behind huge arsenals. But what did Iraqis have to fight for? 15 minutes of electricity per day in Sadr City? A country riven by US forces.? Hundreds of thousands of civilians killed in our invasion and occupation? A corrupt Shia dictator installed by Mr. Bush, Cheney and all the other misguided officials bent on world domination? Mr. Brooks correctly cites Mr. Hoffer, but uses his premise to reach false conclusions.
1
Two flaws in Brooks' argument. One, defining ISIS as a mass movement. Large segments of the Muslim world are not supporting ISIS. Day after day leaders and followers of all religions are denouncing this tiny segment of humans. Two, the largest mass movement I reflect upon in our society, in the last 50 years, is the civil rights mass movement. This one example shatters the hypothesis mass movements are primarily driven by frustration and not oppression. If Eric Hoffer were alive today he would redefine mass movements and certainly would not label ISIS as a massive movement
2
David Brooks has just described exactly how Dylann Roof and Robert Lewis Dear turned from being loners and losers to being radicalized murderers.
I know I keep hammering this in post after post, but the radicalization of Syed Farooq or Major Nidal Hasan is no different than that of Roof or Dear. The process appears to be virtually the same. There is no way to get at how vulnerable people of the Muslim faith can be radicalized on the internet without addressing how people of the Christian faith are being radicalized as well, because it is clear the appeal method is the same.
I know I keep hammering this in post after post, but the radicalization of Syed Farooq or Major Nidal Hasan is no different than that of Roof or Dear. The process appears to be virtually the same. There is no way to get at how vulnerable people of the Muslim faith can be radicalized on the internet without addressing how people of the Christian faith are being radicalized as well, because it is clear the appeal method is the same.
226
This analysis is far too simplistic in its easy comparison of two disparate acts of violence. There are many differences in the personalities of Dylann Roof and Syed Farroq or Major Hasan. One individual has a history of school failure including repeating the 9th grade & then dropping out of high school, his father was abusive towards his mother & they divorced & Dylann moved frequently as a child. He never held down a job, obtained a drivers license but rather lived on the sofa of friends or his step-mother & spent his time using mind altering substances (marijuana, Suboxone, alcohol) & playing video games while withdrawing from all social activities (loner). He didn't attend church regularly & lived a life in contrast with traditional religious values. He was only superficially involved in Christianity attending church periodically although never reading the Bible, identified with White Supremacists & acted out by stomping on the American flag & killing innocent people.
In contrast, both of the San Bernardino terrorists were both deeply religious, read the Quran daily, prayed often, didn't take drugs or drink alcohol, both graduated at the top of class in college & the husband held down a professional job. The wife came from a prominent family & was dedicated to religious study. They didn't harbor racist tendencies but rather were inculcated in Wahhabist ideology & sought to avenge Muslims for the deaths of innocents in Iraq & Syria.
In contrast, both of the San Bernardino terrorists were both deeply religious, read the Quran daily, prayed often, didn't take drugs or drink alcohol, both graduated at the top of class in college & the husband held down a professional job. The wife came from a prominent family & was dedicated to religious study. They didn't harbor racist tendencies but rather were inculcated in Wahhabist ideology & sought to avenge Muslims for the deaths of innocents in Iraq & Syria.
1
Yet again, someone trying to differentiate between "Jihadi" terrorists and non-Muslims who become terrorists pretend there's really much of a difference. I notice you didn't discus Dear, who claimed to be a Christian. The killer at the Sikh temple, those who firebomb abortion clinics and shoot doctors who perform abortions are ALL radicalized. So was the most infamous terrorist: Timothy McVeigh. The KKK has always been radicalized and say so in their name "The Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan".
The numbers of Muslims who are radicalized out of the 1.5 billion in the world is currently getting our attention, but they are still a tiny, tiny fraction of the world of Islam. Furthermore, the radicalization of natural born citizens is clearly a different process from the radicalization of people in Syria and Libya. ISIS actually uses the foreign (ie, European and American) born as cannon fodder shock troops. Clearly THEY see a difference themselves.
The numbers of Muslims who are radicalized out of the 1.5 billion in the world is currently getting our attention, but they are still a tiny, tiny fraction of the world of Islam. Furthermore, the radicalization of natural born citizens is clearly a different process from the radicalization of people in Syria and Libya. ISIS actually uses the foreign (ie, European and American) born as cannon fodder shock troops. Clearly THEY see a difference themselves.
For many American families, our grandparents came to the United States as immigrants, carrying a suitcase or two. They lived in lower-class neighborhoods, had children, worked long hours at menial jobs, sent their children to school, created stable working families and neighborhoods. They did not take guns and slaughter their co-workers. They did not terrorize neighborhoods. They worked hard to responsibly build a better, more secure life for their children. I think we should be asking - how does ISIS destroy the normal parental instinct to protect and nurture one's own babies?
2
Religion trumps life
This movement does offer hope to it's participants, though. They want the after life more than anything. They want the apocalypse. How do we counteract that? That's the hope - death and heaven! That's a tough one to dissuade. And they're hoping for an American president who will bring on the ground troops. President Obama will not give that to them so I think their hope is for a bellicose, 'war' president like any of the Republicans.
3
I thought he was talking about NRA followers
7
Don't forget white Republicans who live in gated communities armed to the teeth because of the "others" they are convinced are out to get them. Take a look at the floor footage of the last four GOP National conventions and you will see a sea of white middle aged to old folks with fear as their only true emotion. Compassion for others? Following true Christian charity and peace on earth? Fuggetaboudit. The party that used to be a force for good in the US and the world. Damn sad.
It’s easy to conclude why Donald Trump has become so radicalized to call for barring entry to all the Muslims, and by extension, due to reciprocal move by the Arab countries, for severing all diplomatic, cultural, military and business ties with them.
If they cannot come here and if we cannot go there, that’s the end of any kind of relationship.
Should Trump’s Christian faith be blamed for his radical views? Not at all. However, by the same principle we shouldn’t blame the Islam for the radical worldviews of many Arabs.
Trump has become radicalized because we have been repeatedly attacked by some individuals from the Muslim world over the last few decades. It means the violence has radicalized Mr. Trump.
But, it means the relentless violence and wars have radicalized the Arabs and the Muslims over the last century, not the Islam and the Koran.
Chronologically, it was the West that initially occupied and colonized the Arab world, intentionally divided them into the Frankenstein-like countries with the tiny minorities and dictators left in power, ethnically cleansed them from their homes to create nationally and religiously pure territories, or launched several wars to replace their unwanted governments.
In the conflict between the West and the Arab world both sides are wrong.
That’s why no side can prevail. That’s why this conflict has lasted for a century.
If we believe that our leaders are better than theirs we know no history and lack faith and intellect.
If they cannot come here and if we cannot go there, that’s the end of any kind of relationship.
Should Trump’s Christian faith be blamed for his radical views? Not at all. However, by the same principle we shouldn’t blame the Islam for the radical worldviews of many Arabs.
Trump has become radicalized because we have been repeatedly attacked by some individuals from the Muslim world over the last few decades. It means the violence has radicalized Mr. Trump.
But, it means the relentless violence and wars have radicalized the Arabs and the Muslims over the last century, not the Islam and the Koran.
Chronologically, it was the West that initially occupied and colonized the Arab world, intentionally divided them into the Frankenstein-like countries with the tiny minorities and dictators left in power, ethnically cleansed them from their homes to create nationally and religiously pure territories, or launched several wars to replace their unwanted governments.
In the conflict between the West and the Arab world both sides are wrong.
That’s why no side can prevail. That’s why this conflict has lasted for a century.
If we believe that our leaders are better than theirs we know no history and lack faith and intellect.
41
Christianity had the inquisition, the holocaust. It became civilized . Produced democracy.
Islam is not close to this, at least for many millions of Moslems .
Islam is not close to this, at least for many millions of Moslems .
There have always been frustrated young men. It is easy to stoke their frustrations into rage and then exploit all that negative energy for terrorism. In the previous century, there was "anarchism" and then "fascism", and then "communism" (including the Red Army Faction, etc.). Earlier eras had their own religious fanaticism, including the European reformation, counter-reformation, and endless factions of "puritanism" (please don't forget that the religious wars of Europe were the deadliest in all of human civilization (see Pinker, "The Better Angels of our Nature).
The critical thing we need now is to avoid playing into ISIS' hands and playbook. If we become paranoid about Muslims in general, it would indeed push them into the embrace of ISIS.
As for the geographical "Islamic State" itself, that can only be attacked (for the needed psychological effect) by Sunni ground forces. We need to put the screws to the Saudis and the Gulf states. Unfortunately, the Saudis in particular have been part of the problem - subsidizing and nurturing Wahabbi madrassas and exporting the extremist doctrine that encourages the violence.
The critical thing we need now is to avoid playing into ISIS' hands and playbook. If we become paranoid about Muslims in general, it would indeed push them into the embrace of ISIS.
As for the geographical "Islamic State" itself, that can only be attacked (for the needed psychological effect) by Sunni ground forces. We need to put the screws to the Saudis and the Gulf states. Unfortunately, the Saudis in particular have been part of the problem - subsidizing and nurturing Wahabbi madrassas and exporting the extremist doctrine that encourages the violence.
49
Ditto! Incredibly insightful! Nothing more needs to be added other than successfully instituting Brook's article's counter strategies.
"Mass movements, he argues, only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy structure is in a state of decay or disintegration."
Not sure if Mr. Brooks is describing ISIL or the GOP.
"To nurture this self-sacrificing attitude, the successful mass movement first damages the present."
Still confused. Perhaps this is really about the GOP.
"These movements generate a lot of hatred."
Ok, got it. Mr. Brooks is actually lecturing the GOP.
"Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involves in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap."
Yes indeed! I couldn' have described the GOP's current crisis better.
Not sure if Mr. Brooks is describing ISIL or the GOP.
"To nurture this self-sacrificing attitude, the successful mass movement first damages the present."
Still confused. Perhaps this is really about the GOP.
"These movements generate a lot of hatred."
Ok, got it. Mr. Brooks is actually lecturing the GOP.
"Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involves in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap."
Yes indeed! I couldn' have described the GOP's current crisis better.
7
Brooks doesn't extend his conversation to how groups like ISIS feed the political fires of radical right Republicans and how their own incendiary hate speech (i.e. Trump) can arouse its own levels of hatred in the minds of some of their gullible, ignorant and otherwise-less-evolved followers. I quake in fear for the safety of my peaceful and peace-loving Muslim brothers and sisters.
2
Eric Hoffer's points about 'mass movements,' as selected by David Brooks, also seem to map onto the rise of the Republican right, don't they? That suggests the generalizations are too broad to be useful.
3
"Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated."
And how exactly is this going to happen? Every time one leader is killed or group weakened another group grows in its place. It seems as if the violence in the Middle East is fueling the growth of this movement, benefiting from the chaos and vacuum of leadership. Iraq where ISIL began was lost in large part due to a lack of a domestic political will to united a fractured country, not because the US couldn't control that country with military force. Syria is a similar vacuum of political leadership to help lead that country out of a brutal civil war. Who would actually replace al-Assad should he finally be deposed?
And most of the attackers in the west are actually citizens of countries where the attacks were carried out, baiting us to join the fight and betray our own values. What military strategy is going to defeat this?
And how exactly is this going to happen? Every time one leader is killed or group weakened another group grows in its place. It seems as if the violence in the Middle East is fueling the growth of this movement, benefiting from the chaos and vacuum of leadership. Iraq where ISIL began was lost in large part due to a lack of a domestic political will to united a fractured country, not because the US couldn't control that country with military force. Syria is a similar vacuum of political leadership to help lead that country out of a brutal civil war. Who would actually replace al-Assad should he finally be deposed?
And most of the attackers in the west are actually citizens of countries where the attacks were carried out, baiting us to join the fight and betray our own values. What military strategy is going to defeat this?
1
As ever, could Brooks be more wrong? It's no accident that this tragedy of San Bernadino happened during the increased wave of Islamophobia that is washing over so-called American democracy. The terrorists were said by their co-workers and neighbours to be "living the American dream". And then this.
The function of Islamophobia is to smash the social contract and tell Muslims they are not welcome. Just listen to the outpourings of nauseous bile that is permeating our media and political discourse. They say to Muslims "You're not welcome" - "You're not like us". Only when Islamophobia has made the West a place of fear and exclusion for Muslims does the ideology come into view. This is the ISIS strategy.
Even then, gripping the ideology (and that's how it works, not the other way around) is not about theology or religion so much as a symbolic identifier for revenge and defiance. You don't have to be religious to be a jihadist - and Paris proved that in spades.
The US is facing a disaster of its own making here with rampant Islamophobia and a ready arsenal, courtesy of the NRA. For all practical purposes, Islamophobia is the ideology....
The function of Islamophobia is to smash the social contract and tell Muslims they are not welcome. Just listen to the outpourings of nauseous bile that is permeating our media and political discourse. They say to Muslims "You're not welcome" - "You're not like us". Only when Islamophobia has made the West a place of fear and exclusion for Muslims does the ideology come into view. This is the ISIS strategy.
Even then, gripping the ideology (and that's how it works, not the other way around) is not about theology or religion so much as a symbolic identifier for revenge and defiance. You don't have to be religious to be a jihadist - and Paris proved that in spades.
The US is facing a disaster of its own making here with rampant Islamophobia and a ready arsenal, courtesy of the NRA. For all practical purposes, Islamophobia is the ideology....
1
The Renan quote about fundamentalists fearing liberty more than persecution was spot-on, David. Reason flouishes in a climate of free and uncoerced debate and the fundamentalists understand that.
The most astute scholar of the ways that the masses are manipulated by propaganda is Noam Chomsky. The catastrophic invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were made possible by drowning out voices like Chomsky's, and Pat Tillman's death by "friendly fire" may have been prompted by Tillman's desire to meet with Chomsky upon his return from Afghanistan.
Renan was a courageous scholar who documented the Turkic roots of so much of Ashkenazin Judaism. Renan also gathered the historical evidence that surrounds the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Ideology is threatened not only by liberty but also by the advance of reason which advances on the heels of liberty. ISIL's apocalyptism or the Republicans in Congress voting to ignore climate science are but two contemporary incidences of liberty and reason fettered by ignorance and selfishness.
The most astute scholar of the ways that the masses are manipulated by propaganda is Noam Chomsky. The catastrophic invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were made possible by drowning out voices like Chomsky's, and Pat Tillman's death by "friendly fire" may have been prompted by Tillman's desire to meet with Chomsky upon his return from Afghanistan.
Renan was a courageous scholar who documented the Turkic roots of so much of Ashkenazin Judaism. Renan also gathered the historical evidence that surrounds the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Ideology is threatened not only by liberty but also by the advance of reason which advances on the heels of liberty. ISIL's apocalyptism or the Republicans in Congress voting to ignore climate science are but two contemporary incidences of liberty and reason fettered by ignorance and selfishness.
Self sacrifice an irrational act? No.
1
Ooops, for a moment I thought Mr Brooks was talking about Glen Beck preaching to a flock of soldier wannabe's frustrated by being downsized out of the conversation. Except for the self-renunciation part. Happiness is _____
1
David Brooks' article carries a lot of truth and I agree with his recommendations except sending in military troops. President Obama says that would play into their hands. The radical group appeals to troubled minds in our country and the way to counteract this is by fostering the ideals on which our country was established. The movement by these radicals is not compatible with society as it exists in the civilized world and it will die out in time. Meanwhile, we all need to remain alert.
No organization with a committed following starts out that way. It starts out in the minds of a few who are lucky enough to strike a chord. ISIS did not need to radicalize its early followers because it didn't need to. The US occupation authority did it for him when it totally disbanded the Iraqi army and turned out onto the streets tens of thousands of unemployed ex-soldiers, mostly Sunnis.
2
Sorry about the double "need to." Funny how you never notice these things until after you hit the submit key.
You might remember that our esteemed leader, BHO, decided not to pursue a Status of Forces Agreement (as we successfully did in Japan and Germany) which let the victory over Al Quada in Iraq go right down the drain. Very selective with your facts today.
We as a nation of mixed races and religions will face greater and greater threats if we don't take care of our destitute citizens. Money and jobs are disappearing so fast young people even with college degrees cannot find work locally so must move and even then they are isolated as they move into destitute neighborhoods because they haven't the money to live higher on the hog.
David Brooks is right. If large numbers of people are disenfranchised they will eventually rebel in mass movements. We should be wary. We cannot ignore this situation too long. I think the only thing saving us from mass rebellion right now is the hugeness of our country and no compelling leader. We can't join a rally if it is 250 miles away (too expensive)...we are almost impoverished into inability to mount a significant response.
David Brooks is right. If large numbers of people are disenfranchised they will eventually rebel in mass movements. We should be wary. We cannot ignore this situation too long. I think the only thing saving us from mass rebellion right now is the hugeness of our country and no compelling leader. We can't join a rally if it is 250 miles away (too expensive)...we are almost impoverished into inability to mount a significant response.
32
I subscribe to the concept of "useful idiot", a person duped into acting one way, such as a believer for a cause, to fulfill an objective unknown to them, a hidden agenda, which does not have any relation to "the cause". I think Lenin is credited with the concept. Most of the "terrorists" appear to have similar strong religious convictions which are re-directed toward violent self-sacrifice using carefully crafted propaganda. You saw the same behavior in the South Philippines when Muslim Moros ran "amok" back in 1900.
A more recent non-violent example involved Otto Katz infiltrating Hollywood to set up an anti-Hitler League (of useful idiots). The real agenda was to create a pro-Stalin sympathy among screenwriters, which resulted in the McCarthy show trials and blacklisting of communist "sympathizers".
A more recent non-violent example involved Otto Katz infiltrating Hollywood to set up an anti-Hitler League (of useful idiots). The real agenda was to create a pro-Stalin sympathy among screenwriters, which resulted in the McCarthy show trials and blacklisting of communist "sympathizers".
1
Fourth: make it more difficult for crazy people to get guns.
4
Whenever I wait at a security check point at an airport, which is often enough, I can’t resist the thought that “they are winning.” ‘They’ are those willing to kill themselves in order to kill others so that their cause can gain traction. Their cause, whatever it is, is obviously believed to be worth infinitely more than any individual life. And in today’s globalized world, attacks are not limited geographically and not limited to any specific ethnic group. We are all potential enemies of any cause. Perhaps the problem stems from some deep seated need for religious beliefs, or from a self-righteous tribalism, or paradoxically from the desire for world peace, but in any case, the problem is ‘they are winning.’ We are becoming more paranoid, more afraid of the ‘they’ and even of the ‘us’. The solutions being posited will either lead to all-out war, which in the end will mean re-colonize the Middle East, or be willing to relinquish our hard won freedoms and allow the State to surveil our lives every minute of every day – for our own protection. Right now we are heading down both paths at the same time and unfortunately neither solution is a good one. Our biggest risk is not doing too little, it is over-reacting and allowing fascism to take hold here. Then ‘they’ will have truly won.
56
The consensus seems to be that the Islamic radical terrorists are crazy. That may well be true.
But it doesn't mean they're stupid.
But it doesn't mean they're stupid.
1
I have said all along that Osama bin Laden won more dramatically than he could have hoped for - we as a nation forgot our principles and became fearful of our shadows, and it continues virtually unabated- increasing, even. They keep saying the American public has a short memory and it must be true.
And the entire Republican party and its supporters apparently think only the 2nd Amendment is sacrosanct, while the 4th can and must be destroyed in the name of "security" - despite the fact that more surveillance and mass phone data collection wouldn't have prevented San Bernardino, Paris, or any of our other daily shootings of multitudes of our citizens.
Sadly, my belief is that the reason we don't even look at, let alone address, the core issues (which are all social, political, and economic in origin) is that it would require the hard work we claim to be proponents of. Only, this hard work requires looking deeply into ourselves and our society and changing them to be truly inclusive and accepting of all.
What will it take for us to recognize that human is human, regardless of the externals - skin color, religion, education, economic status, etc.?
And the entire Republican party and its supporters apparently think only the 2nd Amendment is sacrosanct, while the 4th can and must be destroyed in the name of "security" - despite the fact that more surveillance and mass phone data collection wouldn't have prevented San Bernardino, Paris, or any of our other daily shootings of multitudes of our citizens.
Sadly, my belief is that the reason we don't even look at, let alone address, the core issues (which are all social, political, and economic in origin) is that it would require the hard work we claim to be proponents of. Only, this hard work requires looking deeply into ourselves and our society and changing them to be truly inclusive and accepting of all.
What will it take for us to recognize that human is human, regardless of the externals - skin color, religion, education, economic status, etc.?
1
I've been wondering or should I say, I was convinced there was a manual, but where is the manual to undo the spell they've been put under? And, in the meantime, David, when a child keeps hitting another child over the head with a bat, decent parents take the bat away, until the child understands what the bat is for --- taking it away, actually protects both from harm.
I do want to know, how did we all get so divided? I guess it was because we hated our brother and had not the love of God. I married a man who was raised pretty much Jehovah Witness - didn't do Christmas. Our marriage, on my part has been a rambling through the religions. This year, I celebrated my own version of Chanukah, eight beautiful days that the Good Lord kept the lights on for a people in need -- that's my Guy! Same spirit the other ones have, but when I posted a picture of my Menorah, happy as a lark, only one friend clicked like --- it's o.k., though, but it is so funny how we, myself included, behave. (but, I still like Christmas trees, too!)
I do want to know, how did we all get so divided? I guess it was because we hated our brother and had not the love of God. I married a man who was raised pretty much Jehovah Witness - didn't do Christmas. Our marriage, on my part has been a rambling through the religions. This year, I celebrated my own version of Chanukah, eight beautiful days that the Good Lord kept the lights on for a people in need -- that's my Guy! Same spirit the other ones have, but when I posted a picture of my Menorah, happy as a lark, only one friend clicked like --- it's o.k., though, but it is so funny how we, myself included, behave. (but, I still like Christmas trees, too!)
Hoffer, writing in 1951, was really talking about mass movements in the aftermath of WWII, mainly fascism and communism, two relatively secular movements and although diametrically opposed to each other, shared some characteristics such as opposition to liberal democracies.
ISIS falsely claims to represent Sunni Islam and religion is used as a justification for everything they do, including mass murder. Their roots are in Saudi Arabia's Wahabi salafist tradition while gaining traction in the completely failed policies of the Bush administration in the Iraq war, including torture to "defeat and humiliate" while "destroying their charisma."
No David, your advice taken from Eric Hoffer's work is another prescription for disaster if tasked by any of the republicans running for president to start beating the war drums and thumping their chests about American exceptionalism.
ISIS falsely claims to represent Sunni Islam and religion is used as a justification for everything they do, including mass murder. Their roots are in Saudi Arabia's Wahabi salafist tradition while gaining traction in the completely failed policies of the Bush administration in the Iraq war, including torture to "defeat and humiliate" while "destroying their charisma."
No David, your advice taken from Eric Hoffer's work is another prescription for disaster if tasked by any of the republicans running for president to start beating the war drums and thumping their chests about American exceptionalism.
2
Yes, mass movements collapse when they are forced to unconditionally surrender. But how are we supposed to do that when our adversaries swaddle themselves in the robes of Islam? Saudi Arabia's export of Wahhabism is the root of the problem. Is the solution to give ISIS and its Wahhabist godparents the religious war they seek? Is the solution to nuke Mecca to prove that our God is stronger than theirs?
Of course not.
Islam needs to solve this problem itself. We need to provide pressure and space to help that happen. In the meantime we need to use all of the tools available to counter ISIS propaganda online and to kill ISIS leaders and plotters wherever they are found.
As for freedom. Not gonna give that up.
Of course not.
Islam needs to solve this problem itself. We need to provide pressure and space to help that happen. In the meantime we need to use all of the tools available to counter ISIS propaganda online and to kill ISIS leaders and plotters wherever they are found.
As for freedom. Not gonna give that up.
2
Mr. Brooks's description of the origins of mass movements seems to aptly describe the decay of the Republican Party and the rise of a xenophobic, Trumpism. He aptly points out that "The people who serve mass movements are not revolting against oppression. They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled." Trump represents the frustration of working class, white Americans who seem to feel frustrated by the lack of economic mobility.
"...the successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future..." Trump has been declaring that he will help bring back the good ol' days and make America great again.
"These movements generate a lot of hatred." Seriously everything coming out of Trump is hating on one group or another.
Oddly enough, Mr Brooks offers a prescription for repairing the inability of Red and Blue America to hear one another: "First, try to heal the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements. Second, offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones. Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated. Then they can no longer offer hope, inspiration or a plausible way out for the disaffected."
"...the successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future..." Trump has been declaring that he will help bring back the good ol' days and make America great again.
"These movements generate a lot of hatred." Seriously everything coming out of Trump is hating on one group or another.
Oddly enough, Mr Brooks offers a prescription for repairing the inability of Red and Blue America to hear one another: "First, try to heal the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements. Second, offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones. Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated. Then they can no longer offer hope, inspiration or a plausible way out for the disaffected."
2
ISIS is a cult spun from Islam, and the structure of Islam, with its lack of a central figure such as the pope or a hierarchical structure such as a council of bishops or elders, make it challenging for its leaders ( generally local) to create a coherent, organized, pro-active stand against its madness and cruelty. The fact that it is so outrageous in its behavior and so determined to claim itself as authentic Islam, combined with its reliance on some of the nastier rhetoric in the Koran, makes the challenge greater, but not insoluble. First, we should avoid falling into the trap of fulfilling their apocalyptic vision, as President Obama clearly noted Sunday night. Next, we should scorn Trump's diatribes. Then, focus on reprogramming the cult's online followers by seeking out those who are emerging, disillusioned - they are starting to trickle in. Fight ISIS propaganda with a steady barrage of the facts about its deadly, despairing vision, using social and mass media; go after the money source and dry it up; teach critical and creative thinking in every school and religious education program. Pass sane gun control laws - background checks are insufficient, but licensing, ID, mandatory registered ammo inventories, vigilant attendance sheets at gun shows and shooting ranges - all of these might help. Work a compromise between gun owners and gun control enthusiasts. Stay hopeful. We can beat this.
95
This reads like a schoolmarm's list of to-do items than can easily be achieved due to the sheer might of her nurturing power. Recruits to ISIS are attracted to its excitement just as gun lovers in the US are attracted to guns. "Countering their message" is not accomplished by rational though, just as Nancy Reagan's anti-drug message of "just say no" was ineffective against the scourge of drug addiction. Why are people in the US so attracted to the allure of illegal drugs whether they're white or black, rich or poor, happy or sad, coherent & organized or crazy & chaotic? Is it because many are seeking an escape from their boredom & disillusionment with material life without a spiritual grounding? As far as seek out the funding source for ISIS & dry it up, this is rather futile from the ground up as our own government via the CIA & its collaboration with Saudi Arabia, fueled the ISIS movement in Syria by funding Al Nusra anti-Assad rebels & the terrorists are continuing to be funded by the sale of oil to Turkey & the Syrian government, buyers of ancient artifacts to wealthy art collectors world wide & the covert operations of anti Russian counties who would rather put up with occasional acts of terrorism on their own soil then secede that Assad stay in power. In this way, ISIS contributes to the West's bargaining ability with Russia & Iran over the future of Syria as a pro-American country rather than an ally of Russia & enemy of Israel.
1
Cowardice
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” -John 8:32
Few in Big Media possess the courage to state the facts as they are. What so affrights them? The truth?
Anyone can criticize Christianity with impunity, quoting Judeo-Christian scripture. Not so with Mohammedanism and quoting its scripture, the Koran. How often does one hear or read the quoting of the Koran by the Media? Hardly ever, if then! Why? It preaches intolerance and war throughout.
"Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that God is with the righteous." -The Recital (The Koran), Repentance 9:123
The notion that Mohammed preached moderation is simply untrue. Read the Koran!
Orthodox Mohammedans have the courage of their convictions. Western apologists have only the conviction of their cowardice.
See "Americans?" at ...
http://nationonfire.com/category/government/foreign-relations/ .
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” -John 8:32
Few in Big Media possess the courage to state the facts as they are. What so affrights them? The truth?
Anyone can criticize Christianity with impunity, quoting Judeo-Christian scripture. Not so with Mohammedanism and quoting its scripture, the Koran. How often does one hear or read the quoting of the Koran by the Media? Hardly ever, if then! Why? It preaches intolerance and war throughout.
"Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that God is with the righteous." -The Recital (The Koran), Repentance 9:123
The notion that Mohammed preached moderation is simply untrue. Read the Koran!
Orthodox Mohammedans have the courage of their convictions. Western apologists have only the conviction of their cowardice.
See "Americans?" at ...
http://nationonfire.com/category/government/foreign-relations/ .
1
The only factor Brooks omits is deeply embedded in our own inability to value all life equally. As appalling as we find the deaths of innocent Americans or Parisians or any other citizens of Western cultures, we tend to be blind to the impact of the deaths of innocents among our declared enemies--whether in ISIS camps or places like Gaza. This is the simple but horrible calculus at work in the minds of those we label terrorists. Streets and villages strewn with the bodies of women, children and elderly killed and maimed by bombs from sleek jets and drones are the not so hidden persuaders. No longer, as we once were, separated by a physical or psychological ocean from our wars abroad, we must finally come to terms with the fact that in true wars, there are innocent victims on both sides. There is no mysterious or subtle factor at work.
1
Hoffer's analysis focuses on the critical role played by community in providing structure and meaning to our lives. In the absence of a community that affirms the value of each individual and offers constructive ways for all of us to interact and achieve success, the disaffected will form groups dedicated to the destruction of the society that, in their view, has rejected or humiliated them.
Unlike a healthy community, however, the kind represented by ISIS cannot endure indefinitely. The violent rejection of reality at the core of its ethos requires its members to sacrifice themselves for the elusive greater good, while at the same time it erects an unattainable goal that is supposed to justify the violence and suffering. The nihilism that defines ISIS assures its ultimate destruction.
The problem that bedevils the West is how to minimize the damage inflicted by this terrorist organization during its relatively brief life cycle. Equally important, if we fail to create a more inclusive community, another ISIS will emerge to replace the current one. Neither the immediate nor the longterm problem, however, justify another massive dispatch of western troops to the ME. In fact, as several other commenters have argued, such an invasion would equate to pouring gasoline on a fire.
Ultimately, the military dimension of the struggle against ISIS must be the responsibility of other Muslim nations. The West can provide aid, but troops would serve only the interests of ISIS.
Unlike a healthy community, however, the kind represented by ISIS cannot endure indefinitely. The violent rejection of reality at the core of its ethos requires its members to sacrifice themselves for the elusive greater good, while at the same time it erects an unattainable goal that is supposed to justify the violence and suffering. The nihilism that defines ISIS assures its ultimate destruction.
The problem that bedevils the West is how to minimize the damage inflicted by this terrorist organization during its relatively brief life cycle. Equally important, if we fail to create a more inclusive community, another ISIS will emerge to replace the current one. Neither the immediate nor the longterm problem, however, justify another massive dispatch of western troops to the ME. In fact, as several other commenters have argued, such an invasion would equate to pouring gasoline on a fire.
Ultimately, the military dimension of the struggle against ISIS must be the responsibility of other Muslim nations. The West can provide aid, but troops would serve only the interests of ISIS.
3
David: Your channeling of Hoffer is apt: A perfect analysis of the ascendency of Donald Trump in the US.
Indeed: "Experience is a handicap."
Indeed: "Experience is a handicap."
7
The reason why mass movements arise in the world today (whether you want to speak of terrorist groups or sports fanaticism or political reactions within nations)?
The reason is simple: The world is becoming interconnected and not even the most advanced, democratic nations have ever been much above having negative characteristics as described by Eric Hoffer in the "The True Believer". In other words there have never been stable political structures clearly above Hoffer's described characteristics to enable them to be described as clearly good but potentially falling into a state of decay and mass movement and fanaticism.
No country ever really has been able to deal adequately with a mass of population period (critical numbers of people, quality of people here should be able to be approximated by mathematicians/social scientists/computers). Millions of people are being pressed together today across borders and political structures which have never really ascended to a point of being able to handle mass man let alone ascended to a clear point from which to fall into a state of disintegration and decay.
The Islamic world today reacts by retreating to its known history; Russia concentrates its past; China becomes more powerful; the U.S. uncomfortably mirrors all these phenomenons. All the worlds nations not so much disintegrating but realizing how inadequate in respective degrees they have been to handling with respect so many people--and still more people are being born.
The reason is simple: The world is becoming interconnected and not even the most advanced, democratic nations have ever been much above having negative characteristics as described by Eric Hoffer in the "The True Believer". In other words there have never been stable political structures clearly above Hoffer's described characteristics to enable them to be described as clearly good but potentially falling into a state of decay and mass movement and fanaticism.
No country ever really has been able to deal adequately with a mass of population period (critical numbers of people, quality of people here should be able to be approximated by mathematicians/social scientists/computers). Millions of people are being pressed together today across borders and political structures which have never really ascended to a point of being able to handle mass man let alone ascended to a clear point from which to fall into a state of disintegration and decay.
The Islamic world today reacts by retreating to its known history; Russia concentrates its past; China becomes more powerful; the U.S. uncomfortably mirrors all these phenomenons. All the worlds nations not so much disintegrating but realizing how inadequate in respective degrees they have been to handling with respect so many people--and still more people are being born.
1
Daniel12: You have come very close to articulating a dynamic I believe to be real.
As population density grows , more laws,rules,regulations are needed per capita to keep the peace. A larger population/country has greater dependency on a public education system which trains citizens to be good citizens. The debate in USA erupts at the division of perception between rural and urbanites and is then co-opted by Republicons (rural) vs. Democrats (urban) to further their goals.
As population density grows , more laws,rules,regulations are needed per capita to keep the peace. A larger population/country has greater dependency on a public education system which trains citizens to be good citizens. The debate in USA erupts at the division of perception between rural and urbanites and is then co-opted by Republicons (rural) vs. Democrats (urban) to further their goals.
The cluster of economic & political policies, technologies & corporations, immigrations & military aggressions to which we give the name 'globalization' could only ever be something that causes disintegration within societies and conflict between them. We may now spend our lives chasing changing employment, or fleeing conflict, or trying to believe that the media and the megachurches we interact with are as good as a society, but we live as free agents. People come to us for the jobs, and we go to them for the markets; in either case culture is an impediment to be overcome, rather than an ideal to be sustained. This leads to different kinds of lives. It leads to lives lived in a kind of consumerist utopia, as well to lives consumed by narcissistic anger & xenophobia.
America's solution to this has been to turn the state of perpetual disintegration, 'disruption' & growth into an ideal., To some extent we've succeeded in creating a fascinating society of radical individualism that runs on conformist consumerism. But we might be reacting to these processes quite differently if the disruptions, the shiny things & the jobs, the invading armies & assassinating drones, were things that Iraq or Pakistan were shipping to us instead of vice-versa. i don't know what the solution is, but the situation is no surprise.
America's solution to this has been to turn the state of perpetual disintegration, 'disruption' & growth into an ideal., To some extent we've succeeded in creating a fascinating society of radical individualism that runs on conformist consumerism. But we might be reacting to these processes quite differently if the disruptions, the shiny things & the jobs, the invading armies & assassinating drones, were things that Iraq or Pakistan were shipping to us instead of vice-versa. i don't know what the solution is, but the situation is no surprise.
I'm sorry, Mr. Brooks, are you describing ISIS or the Republican Party?
*"Mass movements, he argues, only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration." = See the U.S.A
*The people who serve mass movements are not revolting against oppression. They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams...they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity." = See every (R) candidate
*To nurture this self-sacrificing attitude, the successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future, but the present is just an uninspiring pit" = See every (R) candidate's idol worship or Reagan and description of President Obama and his "negative" impact on the U.S.
*The individual’s identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups." - See the excellent NYT piece on Trump's use of language and every one of his policy "proposals"
*They believe an imminent perfect future can be realized if they proceed recklessly to destroy the present. The glorious end times are just around the corner." - See (R) attempts to destroy the ACA and their unwillingness to act on gun control
*The fanatics stage acts of... theatricality, acutely aware of their audience." - See every (R) candidate
I rest my case...
*"Mass movements, he argues, only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration." = See the U.S.A
*The people who serve mass movements are not revolting against oppression. They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams...they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity." = See every (R) candidate
*To nurture this self-sacrificing attitude, the successful mass movement first denigrates the present. Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future, but the present is just an uninspiring pit" = See every (R) candidate's idol worship or Reagan and description of President Obama and his "negative" impact on the U.S.
*The individual’s identity is defined by the collective group identity, and fortified by a cultivated hatred for other groups." - See the excellent NYT piece on Trump's use of language and every one of his policy "proposals"
*They believe an imminent perfect future can be realized if they proceed recklessly to destroy the present. The glorious end times are just around the corner." - See (R) attempts to destroy the ACA and their unwillingness to act on gun control
*The fanatics stage acts of... theatricality, acutely aware of their audience." - See every (R) candidate
I rest my case...
5
David's Hoffer reference is a good one. He could wed it to the front page story "U.S. Strategy Seeks to Avoid ISIS Prophecy" and provide specific examples to the events unfolding. The "mass movement" is called Jihad by the Wahhabi Sunni Salafists. It is their goal to entice the west into a war in the Arab homeland, a war against all of Islam, like Trump is envisioning. In their narrative, ISIS hopes to bring about the end of the world in a climactic battle.....just like Armageddon envisioned by fanatical Christians. Defeating such a "mass movement" demands that we recognize the farcical parochial myth, the narrative of their jihad and use it's elements and constrain our responses rather than follow their narrative.
There is no mysterious source for this "mass movement". It is the myth of the Caliphate that will be restored, like the Second Coming envisioned by apocalyptic Christians. In both myths, elite chosen persons will precipitate the transformation of humanity. The magic occurs in a specific location, where the respective deity will lead the chosen in battle against Satan, or the Great Satan. The behavior of individuals who provoke Satan to assemble on the ground in the prescribed region cannot be judged by normal people.
To defeat ISIS, we should withdraw from the Middle East, seize their assets and the assets of the Wahhabi cult and their sponsors, end our alliances and business entanglements with the Gulf Monarchs. Our narrative: hydrocarbons cause climate change.
There is no mysterious source for this "mass movement". It is the myth of the Caliphate that will be restored, like the Second Coming envisioned by apocalyptic Christians. In both myths, elite chosen persons will precipitate the transformation of humanity. The magic occurs in a specific location, where the respective deity will lead the chosen in battle against Satan, or the Great Satan. The behavior of individuals who provoke Satan to assemble on the ground in the prescribed region cannot be judged by normal people.
To defeat ISIS, we should withdraw from the Middle East, seize their assets and the assets of the Wahhabi cult and their sponsors, end our alliances and business entanglements with the Gulf Monarchs. Our narrative: hydrocarbons cause climate change.
1
One of the recommended (but not required) characteristics of the potential recruit, per the Al Qaeda/ISIS recruitment manual is "having a close-knit family, and having financial stability."
5
This column is little more than a review of Hoffer's book, applying it to a modern case.
Amazing how many religious and political movements, not all of them destructive, fit this model. Nearly all movements that seek radical change partake of it to some degree, and others use its techniques.
Of course, Brooks haters will find some way to use this column to attack or denigrate Brooks. Which is funny, because there is little of Brooks in this column. It is mostly Eric Hoffer. This column could have been written by a liberal commentator just as well, with only a sentence or two altered. But of course the Brooks haters don't care about what's in the column, they only want to attack their despised foe, David Brooks. Their comments may serve as illustrations of Hoffer's point.
And no, I am not a conservative, and I often disagree with David Brooks myself.
Amazing how many religious and political movements, not all of them destructive, fit this model. Nearly all movements that seek radical change partake of it to some degree, and others use its techniques.
Of course, Brooks haters will find some way to use this column to attack or denigrate Brooks. Which is funny, because there is little of Brooks in this column. It is mostly Eric Hoffer. This column could have been written by a liberal commentator just as well, with only a sentence or two altered. But of course the Brooks haters don't care about what's in the column, they only want to attack their despised foe, David Brooks. Their comments may serve as illustrations of Hoffer's point.
And no, I am not a conservative, and I often disagree with David Brooks myself.
27
You may have missed this part at the beginning where Brooks claimed that "the crucial issue" about the recent in a long string of mass shootings is radicalization by the Islamic State, rather than the fact that we're awash in assault weapons, something that "some people" want to focus on but Brooks knows better.
This is well worth criticism, and it's very much Brooks' opinion, one that he gives before spending the rest of the column essentially regurgitating Hoffer's work.
That's actually a fairly typical David Brooks technique, filling a column with borrowed wisdom from a book or report that he read, but either ending or beginning with a twist that purports to apply it to some conservative belief, in this case "guns aren't the problem", or, at other times "therefore it's all a matter of moral failings by the poor" and so on.
You can dismiss anyone critical of Brooks lectures as "Brooks haters" but it doesn't change the fact that he's well worthy of all the criticism he gets.
This is well worth criticism, and it's very much Brooks' opinion, one that he gives before spending the rest of the column essentially regurgitating Hoffer's work.
That's actually a fairly typical David Brooks technique, filling a column with borrowed wisdom from a book or report that he read, but either ending or beginning with a twist that purports to apply it to some conservative belief, in this case "guns aren't the problem", or, at other times "therefore it's all a matter of moral failings by the poor" and so on.
You can dismiss anyone critical of Brooks lectures as "Brooks haters" but it doesn't change the fact that he's well worthy of all the criticism he gets.
Brooks is overlooking the more instant, proximate application of a great work to a more suitable cultural framework. He is the soft voice gently beating the drums for Iraq 3.0. You are frustrated by Americans not taking the bait.
War FEEDS ISIS. It's what they want. David is a True Believer par excellence.
War FEEDS ISIS. It's what they want. David is a True Believer par excellence.
I had to keep returning to the headline to remind myself if David was talking about ISIS terrorists, or the GOP; it's really difficult to tell the difference vis-a-vis fantastical thinking and frustration with one's one mediocrity driving hate and irrational fear of the other.
It's really amazing how well David can describe the particular pathologies affecting his own tribe, while reasoning about an evil menace ravaging the world. You're really something, Brooks!
It's really amazing how well David can describe the particular pathologies affecting his own tribe, while reasoning about an evil menace ravaging the world. You're really something, Brooks!
300
You can always tell when it's not about republicans. The president lectures restraint and defends the religion and rights of the group.
1
Precisely!
I thought David was consciously describing Christian fanatics as well as Muslim fanatics. I rarely agree with him -- but this time I do.
Mr. Brooks, I liked your thought much better on the Oprah Show.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
But by all means let these true believers have full access to automatic rifles!
15
In France they had automatic rifles; in the U.S. they only had semi-automatics.
1
"These movements generate a lot of hatred... They believe an imminent perfect future can be realized if they proceed recklessly to destroy the present." Oh, to hear Republican candidates these days! (sigh)
12
Damn, this sounds like the evangelical religious movement. I am sure this was not his point but that is what it seems like to me. Of course it is also the true believers of the radical Islam too.
26
The depth of resentment and anger experienced by many Muslims in response to a century of Western-backed wars, occupations, religious purges, and forced migrations has never had a particularly great following in American popular culture.
The idea that a young couple with a new baby, and all apparent indices of upward mobility would swap that for both mass murder and martyrdom is therefore incomprehensible. It challenges us to break out of our perceptual bubble.
When some of our own leaders give a reflexive response that the solution is more mass murder, more mass expulsions, and more suppression of religious freedom we realize the depth of the conundrum we are facing.
The idea that a young couple with a new baby, and all apparent indices of upward mobility would swap that for both mass murder and martyrdom is therefore incomprehensible. It challenges us to break out of our perceptual bubble.
When some of our own leaders give a reflexive response that the solution is more mass murder, more mass expulsions, and more suppression of religious freedom we realize the depth of the conundrum we are facing.
20
Yup - I just posted a similar comment. Many jihadists overseas are of the professional and scientific class. They are not a street gang. It's amazing how ignorant our society is.
1
"The True Believer" is an excellent source for David Brooks
to quote but the problem is that the West, and the U.S. are
fighting ISIS. an Muslim, terrorist group, without any local, or world
wide leadership. The latest killings in San Bernardino were done by people
under the radar. A mother who could fire rifles, and her husband, who
killed people he knew and worked with. The Obama administration learned
nothing from the Charlie Hebdo killings, nor the recent French killings, where
innocent people were murdered. A review of the "True Believer" by our
leaders is essential, but the strategies of ISIS has changed the war. And of
course, where did the $28,000 come from?
to quote but the problem is that the West, and the U.S. are
fighting ISIS. an Muslim, terrorist group, without any local, or world
wide leadership. The latest killings in San Bernardino were done by people
under the radar. A mother who could fire rifles, and her husband, who
killed people he knew and worked with. The Obama administration learned
nothing from the Charlie Hebdo killings, nor the recent French killings, where
innocent people were murdered. A review of the "True Believer" by our
leaders is essential, but the strategies of ISIS has changed the war. And of
course, where did the $28,000 come from?
1
What you omitted from your thought-provoking column is that Eric Hoffer's The True Believer ranks fascists, communists and fundamentalist Christians in the same category.
Both the San Bernadino and the Colorado Planned Parenthood murders were carried out by true believers egged on by Islamic fundamentalists (ISIS) in regards to the former atrocity, and GOP candidates spouting Christian fundamentalist propaganda (Carly Fiorina tearfully describing the "wriggling baby being sold for parts" that never happened) for the latter.
Both of these religious fundamentalist groups think they are bitter enemies, But in more ways than either will ever admit, they are brothers under the skin.
www.newyorkgritty.net
Both the San Bernadino and the Colorado Planned Parenthood murders were carried out by true believers egged on by Islamic fundamentalists (ISIS) in regards to the former atrocity, and GOP candidates spouting Christian fundamentalist propaganda (Carly Fiorina tearfully describing the "wriggling baby being sold for parts" that never happened) for the latter.
Both of these religious fundamentalist groups think they are bitter enemies, But in more ways than either will ever admit, they are brothers under the skin.
www.newyorkgritty.net
416
Hoffer also specifically names Islam in that category. And this was in 1951.
1
The fact that fascists, communists, and fundamentalists are in the same category shows you what a short trip it is from "normal" to "radicalized". My first reaction when reading David's article was that this sounded a lot like some of the fundamentalist churches I have observed first hand. The TV preachers and evangelists pray upon the types of people described in this article.
How true. Of the 350 or so mass murders committed in the last year one was perpetrated by persons of Moslem origin, who were probably in some affiliation with ISIL. The rest of those murders were the handwork of good ol' Americans, some of them (all of them, I assume) afflicted with some mental disorder and pushed over the precipice by hateful rhetoric. (By the way - zero "good people with guns" were there on hand to prevent or minimize the terror in all these attacks, although there must have been folk around with guns, proving the theory that one has to be trained in order to react in those situations.) It's the guns, after all, assault weapons which do not belong in the hands of civilian under any circumstances. And hate-mongers, Moslem, Christian or Jewish, are behind many of those acts.
Hmmm do all mass movements really comprise only losers? What about the civil rights movement? The women's movement? The American Revolution? It is terrible to contemplate what life would be like without all those losers.
Some movements--terrorism, Naziism, white supremacy-- are evil but their problem is rooted in injustice, not activism or faith.
Some movements--terrorism, Naziism, white supremacy-- are evil but their problem is rooted in injustice, not activism or faith.
141
The Civil Rights movement wasn't a 'True Believer' movement of the type discussed in Hoffer's book or Brooks' column. Hoffer's true believers want to tear down the society right to the roots - as in fact the root of the word 'radical' is 'radix', or 'root' in Latin. The participants in the Civil Rights movement were (are) campaigning to be included in the existing system, not to abolish it. A True Believer movement of the Sixties would be, e.g., the Weathermen.
I would argue the American Revolution wasn't really a 'mass movement'. It was principally led by a group of elite intellectuals (who could probably have been bought off with seats in the House of Commons if George III and Lord North had been a bit smarter). And when it came time to build their new government, they modelled it largely on the one they'd rebelled against. (They almost made Washington a king, in fact.)
The key difference in both your examples is that those movements hadn't given up entirely on the existing order. They didn't want to tear down the house, as True Believers do, but to remodel it or to pry open the door and get inside.
I would argue the American Revolution wasn't really a 'mass movement'. It was principally led by a group of elite intellectuals (who could probably have been bought off with seats in the House of Commons if George III and Lord North had been a bit smarter). And when it came time to build their new government, they modelled it largely on the one they'd rebelled against. (They almost made Washington a king, in fact.)
The key difference in both your examples is that those movements hadn't given up entirely on the existing order. They didn't want to tear down the house, as True Believers do, but to remodel it or to pry open the door and get inside.
Practical organizations offer opportunity for advancement and do not negate the value of the individual or of people outside the group. They also have practical goals such as equal treatment by the law. If they are non-violent, like the civil rights movement, feminism, or gay liberation, they pose no threat to society. As for the American Revolution, it would not have begun if the British government had offered the colonists equal representation in Parliament before taxing them. It also extolled the value of the individual.
"We hold these truths to be self evident:that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
As Americans, our sacred text is the Constitution of the United States. It is that Constitution which the President, our representatives, senators and judges (federal and state), and all the men and women serving in our armed forces swear to preserve, protect and defend. It is that oath which all of us should affirm in our minds.
Most important for a free and rational people, it provides a means in its text for changing and improving it. New guarantees of freedom and promotion of the general welfare can be added, such as replacing the elected leader at least every eight years.
"We hold these truths to be self evident:that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
As Americans, our sacred text is the Constitution of the United States. It is that Constitution which the President, our representatives, senators and judges (federal and state), and all the men and women serving in our armed forces swear to preserve, protect and defend. It is that oath which all of us should affirm in our minds.
Most important for a free and rational people, it provides a means in its text for changing and improving it. New guarantees of freedom and promotion of the general welfare can be added, such as replacing the elected leader at least every eight years.
1
"Loser" in the context of the article is someone who has the opportunity to succeed, but fails. Someone who belongs to an oppressed minority is denied this opportunity. He or she is a victim, not a loser.
One of your best pieces this year. The truth of it is in how I can substitute any number of specific belief systems, individuals, and historical settings into the general framework of the argument and have the pieces fit. Perhaps with time I'll see holes in the argument (no doubt aided by the commentors!) and I look forward to their thoughtful critiques.
3
Are you sure that you are describing ISIS- or is it the GOP? Experience is a handicap. Ted is playing soldier in Iowa and Teflon Donald is conveying his military plans. He relayed earlier that his "advisors" came from the Sunday morning news shows. Taxed enough already but largely living in areas with net negative contribution. (Takers?) And- military is the only solution, and humiliation at that. When has this EVER worked? Talk to the Tamil Tigers maybe?
7
"The big thing that has changed in the past 60 odd years is that you don’t actually have to join a mass movement any more. You can follow it online and participate remotely."
The Internet is proving itself to be a scourge upon society. I'm at a loss as to what problem it is really solving at this point, other than creating a world of slaves to technology, in addition to furthering radicalization, mass consumerism, and many numerous forms of addiction and mental illness. So we can comment here. great.
The Internet is proving itself to be a scourge upon society. I'm at a loss as to what problem it is really solving at this point, other than creating a world of slaves to technology, in addition to furthering radicalization, mass consumerism, and many numerous forms of addiction and mental illness. So we can comment here. great.
5
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." What's troubling about Syed Farook is that unlike the alienated young men of the Paris banlieus, and the unassimilated of Molenbeek, he was educated, employed and outwardly living the American Dream. However, as Farook's choice of spouse made clear, his disaffection for America was profound; he found his soulmate, Tashfeen Malik, on the equivalent of JihadistDate.com. Together Farook and his spouse plotted the deaths of his co-workers, and presumably their own deaths, too. Apparently, they had nothing to live for. Except they had a child together, and therefore everything to live for. We can bomb ISIS into oblivion, and see if sand glows in the dark (Ted Cruz and David Brooks). The next Mr. and Mrs. Syed Farook will make their presence felt once the smoke clears.
7
Hoffer was a unique voice in American thought, a manual laborer who was wholly and exhaustively self-educated. Owing allegiance to no school, tradition, dogma or mentor, and driven by simple curiosity, he became the rarest of intellectuals, an original and fearless voice. His iconoclastic brilliance attracted widespread admiration, but unwilling to bow to any faction, he eventually alienated the Very Serious People of all persuasions and withdrew from public life. In a farewell statement he declared “Any man can ride a train. Only a wise man knows when to get off."
5
This give's a whole new dynamic the concept of "the ambitious wife".
3
The "mass movements" described here = religion.
1
As a self proclaimed student of WW 2, I have tried my best to read the most authoritative books I could find, how most of the German people got behind Hitler and the Nazi's. Never got a good answer. Unlike Japanese of WW 2, they didn't seem as fanatic, as in willing to die. These modern day Muslims simply are of another civilization. With that said, the US media keeps rationalizing the issue. We Americans deserve better than living in a police state. If our getting out of this other civilization would keep them from killing innocent Americans we should get out of the middle east. Of what strategic interest is the region. Two old reasons are gone. Oil, and Israel. We have ample oil, and Israel is all powerful to protect themselves. Israel doesn't rationalize their enemies motives. The enemy wants to wipe Jews off the face of the earth we are right behind.
3
I'm surprised that as a "student of WW2" you fail to comprehend Hitler's appeal to everyday Germans. After suffering a humiliating defeat in WWI, and with the German economy and currency in the tank, desparate German citizens readily turned to the one person (Hitler) who promised leadership to fix their problems and restore their dignity; in effect, "To make Germany great again." Sound familiar?
1
Does Brooks have any clue what is going on in Iraq, Syria and other parts of the middle east? He could perhaps usefully read fellow conservative Henry Kissinger's book World Order which gives a reasonably accurate picture of the forces at work in the region and their connection to West in general and the US in particular. He even recognizes US culpability in setting loose some of these demons.
5
Lack of opportunity, social or economic oppression or both, strong sense of community in those who agree with you, undirected anger that can be directed... and viola, a fanatic dedicated to a violent cause. The centre cannot hold.
The same factors can give rise to fascism, marxism, a whole slew of -isms that work to destroy a society.
I don't worry that we can push back ISIS, we can; I worry that the conditions which spawn ISIS in the middle east are growing world wide, even here in the US. Here the lack of a common ideals is the danger rather than the strong presence of one, but we have the uncertainty, the growing belief that things are bad and not getting better, and an even stronger belief that some one out there is to blame.
Our politics are increasing the separation between us; and our politicians, in using wedges and angry rhetoric, are plumbing the divide. No, I don't fear ISIS; I fear what our society, fragmented politically and vituperative about it, fragmented socially, fragmented economically, fragmented culturally, is going to develop.
The same factors can give rise to fascism, marxism, a whole slew of -isms that work to destroy a society.
I don't worry that we can push back ISIS, we can; I worry that the conditions which spawn ISIS in the middle east are growing world wide, even here in the US. Here the lack of a common ideals is the danger rather than the strong presence of one, but we have the uncertainty, the growing belief that things are bad and not getting better, and an even stronger belief that some one out there is to blame.
Our politics are increasing the separation between us; and our politicians, in using wedges and angry rhetoric, are plumbing the divide. No, I don't fear ISIS; I fear what our society, fragmented politically and vituperative about it, fragmented socially, fragmented economically, fragmented culturally, is going to develop.
11
In the 1990s Samuel Huntington identified the Youth Bulge in the greater Middle East as one of the great dangers to stability there and elsewhere. This 15 to 24 male segment of those societies came of age after 2000 and they represent a large portion those populations today. To some extent this is a function of arithmetic, a small % of a large # in dysfunctional societies, a breeding ground for the type of behavior described in the piece.
2
Follow the money. Global society is stagnating and people are losing hope. To one degree or another, the inability to get jobs, education, healthcare, or plan a future dependent on them is driving disaffection. The majority of Middle East population is under 30 and needs to form households as a regular part of human existence but this is thwarted by a status quo that suppresses those simple ambitions. There are too many people competing for too few resources and too often the result is a fight of all against all in a vast war. New policies that spur economic growth would do much to stem the tide but the current paradigm of global trade based on labor arbitrage which guarantees poor wages and living conditions, and fossil fuel dependency that destroys the global habitat are controlled by an elite that makes a lot on the status quo and is complacent about the so far 'minor' disruptions.
1
You write: "The majority of Middle East population is under 30 and needs to form households as a regular part of human existence but this is thwarted by a status quo that suppresses those simple ambitions. "
But that doesn't explain how these two people, who were in a household, married and with a child, the husband at least gainfully and perhaps meaningfully employed, turned into murdering psychopaths for a twisted ideology. There are always going to be frustrated angry people who want to take out their frustrations on others. We cannot stop them all, but we must get better at recognizing who the psychopaths among us are.
But that doesn't explain how these two people, who were in a household, married and with a child, the husband at least gainfully and perhaps meaningfully employed, turned into murdering psychopaths for a twisted ideology. There are always going to be frustrated angry people who want to take out their frustrations on others. We cannot stop them all, but we must get better at recognizing who the psychopaths among us are.
2
Why The US And Its Gulf Allies Are Failing In The Fight Against ISIS
http://www.ibtimes.com/give-one-hand-take-other-why-us-its-gulf-allies-a...
http://www.ibtimes.com/give-one-hand-take-other-why-us-its-gulf-allies-a...
1
@ R.R.
Er... it's not exactly a secret that this is really a war between the Shiites and Sunnis for regional dominance. This is why US destruction of the Sunni/Shiite balance in Iraq by your hero GWB was instrumental in letting this genii out of the bottle.
Er... it's not exactly a secret that this is really a war between the Shiites and Sunnis for regional dominance. This is why US destruction of the Sunni/Shiite balance in Iraq by your hero GWB was instrumental in letting this genii out of the bottle.
13
Thank you for this analysis. While I may not agree with all of the ideas brought forth, I do think we need to think outside of our western lenses as to why these people are choosing to follow ISIS. I agree that many of these individuals are probably looking for something outside of themselves, and they find it in ISIS.
One thing that I have thought about lately is the current lack of pride in being American as part of the problem. When one reads through comments, it is amazing how many people talk about how they are ashamed to be and American. I get that there are some dumb things that we as a country have done, but there still needs to be more pride in our country. For me, this is witnessed in the need to hyphenate anyone's description that is not "of the majority." I think that we should take a cue from the disability world, who push for "people first" language, and start pushing for "America first" language. Why are we saying "Muslim-American" why not an American who is Muslim? One therapeutic technique is to "act as if" and I think that right now we need to start acting as if we are proud to be Americans until we are able to return to actually being proud.
One thing that I have thought about lately is the current lack of pride in being American as part of the problem. When one reads through comments, it is amazing how many people talk about how they are ashamed to be and American. I get that there are some dumb things that we as a country have done, but there still needs to be more pride in our country. For me, this is witnessed in the need to hyphenate anyone's description that is not "of the majority." I think that we should take a cue from the disability world, who push for "people first" language, and start pushing for "America first" language. Why are we saying "Muslim-American" why not an American who is Muslim? One therapeutic technique is to "act as if" and I think that right now we need to start acting as if we are proud to be Americans until we are able to return to actually being proud.
38
Why does the onus always fall on the person who is doing everything in his/her power to belong?
Hyphenation is a result of an ethnic majority falsely claiming a destructive view of our nationality and systematically excluding others by law or by fiat. It is not the province of Muslims. This question is never asked of Irish, Italian or German-Americans.
Very few people call themselves "Muslim-Americans". MANY, MANY people treat them as anything other than Americans.
Hyphenation is a result of an ethnic majority falsely claiming a destructive view of our nationality and systematically excluding others by law or by fiat. It is not the province of Muslims. This question is never asked of Irish, Italian or German-Americans.
Very few people call themselves "Muslim-Americans". MANY, MANY people treat them as anything other than Americans.
I thought pride was a sin, love was the virtue. One produces a puffed chest, the other a warm and compassionate heart.
Actually, the "people first" movement was/is about helping a group of people from feeling marginalized and and constantly having it pointed out that they are different. It's about helping the rest of the community see that they are more than their disability. In the same vein, I am advocating for our community (American society) to stop looking at individuals as some sort of description before saying they are Americans. This needs to come from our American society, not just from those that feel marginalized. I actually feel that this they hyphenation stems from the unintended consequences of our PC culture that is fighting for acceptance through pointing out our differences. Right now we need to find ways to become more united, and not pointing out our differences.
David is an anti militancy ultra conservative movement within Islam that is quietly sweeping through the Middle East. It is an antidote to Daesh. It is the door to door, face to face Da'wah movement which has its origin in India in the 1920s. http://news.yahoo.com/mysterious-islamic-movement-quietly-sweeping-middl...
Majority of Muslims who live in heavily populated areas of the world, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Asia, are not militant radicals. They practice moderation in their beliefs and by and large reject violence as a means to spread Islam.
Majority of Muslims who live in heavily populated areas of the world, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Asia, are not militant radicals. They practice moderation in their beliefs and by and large reject violence as a means to spread Islam.
1
Fourth: during the transitional months/years/decades, while you are defanging extreme mass movements, regulate the technologies of death to minimize the loss of innocent life.
Your concluding paragraph SHOULD be the guidepost for our policy: We SHOULD "try to heal the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements" by sending humanitarian aid to those fleeing their war torn homelands, we SHOULD "offer positive inspiring causes to replace the suicidal ones" by showing compassion to those suffering at the hands of religious fundamentalists, we SHOULD be undercutting the "charisma" of the militant leaders by targeting them and ONLY them militarily. Instead we are playing into the hands of the extremists by demeaning the religion they purportedly represent, by refusing to accept those who are fleeing wars and oppression, and by bombing residences and hospitals in hopes of killing a small group of terrorists who may or may not be present. In doing so we are giving the terrorist leaders the opportunity to "...offer hope, inspiration or a plausible way out for the disaffected".
70
We need to start taking responsibility for the world we live in, and recognize that we all share an equal role in creating the reality that we experience together. If there is beauty in the world, we invented it. It is a reflection of what we see in ourselves. A rainbow is not beautiful on its own - it is beautiful only because the human eye can appreciate it. And if there is ugliness in this world, we created that as well. It, too, is a reflection of how we see ourselves.
Love and violence are products of people, just as rainbows and earthquakes are products of the earth. We are quick to blame society for violence, and yet we are always willing to take credit for love. People taking responsibility for love and not violence is like the earth taking credit for rainbows but not earthquakes.
We do not need more laws or lawmakers to solve the problem of violence. We need therapy, as individuals and as a community. We need healing. We need to find a way to love ourselves unconditionally. We need to learn how to listen to our thoughts and observe our own behavior without judgement. Once we are aware of the feelings behind our thoughts and actions, we can start to address those emotions and move through them in a healthy way. It is irresponsible to avoid dealing with your emotions, and then to force other people to deal the consequences of the actions that they have brewed.
Love and violence are products of people, just as rainbows and earthquakes are products of the earth. We are quick to blame society for violence, and yet we are always willing to take credit for love. People taking responsibility for love and not violence is like the earth taking credit for rainbows but not earthquakes.
We do not need more laws or lawmakers to solve the problem of violence. We need therapy, as individuals and as a community. We need healing. We need to find a way to love ourselves unconditionally. We need to learn how to listen to our thoughts and observe our own behavior without judgement. Once we are aware of the feelings behind our thoughts and actions, we can start to address those emotions and move through them in a healthy way. It is irresponsible to avoid dealing with your emotions, and then to force other people to deal the consequences of the actions that they have brewed.
1
One doesn't have to guess. The Al Qaeda/ISIS recruitment manual is available at archive.org.
1. They make the afterlife more important than this life (that is the "utopian future".)
2. They do not denigrate the individual self.
3. They do not denigrate other groups until a certain point is reached. That is, the potential recruit has become very devout, is very concerned about the afterlife, and wants to avoid hell and reach paradise; and is then convinced that jihad is the best way to do that. It is only after that that any other groups enter the picture.
4. They are not creating a future, except in the afterlife. But NYT's Rukmini Callimachi has documented it in action.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/world/americas/isis-online-recruiting-...
Of course, this is just one recruitment manual.
1. They make the afterlife more important than this life (that is the "utopian future".)
2. They do not denigrate the individual self.
3. They do not denigrate other groups until a certain point is reached. That is, the potential recruit has become very devout, is very concerned about the afterlife, and wants to avoid hell and reach paradise; and is then convinced that jihad is the best way to do that. It is only after that that any other groups enter the picture.
4. They are not creating a future, except in the afterlife. But NYT's Rukmini Callimachi has documented it in action.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/world/americas/isis-online-recruiting-...
Of course, this is just one recruitment manual.
5
OK, what we need is a mass movement towards tolerance. We will not get this from mainstream organized religion, but it is what we need. Liberal, constitution derived democracies can tolerate just about anything, except intolerance.
1
As always a beautifully written piece David and I believe much of your premise is correct, but the nations of the Middle East must resolve their own issues, beginning with what nominally started this horror show seventy odd years ago, the Palestinian Israeli issue. Withholding the military support of America, which has cost us untold trillions and thousands of young American lives as well as millions of lives in the Middle East, not to mention the chaos in Europe and our own streets now in San Bernadino and Boston, could very well be the most effective means of finding peace. Israel has nukes, everyone knows it, they are perfectly capable of protecting themselves, also Israels and Palestinians youth, just like the young everywhere, want the same thing in life, a chance to live it in peace and prosperity, It is always the old men seeking power or fortune that are the cause of war whether an ayatollah, Bibi or Cheney: let's have some young men with skin in the game do the negotiating for Israel and Palestine The biggest obstacle facing America with respect to dis involvement in the Middle East ,now that we are no longer oil dependent on the Saudis, is how to elect a President not beholden to special interests, no easy thing in an electoral system that can be bought, but Bernie is our best chance, he is the only candidate with a proven anti war, anti Wall Street record, and as Bernie is Jewish the anti semitism card doesn't play well for A.I.P.A.C. Or the neo cons. Bernie 2016!
1
From Brooks: "Mass movements, [Hoffer] argues, only arise in certain conditions, when a once sturdy social structure is in a state of decay or disintegration. This is a pretty good description of parts of the Arab world. To a lesser degree it is a good description of isolated pockets of our own segmenting, individualized society, where some people find themselves totally cut off."
Selected from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States
"In 2009, 13.2% (39.8 million) Americans lived in poverty.[6] Starting in the 1930s, relative poverty rates have consistently exceeded those of other wealthy nations.[7] California has a poverty rate of 23.8%, the highest of any state in the country.[8]...
"In 2012 the percentage of seniors living in poverty was 14% while 18% of children were.[8]...
"Recent census data shows that half the population qualifies as poor or low income,[13] with one in five Millennials living in poverty.[14]...
"In 2011, child poverty reached record high levels, with 16.7 million children living in food insecure households, about 35% more than 2007 levels.[16] A 2013 UNICEF report ranked the U.S. as having the second highest relative child poverty rates in the developed world.[17]"
You call those "isolated pockets"?
With our non-existent gun control and increasing desperation, it is no surprise that mass shootings are increasing. We're creating the perfect conditions for a US "mass movement".
Selected from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States
"In 2009, 13.2% (39.8 million) Americans lived in poverty.[6] Starting in the 1930s, relative poverty rates have consistently exceeded those of other wealthy nations.[7] California has a poverty rate of 23.8%, the highest of any state in the country.[8]...
"In 2012 the percentage of seniors living in poverty was 14% while 18% of children were.[8]...
"Recent census data shows that half the population qualifies as poor or low income,[13] with one in five Millennials living in poverty.[14]...
"In 2011, child poverty reached record high levels, with 16.7 million children living in food insecure households, about 35% more than 2007 levels.[16] A 2013 UNICEF report ranked the U.S. as having the second highest relative child poverty rates in the developed world.[17]"
You call those "isolated pockets"?
With our non-existent gun control and increasing desperation, it is no surprise that mass shootings are increasing. We're creating the perfect conditions for a US "mass movement".
180
As important is to ask why are these children in poverty? How about starting out with NO FATHERS. Look at this problem as an upside down pyramed. fathers at the bottom --at the bottom which is at the top, are all the gov. programs. What is the common denominator prevalent throughout child poverty---No Fathers. Start at the source of most of the pathology.
1
@Duke: That is definitely a good question, and your "answer" is one part of the problem, but you offer no solution.
Part of the solution is to correct income inequality issues. Rewarding hoarding money by the 1% leads to no jobs and no prospect for jobs for the 99%. This in turn leads to the breakdown of the traditional family structure, as the most prevalent partnership conflict issue is money. Minorities have been living in that situation forever, and as US inequality has progressed, the same is now happening to whites.
Where do ISIS recruits come from? Lots of desperate young (mostly) men who have no better prospects and/or feel excluded from their current environments. Trump says we should let no more Muslims into the country. How do you think the US Muslims feel about that? How would you feel if a leading presidential candidate said followers of your religion/belief/race should be barred from entry? By "other-izing" racial and religious minorities and crushing economic mobility for all races and beliefs we are creating in the US the same conditions that lead to ISIS.
Part of the solution is to correct income inequality issues. Rewarding hoarding money by the 1% leads to no jobs and no prospect for jobs for the 99%. This in turn leads to the breakdown of the traditional family structure, as the most prevalent partnership conflict issue is money. Minorities have been living in that situation forever, and as US inequality has progressed, the same is now happening to whites.
Where do ISIS recruits come from? Lots of desperate young (mostly) men who have no better prospects and/or feel excluded from their current environments. Trump says we should let no more Muslims into the country. How do you think the US Muslims feel about that? How would you feel if a leading presidential candidate said followers of your religion/belief/race should be barred from entry? By "other-izing" racial and religious minorities and crushing economic mobility for all races and beliefs we are creating in the US the same conditions that lead to ISIS.
I'm confused.
Is this article about ISIS/L or our homegrown far right wing?
Is this article about ISIS/L or our homegrown far right wing?
8
You're observation is so on point. David's description of "people who serve mass movements" can be easily applied to Trump's (and other right wing group's) followers.
Wrong but wee intended. Sadly, it will require total annihilation. The Nazis nor the Japanese were merely talked out of anything. This may well mean immense collateral damage and loss of innocent lives. The West will enlist many Muslims against Islamism. It is fascism, as before. But, millions will die before it is reversed. If it continues in "slow motion", we are just assuring that our enemies may become better prepared along the way. Pick your poison.
1
Great point. Read alongside today's Times piece on the apocalyptic prophecy that drives ISIL, Hoffer makes a lot of sense. Trouble is, we tend not to appreciate things intellectual or spiritual, preferring instead bigotry and carpet bombing.
"They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future."
These are religious fanatics. The potentialities of their future is to sacrifice themselves to become martyrs and then be rewarded in a spiritual world. It is the highest honor to be engaged in such an act. As long as this mindset is present healing social disintegration, offering inspiring causes, or defeating them militarily will have minimal impact because they are not of this world.
These are religious fanatics. The potentialities of their future is to sacrifice themselves to become martyrs and then be rewarded in a spiritual world. It is the highest honor to be engaged in such an act. As long as this mindset is present healing social disintegration, offering inspiring causes, or defeating them militarily will have minimal impact because they are not of this world.
3
I read these 959 words and wondered: What does David Brooks know about how ISIS recruits? How many words of Arabic does he speak? How many extremists has he interviewed? How many hadiths can he quote? Who does he DM on Twitter?
Part of the problem with our confronting ISIS – it would seem to me – stems from the fact that our intelligencia arrives from another era, doesn't know the current landscape, and is guessing vainly. People who backed the 2003 Iraq war are now authorities on what radicalizes people. We need to hear from former jihadis in these pages.
Part of the problem with our confronting ISIS – it would seem to me – stems from the fact that our intelligencia arrives from another era, doesn't know the current landscape, and is guessing vainly. People who backed the 2003 Iraq war are now authorities on what radicalizes people. We need to hear from former jihadis in these pages.
1
Believe it or not, former jihadists are persona non grata in media, academia, etc. Check out the last time a university invited a former jihadi and pay attention how "moderate" Muslims welcomed him or her. The media silences the dissenting voices inside Islam. They are not welcome anywhere. It is beyond me to comprehend why.
I also strongly agree with your Iraq invasion comment. Anyone who backed that invasion should just keep quiet.
I also strongly agree with your Iraq invasion comment. Anyone who backed that invasion should just keep quiet.
David, and after you're finished reading Hopper pick up a copy of Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American Politics." There the insanity of what I presume is your political party is on full display. Funny how pseudo-conservatives and middle eastern bomb throwers appear to have been cut from whole cloth.
12
The source of the problem is a belief system where the surest and quickest way to eternal happiness and peace is by dying - while violently killing innocent others. Both Crusaders and Nazis (two other demented belief systems) were willing to die for their beliefs, and the Crusaders likely did so also believing they would receive eternal benefits. But, in both cases, their objective was not to die.
Every human has a extremely large capacity for "myth". See religion, money, nation states, etc. It allows vast numbers of us to cooperate in shared goals based on beliefs. The ego drives it and us all. However this recent "radical Islamic" derangement comes from egos so large, they actually consume themselves as part of the myth. And the problem is, social media/technology allow these individuals to connect and feed from each other. It appears that a certain portion of us are sick. I'm not optimistic that there is a cure. But I am optimistic that such true believers are actually few in number.
Every human has a extremely large capacity for "myth". See religion, money, nation states, etc. It allows vast numbers of us to cooperate in shared goals based on beliefs. The ego drives it and us all. However this recent "radical Islamic" derangement comes from egos so large, they actually consume themselves as part of the myth. And the problem is, social media/technology allow these individuals to connect and feed from each other. It appears that a certain portion of us are sick. I'm not optimistic that there is a cure. But I am optimistic that such true believers are actually few in number.
How do you write about the seduction of ISIS and virtually ignore Islam? David's choice of Eric Hoffer is certainly debatable. Hoffer, a self educated atheist, wrote mostly about secular political groups like Communists and Nazis. They were the complete antithesis of ISIS. The religious movements he dealt with, including Muslims, bore no remote resemblance to the brutality of ISIS. Hoffer believed that the individuals could move freely between political groups because their motivation was about personal frustration and group identification. There is no interchangeability between ISIS and other groups. People who want to leave ISIS can't simply leave, they have to escape.The killers in San Bernadino were not motivated by frustration they were motivated by radical Islam. While there are certainly some alienated young people searching for group identity, the essential appeal of ISIS is radical Islam and the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate. ISIS is about idealogical substance and a form of cultural nihilism not personal frustration.
2
But why did they turn to radical Islam?
DRONES are the means of conducting war from a great distance. Mass movements, by contract, have historically required proximity with others who convince themselves that they hold identical beliefs. A commonly observable example would be the behavior that fans exhibit in sports stadiums. They divide themselves into competing groups whose main pleasure is feeling the surge of the crowd, while they focus on idealized heroes who will gratify them by defeating the opposing team. It's a socially acceptable, temporary mass movement.
What neuroscience has learned about how people connect with each other is via what Daniel Goleman describes as "emotional WiFi," where emotions are contagious and the sense of being part of a group outweighs being an individual. He describes the role that the mirror and spindle cells of the brain play in these WiFi systems.
Where it becomes terroristic is when the leaders encourage polarized thinking. The group is all good and those outside are all bad. The conscious focus is devaluing others, which is based on devaluing the self. The mass suicide in Guyana following Tom Jones was an example of acting on the belief that they could meet each other in a better place. Photos of bloated bodies tell another story.
The allure of terrorism is to yield all control to the idealized leader and to sacrifice others as well as oneself in the service of the false ideals of the leader. Representing death as life is patently false. It's depression!
What neuroscience has learned about how people connect with each other is via what Daniel Goleman describes as "emotional WiFi," where emotions are contagious and the sense of being part of a group outweighs being an individual. He describes the role that the mirror and spindle cells of the brain play in these WiFi systems.
Where it becomes terroristic is when the leaders encourage polarized thinking. The group is all good and those outside are all bad. The conscious focus is devaluing others, which is based on devaluing the self. The mass suicide in Guyana following Tom Jones was an example of acting on the belief that they could meet each other in a better place. Photos of bloated bodies tell another story.
The allure of terrorism is to yield all control to the idealized leader and to sacrifice others as well as oneself in the service of the false ideals of the leader. Representing death as life is patently false. It's depression!
1
Glad to know that David Brooks are both on the same page when it comes to Eric Hoffer. 'To find the cause of our ills in something outside ourselves, something specific that can be eliminated, is a diagnosis that cannot fail to appeal. To say that the cause of our troubles is not in us but in the Jews, and pass immediately to the extermination of the Jews, is a prescription to find a wide acceptance'.
Ever hear of a Happy Mob? I asked a friend recently, fancying myself a bit of a wit. Not anymore. Well, over a decade ago, I spoke to the son of a friend of mine who was about to chuck in high school because he was having trouble addressing Calculus, and I asked if he was planning to join the army (in days of yore, one ran off to sea). He laughed gently and said that he had given it some thought (I did not add what a late friend, D. Friedlander had told me that Southern African men were being searched for.
If people want their mind to be confiscated and let others do their thinking for them, it is a choice, and we can all turn into Rhinos, a happier end to Ionesco's forecast. I received my first 'hate' email the other day, propaganda circulated on the web, before the President's Address on the dangers of ISIL and Terrorism.
Picked up the phone for reassurance and called a Muslim friend, hard at work making sure that over 200 people would get their paycheck in time for Christmas. What a life!
Ever hear of a Happy Mob? I asked a friend recently, fancying myself a bit of a wit. Not anymore. Well, over a decade ago, I spoke to the son of a friend of mine who was about to chuck in high school because he was having trouble addressing Calculus, and I asked if he was planning to join the army (in days of yore, one ran off to sea). He laughed gently and said that he had given it some thought (I did not add what a late friend, D. Friedlander had told me that Southern African men were being searched for.
If people want their mind to be confiscated and let others do their thinking for them, it is a choice, and we can all turn into Rhinos, a happier end to Ionesco's forecast. I received my first 'hate' email the other day, propaganda circulated on the web, before the President's Address on the dangers of ISIL and Terrorism.
Picked up the phone for reassurance and called a Muslim friend, hard at work making sure that over 200 people would get their paycheck in time for Christmas. What a life!
I sense a bit of hysteria here. Mass movements are simply actions by groups of people -- for a cause, or out of confused desperation, or for mere physical survival. Radical, crazy ideas, religious fantasies, and ideologies are always around. And sometimes these groups match up with some of these ideas.
Most Americans have been too protected from the rest of the world and too ignorant of the human past to be aware of this, until now. Now that they do, they want a neat explanation and solution, as if the cause were simple and recent and the answer is at hand.
What we are witnessing is that 1) there are other people in the world; 2) many do not see America the way Americans do; 3) many have different beliefs; 4) some people are desperate, confused, violent, and aggressive.
Some on the Right have done their best to conceal that 1) Americans in general are rather well off; 2) the real problems we have can be fixed by restraining the greed of corporations and the wealthy (appropriate regulations and taxes); 3) democracy requires respect for each other and compromise with those who disagree with you; 4) we cannot fix the world by blowing it up, as horrible as we find some others' actions; 5) we will be strongest when we are nice to each other and informed about the world.
When there are others who are wrong-headed, brutal, disgusting, murderous, we cannot simply wave a wand and fix it. We must, as Obama said and demonstrated, be wise, strong, tolerant, determined, and good.
Most Americans have been too protected from the rest of the world and too ignorant of the human past to be aware of this, until now. Now that they do, they want a neat explanation and solution, as if the cause were simple and recent and the answer is at hand.
What we are witnessing is that 1) there are other people in the world; 2) many do not see America the way Americans do; 3) many have different beliefs; 4) some people are desperate, confused, violent, and aggressive.
Some on the Right have done their best to conceal that 1) Americans in general are rather well off; 2) the real problems we have can be fixed by restraining the greed of corporations and the wealthy (appropriate regulations and taxes); 3) democracy requires respect for each other and compromise with those who disagree with you; 4) we cannot fix the world by blowing it up, as horrible as we find some others' actions; 5) we will be strongest when we are nice to each other and informed about the world.
When there are others who are wrong-headed, brutal, disgusting, murderous, we cannot simply wave a wand and fix it. We must, as Obama said and demonstrated, be wise, strong, tolerant, determined, and good.
7
You have perfectly described the radical republican candidates and the people who are listening to them.
9
Haha. Thought he was talking about liberals there for a moment when he mentioned "utopia" and "hatred."
1
I don't see the actual islamic terrorist as a "mass movement", otherwise there would be a lot more terrorists among the Muslims. I agree that ensuring that terrorists don't inspire more terrorists is a key factor.
2
'I don't see the actual islamic terrorist as a "mass movement", otherwise there would be a lot more terrorists among the Muslims.'
The majority of Germans didn't actually belong to the Nazi party, or in fact participate directly in the genocide of Jews. The majority of whites in the Jim Crow South didn't belong to the Klan. Even at its peak of membership the USSR Communist Party was a minority. But I think it's fair to say that among those groups there was a majority - a critical mass - comprising people who either agreed with the activists or were complacent, willing to go along especially if they benefited, or if they didn't want to risk animosity and possible harassment from their more zealous neighbours. The oft-quoted paraphrase of Burke, that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, applies here.
The key insight in Brooks' column is the penultimate paragraph: You can now be a 'lone wolf' and yet part of a mass movement. Inspired by the Internet, you may simply declare yourself a True Believer, get a few of those oh-so-easy-to-obtain guns, and shoot up any random strangers you decide personify the Great Satan.
The majority of Germans didn't actually belong to the Nazi party, or in fact participate directly in the genocide of Jews. The majority of whites in the Jim Crow South didn't belong to the Klan. Even at its peak of membership the USSR Communist Party was a minority. But I think it's fair to say that among those groups there was a majority - a critical mass - comprising people who either agreed with the activists or were complacent, willing to go along especially if they benefited, or if they didn't want to risk animosity and possible harassment from their more zealous neighbours. The oft-quoted paraphrase of Burke, that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, applies here.
The key insight in Brooks' column is the penultimate paragraph: You can now be a 'lone wolf' and yet part of a mass movement. Inspired by the Internet, you may simply declare yourself a True Believer, get a few of those oh-so-easy-to-obtain guns, and shoot up any random strangers you decide personify the Great Satan.
1
I don't see the significance of terrorism filtered through a religious framework the way this column does. I see it as what happens when our perception is negatively impacted and distorted by our own personal issues and we are unaware of it and don't know it, but we engage in spiritual practices that bring us "understandings" of the universe or of God nevertheless. Of course, if people trying to analyze religious terrorism don't themselves engage in spiritual practices that draw in such understandings, this probably sounds like microorganisms sound to people who don't have access to a microscope. So I don't hold out much hope that many people here will agree with me. But what I see with regard to religious terrorists are people who are inadequately prepared for the spiritual practices they engage in and who are then consumed by a toxic combination of their own personal issues (including anger and fear) and the spiritual forces they have drawn in (some of which require the ego to get as out-of-the-way as humanly possible, including its manifestations in anger, fear). There is a reason we are supposed to clean up our interior selves before we embark on some kinds of spiritual practices, and I would say ISIS is Exhibit A. If one engages with certain spiritual forces, one really does need to be able to do it with total "surrender." I think this is why Jesus and Christianity came to the teaching of something like, "Don't try this at home," and access to Kabbalah is restricted.
4
Not to defend Mr. Brooks but Eric Hoffer's The True Believer is about mass movement which include religion. So, this is a case of Socrates is a human being but not every human being is Socrates.
Not sure how much you know about Eric Hoffer but certainly an amazing being so it is worth your while to read his works. Incidentally, he is Jewish
Not sure how much you know about Eric Hoffer but certainly an amazing being so it is worth your while to read his works. Incidentally, he is Jewish
2
Bos,
I never assumed Mr. Hoffer's work didn't try to address religious movements, I would be happy to address the same critique to his work as I addressed to this column if his work does not deal with the problem I outlined.
I never assumed Mr. Hoffer's work didn't try to address religious movements, I would be happy to address the same critique to his work as I addressed to this column if his work does not deal with the problem I outlined.
I wonder if David realizes that he is also describing the typical Trump supporter without the bloodshed?
258
The state of mind of the Islamist extremist isn't all that dis-similar to the fundamentalist praying for the rapture to come.
"Without the bloodshed" so far.
You are so correct Kevin. The Trump movement is functioning like an insurgency and Donald is the demagogue. Noam Chomsky just made this point yesterday. Right now I am more fearful some Trump supporters will be whipped into a frenzy where innocent blood will be shed, than I am of ISIS.
All this is very interesting and no doubt in large part true, but if so, then one must ask why this particular mass movement is targeting us who live half way around the world? Of course we all know the answer: Our constant meddling in their homelands humiliates them and gives a scapegoat to blame for all their inadequacies. And once more we seem poised to respond militarily, thus providing fuel to their anger and boosting their recruitment efforts.
If it is so insane and counterproductive to keep wading into every internal struggle in this area of the world, why do we keep doing it over and over? Once again, we all know the answer: oil, and our inability to do without it or to produce enough of it that we could ignore the whole region. Long term, there is only one way to break this chain and that is to move beyond oil. The irony is that this could be done if we spent on alternative energy research and deployment a fraction of the money we spend on the military to keep the oil flowing - and powering the recruitment efforts of those who hate us..
If it is so insane and counterproductive to keep wading into every internal struggle in this area of the world, why do we keep doing it over and over? Once again, we all know the answer: oil, and our inability to do without it or to produce enough of it that we could ignore the whole region. Long term, there is only one way to break this chain and that is to move beyond oil. The irony is that this could be done if we spent on alternative energy research and deployment a fraction of the money we spend on the military to keep the oil flowing - and powering the recruitment efforts of those who hate us..
111
Contrarian, perhaps you haven't been following the news. Most of the people being killed by ISIS violence are Muslims and Christians in the middle east. If we pulled up stakes there and anywhere else in the world that you think we should pull up stakes, I don't think you'd see this ending. While ISIS may not care much for us, it's my sense that they don't care much for anybody and that at some point, they will need to be dealt wth. I doubt they'll go away if we promise to leave them and their homelands alone.
1
If your theory is correct - that Daesh is targeting "us who live half way around the world because of "our constant meddling ..." - then why has this terrorist group murdered people in Algeria, Turkey, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Egypt (not to mention its home bases of Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq)? Have these countries also humiliated these murderers? It is obscene - but somehow predictable - to blame victims for a horror-filled vision of the world.
Don't you think it's really just money? Oil is part of that, but do remember those no-bid contracts handed out during the second Iraq war. Can you imagine how much those were worth? Also consider the national debt that war and the one in Afghanistan have left us with. Somebody got that money and mostly Americans, don't you think? War is lucrative indeed for the well-placed.
The fact is our dopey gun policy left us open to these two smug & murderous jerks. Brooks, you can do better.
76
Yes, our gun policy is to blame for terrorism. It's also to blame for poverty, illiteracy, disease, the weather and my aching back. Throw in the rising price of gas and the scarcity of Brussel Sprouts and we pretty much sum it all up, don't we now?
I agree that Brooks can do better, I'm usually rather critical of his thinking, but this opinion piece is, in my opinion, one of his more innocuous efforts. Your comment does, however, remind me of his usual strident pleadings of false cause. Here he lays no blame at the feet of the poor, doesn't scapegoat Obama, nor stroke his long white beard while looking down his nose through rose colored glasses. His reasoning contains some plausibility and his sources aren't, at first look, flagrant champions of fringe partisan ship. This particular out-of-character episode in his career as a pundit is undoubtedly due to...our gun policy.
I agree that Brooks can do better, I'm usually rather critical of his thinking, but this opinion piece is, in my opinion, one of his more innocuous efforts. Your comment does, however, remind me of his usual strident pleadings of false cause. Here he lays no blame at the feet of the poor, doesn't scapegoat Obama, nor stroke his long white beard while looking down his nose through rose colored glasses. His reasoning contains some plausibility and his sources aren't, at first look, flagrant champions of fringe partisan ship. This particular out-of-character episode in his career as a pundit is undoubtedly due to...our gun policy.
It would be good if Hoffer was alive and speaking to the Arab nations that are now writhing in their disintegration, creating ISIS and other movements to entice young people. He is not, and Mr. Brooks is not speaking to the correct audience. The disintegration of Iraq, Syria, Libya, or Egypt is going happening not in America, but in those countries, by the people who live within them. Mr. Hoffer, and Mr. Brooks may have a solution to the problem, but who is going to take the first couple of steps before the West steps in to help militarily defeat these insurgents and humiliated them. There lies the issue.
President Obama seems to understand that problem and calls for patience and some reasonable internal reforms to keep us from moving too quickly into a "war" in which we have no place, and no chance of success. But his opposition, lead by Donald Trump, and trumpeted by most the political opposition, spend most of their time condemning all Arabs and Muslims, creating a distance from those societies that will only widen the gap between our nation and theirs. What is the chance of us providing the hope these people need with Trump on the lectern?
President Obama seems to understand that problem and calls for patience and some reasonable internal reforms to keep us from moving too quickly into a "war" in which we have no place, and no chance of success. But his opposition, lead by Donald Trump, and trumpeted by most the political opposition, spend most of their time condemning all Arabs and Muslims, creating a distance from those societies that will only widen the gap between our nation and theirs. What is the chance of us providing the hope these people need with Trump on the lectern?
33
“For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change they must have the feeling that by the possession of.. some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power."
Yeah, like an AR-15.
"Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated."
Yeah, like the 2003 Iraq War?
Yeah, like an AR-15.
"Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated."
Yeah, like the 2003 Iraq War?
62
All true except the proposed "correct response" at the end. Not because the response is wrong, it just cannot be implemented, nor likely to produce the effect it conceptually should.
Violent radicals have existed in every religion. But currently, the only one in ascendancy, and gaining territory, and producing slick (yet sickening) messages is ISIS. Weak willed losers who think they will have a job, a purpose, and the ability to bully and kill someone - anyone - are attracted because they are in ascendancy.
Kalidan
Violent radicals have existed in every religion. But currently, the only one in ascendancy, and gaining territory, and producing slick (yet sickening) messages is ISIS. Weak willed losers who think they will have a job, a purpose, and the ability to bully and kill someone - anyone - are attracted because they are in ascendancy.
Kalidan
6
Lord Brooks...you are describing the effects of both organized Islam and Christianity on the human brain, it's just that we like to give Christianity a pass because it got most of its violent Crusades out of its system 700 years ago.
If you need a modern example of radical Christianity, take a stroll through the 2015 versions of Christian Shariah law offered by the rainbow of Republican priests running for Pastor-In-Chief.
If you want a really good example of radical Christianity, look at how that devout evangelical Christian President Bush and his Neo-Con-Apostles coined an 'axis of evil' and suddenly invaded a random Muslim country, slaughtered 150,000 Iraqis and created the very womb for ISIS to flourish.
Too bad those divinely inspired American leaders invaded the wrong country.
After all, the real roots and Sequoia trees for the September 11 attack and radical Islam were hanging out in plain daylight just to the South in Saudi Arabia.
ISIS is the child of Saudi Arabian-funded-and-exported Wahhabism/Salafism - but hey, let's invade Iraq anyway, said Boy George.
Eric Hoffer quoted Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels in his book:"a sharp sword must always stand behind propaganda if it is to be really effective" for true believers.
That same streak of 'believer' violence runs through both radical Islamists and America's own exceptional population of gun-happy, war-happy, radical Christians.
72 virgins in heaven...or virgin births.
Two sides of the same religious coin.
If you need a modern example of radical Christianity, take a stroll through the 2015 versions of Christian Shariah law offered by the rainbow of Republican priests running for Pastor-In-Chief.
If you want a really good example of radical Christianity, look at how that devout evangelical Christian President Bush and his Neo-Con-Apostles coined an 'axis of evil' and suddenly invaded a random Muslim country, slaughtered 150,000 Iraqis and created the very womb for ISIS to flourish.
Too bad those divinely inspired American leaders invaded the wrong country.
After all, the real roots and Sequoia trees for the September 11 attack and radical Islam were hanging out in plain daylight just to the South in Saudi Arabia.
ISIS is the child of Saudi Arabian-funded-and-exported Wahhabism/Salafism - but hey, let's invade Iraq anyway, said Boy George.
Eric Hoffer quoted Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels in his book:"a sharp sword must always stand behind propaganda if it is to be really effective" for true believers.
That same streak of 'believer' violence runs through both radical Islamists and America's own exceptional population of gun-happy, war-happy, radical Christians.
72 virgins in heaven...or virgin births.
Two sides of the same religious coin.
475
You give Christianity too much credit, Socrates, by saying its violence against humanity ended with the Crusades. Just about at the end of the Crusades, the Inquisitions, violence against their own, started and continued to modern times. Trace the lineage of the current day Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Today it deals mostly with clergy, its predecessors dealt with the laity as well. There's one difference today; ministers of the faithful have convinced the laity to go on the attack against non-adherents abandoning any hope of tolerance.
1
Totally agree. Religion seems to be (ironically) at the heart of a lot of hatred and war. Christians especially seem to forget that Jesus was the "Prince of Peace" and not of war, that He preached acceptance and not hatred. Too bad the Christian fundamentalists don't really adopt principles based on Christ's teachings.
1
Why no mention of the Christian radicals who also use violence in the name of their "god?"
90
David is very careful...because if he were to mention Christian radicals he'd have to mention Jewish radicals...dear to his heart...who have terrorized native Palestinians for 70+ years. How well the Israeli campaign is going to militarily defeat and humiliate those pesky Pals..thanks, in large part to those frustrated, talentless, and mediocre Christian radicals currently running for U.S. President!
1
Probably because an isolated case or two pales in comparison to an organization sophisticated enough to bring forth the Paris attacks. Or because the individuals in question do not threaten to crush the entire western world, with an infrastructure to actually give it a shot (if not now, then they are on the track to try it eventually).
I'm a little miffed we can't speak out against Islamic radicalization without having to include Christianity every single time. Are we worried about offending ISIS or something?
I'm a little miffed we can't speak out against Islamic radicalization without having to include Christianity every single time. Are we worried about offending ISIS or something?
2
David Brooks writes "some people's minds flew to the materialistic element of the atrocity -- the guns that were used in the killing. But the crucial issue, it seems to me, is ...how is it that the Islamic State is able to radicalize a couple living in Redlands, Calif.?"
Why would that seem the crucial issue? More attacks in the US have been committed by right-wing religious fanatics than Islamic extremists, the murders at Planned Parenthood just one recent example. If you completely solved the issue of radicalization of Muslims and stopped all related violence, you wouldn't have stopped even half of the violence.
People focus on the issue of guns because that's the common factor. In Scotland there was a knife attack by a religious radical recently, no one died, and one person was injured. Yes, terrorists can get access to guns as we saw in Paris, but France has infinitely fewer deaths from guns than the US, even if you include that recent attack.
Any sober look at the terrorism year by year in the US has to admit that right-wing, Christian fundamentalism is responsible for more deaths than anything else. Yet no one focuses on how these people become "radicalized", by hate preachers like Jerry Falwell Jr.
Even doing so however would be just sidestepping the real issue -- guns. There will always be people who feel frustrated and angry, and if you solved that problem in the Middle East you'd still have it in the US.
Why would that seem the crucial issue? More attacks in the US have been committed by right-wing religious fanatics than Islamic extremists, the murders at Planned Parenthood just one recent example. If you completely solved the issue of radicalization of Muslims and stopped all related violence, you wouldn't have stopped even half of the violence.
People focus on the issue of guns because that's the common factor. In Scotland there was a knife attack by a religious radical recently, no one died, and one person was injured. Yes, terrorists can get access to guns as we saw in Paris, but France has infinitely fewer deaths from guns than the US, even if you include that recent attack.
Any sober look at the terrorism year by year in the US has to admit that right-wing, Christian fundamentalism is responsible for more deaths than anything else. Yet no one focuses on how these people become "radicalized", by hate preachers like Jerry Falwell Jr.
Even doing so however would be just sidestepping the real issue -- guns. There will always be people who feel frustrated and angry, and if you solved that problem in the Middle East you'd still have it in the US.
141
Thank you and you are so right about Jerry Falwell JR. I live in Lynchburg, Va. You would not believe how many Lynchburger cheer for this man and his empire. Let us all remember Jim Jones. It is not hard to lead your flock.
1
Isis doesn't make radicals Isis is where radicals go to be with their peers. It’s like what came first the chicken or the egg? It’s our Pollyanna view of the world that normal people are lured to do evil by some charismatic leader. We fail to recognize that Isis is a gathering of willing recruits. The new word we are using is they have been Radicalized. When will we finally realize people who feel a part of something can't be Radicalized. If we ever realize that this world is made up of many cultures and ours is not considered the best by everyone in the world. Sure we might love our culture but someone half a world away my also love theirs. People like Trump help make radicals and Isis is where they go to vent. Isis is gang and we must treat it like a gang. We need to find a way disband the gang make its membership roll a doughnut. Waiting on Mr. Brooks column of how Trump and the right are poster boys for Isis recruitment.
13
I grew up with myths and legends and with tales of heroism in the face of unending oppression. These same tales still motivate people in Ireland to accumulate guns and bombs, The same tales have grains of truth and much nonsense. Northern Ireland is a microcosm of America's old South, and that Old South is a state of mind and not a limited geographic region.
All well and good, David, to wonder how ISIS makes radicals. Far more of a threat to the Republic is how the GOP and their masters have made cringing idiots out of a large swathe of the American population. Anti-science xenophobes! Who'da thunk it!
All well and good, David, to wonder how ISIS makes radicals. Far more of a threat to the Republic is how the GOP and their masters have made cringing idiots out of a large swathe of the American population. Anti-science xenophobes! Who'da thunk it!
72
It is very discouraging that none of the Republican presidential candidates can express anything close to what Mr. Brooks presented in his column today. They can only scream aggression and hostility which is not at all a positive approach to resolving the negativity of ISIS.
26
Other mass movements exist in the US as well. Trump and others in the media lead the charge. Just go to Fox and read the comments. Hidden behind screen names and fictionalized images, their rants show the fanaticism equaled by Middle Eastern fanatics. At least in the Times comment section, complete sentences are often the rule. You wonder why the candidates express themselves as they do?
3
Really scary is the fact that many if not most of those candidates practice a religion that believes in Armageddon and Apocalypse essentially in the same way radical Islam does. Doesn't it seem to you, too, that they see, at least subconsciously, all of this as an act in the great drama of good vs. evil prophesied in "Revelation"? If they do, then the war to end all wars is not merely a must, it's inevitable.
An important element of the psychology of the couple is that the man, who was born and raised in the U.S., had one requirement for a wife - that she wear burka.
And the wife complied to the point where no other male, even her husband's brothers, ever saw her face.
More, her mother-in-law lived in the same small house, which means that the wife had absolutely no authority within and could only go out fully covered; reports are that she rarely did go out.
So, do you think maybe this man had a few control issues?
Can you imagine the mental state of a woman who only has contact with the outside world online, and is isolated from even her few female family contacts by language? (She is reported to only speak a little English, and the sister of the husband says she 'did not know her very well.')
Before we get into imagining positive inspiring causes to offer these people, perhaps we should consider the reality in which they live; it is not a reality in which most Americans live, and not one which can be addressed by detailing how dysfunctional that reality is.
The reality of their own lives must change.
And the wife complied to the point where no other male, even her husband's brothers, ever saw her face.
More, her mother-in-law lived in the same small house, which means that the wife had absolutely no authority within and could only go out fully covered; reports are that she rarely did go out.
So, do you think maybe this man had a few control issues?
Can you imagine the mental state of a woman who only has contact with the outside world online, and is isolated from even her few female family contacts by language? (She is reported to only speak a little English, and the sister of the husband says she 'did not know her very well.')
Before we get into imagining positive inspiring causes to offer these people, perhaps we should consider the reality in which they live; it is not a reality in which most Americans live, and not one which can be addressed by detailing how dysfunctional that reality is.
The reality of their own lives must change.
20
Extremely well written, as usual. Finally, a consideration if the need to prevent radicalization through an understanding of the mind set that leads to it. Where are the programs that would focus on addressing the isolation experienced by those who are drawn to the appeal of ISIS ?
9
Let's see, how about vilifying all Muslims, so they feel more and more estranged from US society. Would that do?
1
I wish our leaders (political and opinion) would spend as much time beating the drum for a diplomatic solution to this crisis as they do for a military solution. Because there is nothing the military can do without a diplomatic heavy lift. Even if ISIL was defeated militarily, there is no legitimate government in the wings to take over northern Iraq. The relationship between Baghdad and the Sunnis remains broken (and throw the Kurds in too). Assad remains in a fractured and war torn Syria. The place is a mess and not the kind that the military can fix. Radical ideology (religion) is spreading and feeding on economic discontent, which no military can fix. It's distressing to read today that 2/3 of Americans want to see American troops fighting ISIL. This is a major failure of American leadership from all quarters.
328
You are very sensible. Terror compounds terror.
1
The opposite is also true. You'll never be able to launch a decent government if the assassins, agitators, bombers and all-around goons of ISIS, al-Qaida, Taliban or whomever are running around looking for someone to kill. It has reached the stage where ISIS has to be annihilated before democracy -- or any other government -- can become established.
1
I dreamed a horrible dream last night of mindless hurt that I had caused. I was screaming in my dream at the horror of it, but awoke to realize it was just a dream, I would never have been capable of in my waking state. I think many must feel this way in their waking life now, to have in anyway contributed to what the world is living now. How could we have agreed to fight in Iraq or in the Middle East anywhere? As this was the horror we inflicted, that now visits upon us in short hard thrusts. Mindfully or not, we all somehow in an ignorant way contributed to this..our thoughtless use of fossil fuels, and our exhorbitant, wasteful use of the earth's resources, we followed the captains of industry into the hell of endless wars. Desperate people are fighting back. We don't know them, but they strike out now in horridly inhuman ways. We must acknowledge our part in their desperation and correct the wrongs as much as we are able. We must love in the face of their hatred and make amends. We must wake up! to the angels of our better natures. Wars are not accidental. Find out what it is that profits from it in its origin. Cut that heart of it all out and stomp on it. End these endless wars. It is possible. We must cast the mote out of our own eye first. Give ISIS nothing to push against to fill their ranks with more disaffected.
25
I agree. We are reaping over a century of what we have sown. You can only push people so far and then they will fight back. While the belief system IS has created is twisted and incredibly misguided, it is not so hard to understand when you know the entire history of U.S. and British meddling in the Middle East. We will never heal this gaping wound we've created in these societies and cultures. I don't think it's within our power to fix this problem. I think at this point, our absence is all that will matter or make a difference.
1
On Sept. 16, 2014, I wrote in the Times:“Two of ISIL’s most important drivers are its economic engine and its recruiting." On June 20, 2015, I wrote about having the right methodology to defeat ISIS: "The straight lines of violence against America have internal, psychological turns that should be reviewed and considered. Disaffected youth--at home and global--have turned to conquerors and scapegoats, religion, race, inventing themselves through violence."
Trump plays the perfect ISIL foil by never considering the consequences of his mouth. His meanings are backward, outdated by more than 40 years, but he revels in stupid (assisted by the networks!).
ISIL justifies violent, wanton killing, as a part of a cycle of violence--a response to the West's long history of invader violence. The radicalized minority listens and looks at the screams of the Western majority for military attacks, bombings, ground troops as calls for campaigns of death.
To ISIL offers of comradeship, narratives of approval, pay, and brides, American youth counters as outliers, lone operators, reveling in defiance--committing suicide after attacks in this new war declared over bad behavior and a god who fines divine favor in death.
Nothing sensible for its defeat will emerge from Trump. Don’t wrap this new thing in the shards of broken, old conventions–it is a product of that brokenness! But it is also a poison from a new stir of the spoon. For one, it puts first the need to kill.
Trump plays the perfect ISIL foil by never considering the consequences of his mouth. His meanings are backward, outdated by more than 40 years, but he revels in stupid (assisted by the networks!).
ISIL justifies violent, wanton killing, as a part of a cycle of violence--a response to the West's long history of invader violence. The radicalized minority listens and looks at the screams of the Western majority for military attacks, bombings, ground troops as calls for campaigns of death.
To ISIL offers of comradeship, narratives of approval, pay, and brides, American youth counters as outliers, lone operators, reveling in defiance--committing suicide after attacks in this new war declared over bad behavior and a god who fines divine favor in death.
Nothing sensible for its defeat will emerge from Trump. Don’t wrap this new thing in the shards of broken, old conventions–it is a product of that brokenness! But it is also a poison from a new stir of the spoon. For one, it puts first the need to kill.
38
As Trump is to ISIL, Thatcher was to the IRA.
3
You archive your comments? I don't even necessarily remember what I wrote last week, except that it probably reflected a fairly consistent line of thought from previous comments on the same and related subjects.
Archiving has two benefits for comments and replies: it documents the long view of a problem everyone is suddenly noticing; it logs how long and far away from the analysis and solution the threat community is moving. From the beginning I said behavior was more important than faith. It puts first the need to kill.
Dates are good anchors!
Dates are good anchors!
1
Defeat did not end the seductions of the Nazis. We still have neo-Nazis despite the most total, utter, complete defeat imaginable. Some of them still kill.
Military defeat would not end the problem we have with extremists radicalized to a hate filled, twisted version of "religion."
Eliminating the sane versions of that religion would not eliminate the twisted versions either, it would just leave them in uncontested control of that field of thought.
This is not a problem that can be solved with guns and bombs and force. Just because we have fine hammer does not mean that it is the tool we need.
People are much better led than driven. Some will move when a drive is attempted, but it turns into herding cats. People are more like cats than sheep, despite all the invective otherwise.
Leadership is hard. It is an art. Leadership on the scale we need today calls for genius in that art, or near to it.
What is left of 1500 characters can't encompass the whole art of leadership of millions across many nations. It is enought to say that none of the characters on offer for the job offer the remotest touch of such genius.
We need to go back to the beginning, and find ourselves a great leader. We are in great need.
Military defeat would not end the problem we have with extremists radicalized to a hate filled, twisted version of "religion."
Eliminating the sane versions of that religion would not eliminate the twisted versions either, it would just leave them in uncontested control of that field of thought.
This is not a problem that can be solved with guns and bombs and force. Just because we have fine hammer does not mean that it is the tool we need.
People are much better led than driven. Some will move when a drive is attempted, but it turns into herding cats. People are more like cats than sheep, despite all the invective otherwise.
Leadership is hard. It is an art. Leadership on the scale we need today calls for genius in that art, or near to it.
What is left of 1500 characters can't encompass the whole art of leadership of millions across many nations. It is enought to say that none of the characters on offer for the job offer the remotest touch of such genius.
We need to go back to the beginning, and find ourselves a great leader. We are in great need.
37
Are we so unevolved that we need a great leader? Isn't a great president enough?
This sounds apocalyptic, epic, Wagnerian....We cannot counter the apocalyptic goal of ISIS to draw us into jihad in the Middle East with our own Mahadi. Sinking into the morass of primitive beliefs will do little but restore the the cycle of anti-rational misery. We do not need a messiah, we need a dispassionate deliberate leader who will quell our impulse to join the narrative of ISIS.
2
I did mean a great President, not a new Jesus. A Lincoln would be wonderful.
If it sounds like more, that was my mistake.
If it sounds like more, that was my mistake.
2
David's analysis is on point. The world certainly is in the state of disintegration just about everywhere you look. America is discontent, lined up into armed political camps that dont even talk to each other anymore. Europe is feeling the strains of a refugee crisis as well as the always uopian dream of having a common currenc.
And of course the Middle East: adding yet another army of foreign invaders into their numerous war zones and constantly changing territorial maps.
No it's not hard for me to imagine how this couple could have pulled this off. But what is troubling is that they were signs that people ignored such as the target pracrice. I couldn't help wonder if she wore her burka to the shooting range?
If we've learned anything at all in the past two weeks I hope it is this: in today's world we all have to be like CIA detectives, observing our environment and having the courage to speak up.
And of course the Middle East: adding yet another army of foreign invaders into their numerous war zones and constantly changing territorial maps.
No it's not hard for me to imagine how this couple could have pulled this off. But what is troubling is that they were signs that people ignored such as the target pracrice. I couldn't help wonder if she wore her burka to the shooting range?
If we've learned anything at all in the past two weeks I hope it is this: in today's world we all have to be like CIA detectives, observing our environment and having the courage to speak up.
28
i'm disappointed by your conclusion. more caring and engagment with our neighbors is the answer.
4
@olivia: i understand your point and would normally agree. However, from everything I've read, the couple very much kept to themselves and were not particularly interested in conversing with neighbors. When faced with an enemy of this nature, we all have to be vigilant. Even the president was encouraging us to do that – not so much spot on our neighbors as have the courage to be somewhat vocal when we observe behavior that is odd, or indicative of radicalization.
3
If I reported all the bizarrely dressed individuals I see at shooting ranges I would become known as a boy crying wolf. That said, given the biases expressed on many of the patrons t-shirts I too wonder that they were able to practice without disruption. Unless the harassment they found on the firing line is what pushed them over the edge!
3
Finally, someone citing Eric Hoffer. Thank you, Mr. Brooks.
The True Believer is such a seminal work it should have been on everyone's bookshelf. And it is short and easy to read too.
It is important to understand the late Hoffer approached his subject with a non-judgmental mind. In another work of his - I think it is The Temper of Our Time - Hoffer mentioned about the inflinite plasticity of the human spirit for good as well as evil. Both Christianity and Nazism were driven by the masses. So, it is important to understand mass movement itself can be a constructive force. This may be rational but seems to escape the current crop of GOP presidential candidates. They all misidentify a label as the substance. Jeb Bush thinks there is no terrorist outside of the Muslim religion. Wrong! Anyone reading the news for even just a few minutes a day know the plight of the Rohinyas in the hands of the militant monks in Myanmar.
Gandhi embraced non-violence and it was a force to be reckoned with too. So, if only the world embraced Malala more and Trump less. So, it is up to us the masses. And once upon a time, the 4th Estate was the vanguard. Now, everyone wants to be Buzzfeed
The True Believer is such a seminal work it should have been on everyone's bookshelf. And it is short and easy to read too.
It is important to understand the late Hoffer approached his subject with a non-judgmental mind. In another work of his - I think it is The Temper of Our Time - Hoffer mentioned about the inflinite plasticity of the human spirit for good as well as evil. Both Christianity and Nazism were driven by the masses. So, it is important to understand mass movement itself can be a constructive force. This may be rational but seems to escape the current crop of GOP presidential candidates. They all misidentify a label as the substance. Jeb Bush thinks there is no terrorist outside of the Muslim religion. Wrong! Anyone reading the news for even just a few minutes a day know the plight of the Rohinyas in the hands of the militant monks in Myanmar.
Gandhi embraced non-violence and it was a force to be reckoned with too. So, if only the world embraced Malala more and Trump less. So, it is up to us the masses. And once upon a time, the 4th Estate was the vanguard. Now, everyone wants to be Buzzfeed
14
As one views a Repub debate
The Future is woven with hate,
What grand inspiration
Is brought to our Nation
By all those minds, so second rate?
They give ISIS a helping hand
A benefit clearly unplanned,
This hatred we boost
Now comes home to roost,
Which Brooks seems not to understand.
The Future is woven with hate,
What grand inspiration
Is brought to our Nation
By all those minds, so second rate?
They give ISIS a helping hand
A benefit clearly unplanned,
This hatred we boost
Now comes home to roost,
Which Brooks seems not to understand.
62
"U.S. Strategy Seeks to Avoid ISIS Prophecy" spells it out. Playing the role ISIS has designated for us fits their plan for Armageddon and draws more recruits. Repressive actions in the west radicalizes Wahhabis living in the west and increases the number of Salafists.
Brooks vision is clouded by his loyalty to the Republican Narrative. Belief in monarchy, oligarchy, elitism, loyalty to the uber rich, Saudi Arabia, and the entanglements of oil, banking, and defense industries. Brooks and Republicans believe that they can "use" ISIS and the jihadists to further their own ends. So did the Capitalists, the industrialists in Germany when the Nazis were fighting the communists. That is the planning bias of the wealthy elite: they think that they can control mass movements. Ask the Saudis how that's working out for them.
Brooks vision is clouded by his loyalty to the Republican Narrative. Belief in monarchy, oligarchy, elitism, loyalty to the uber rich, Saudi Arabia, and the entanglements of oil, banking, and defense industries. Brooks and Republicans believe that they can "use" ISIS and the jihadists to further their own ends. So did the Capitalists, the industrialists in Germany when the Nazis were fighting the communists. That is the planning bias of the wealthy elite: they think that they can control mass movements. Ask the Saudis how that's working out for them.
1
If you read this piece thoughtfully, you can see how a couple like the one in San Bernardino, can thrive in a "speak no evil/see no evil/hear no evil" society like the United States. So careful to avoid offense, and so relativistic in our appraisals of others' beliefs, we will be left only to shake our heads and look for "materialistic" causes for these acts.
Armed with a confidence of what is right and what is wrong, another country or another father of a budding terrorist, would call the FBI and say "I just spoke to my son, and I think he is off the rails. I think we should watch him before he harms someone." But, here, in the contemporary United States, we are taught to put "self" above country or community. Let's just see how it works out. Nobody would ask a father to turn in his son for closer inquiry.
When a man's Imam cannot stand back, scratch his chin, and make an assessment of someone's behavior; you have to wonder how (in a world so careful to avoid fingering Islam) we expect to place the safety of our country above the emerging radicals among us.
If this were a McVeigh or a Unabomber, we would have no hesitation about speaking up and would expect the same of a family member. But the protective cloak of non-discrimination will tie us up in knots over this issue, and it will result in eventually greater anger among our citizens.
Protests on college campuses will circle back on themselves. We need to restore the "whole" soon before it is too late.
Armed with a confidence of what is right and what is wrong, another country or another father of a budding terrorist, would call the FBI and say "I just spoke to my son, and I think he is off the rails. I think we should watch him before he harms someone." But, here, in the contemporary United States, we are taught to put "self" above country or community. Let's just see how it works out. Nobody would ask a father to turn in his son for closer inquiry.
When a man's Imam cannot stand back, scratch his chin, and make an assessment of someone's behavior; you have to wonder how (in a world so careful to avoid fingering Islam) we expect to place the safety of our country above the emerging radicals among us.
If this were a McVeigh or a Unabomber, we would have no hesitation about speaking up and would expect the same of a family member. But the protective cloak of non-discrimination will tie us up in knots over this issue, and it will result in eventually greater anger among our citizens.
Protests on college campuses will circle back on themselves. We need to restore the "whole" soon before it is too late.
10
did anyone speak out about mcveigh? the colorado planned parenthood shooter was clearly violent and unbalanced - who brought him to the attention of the authorities?
13
How is the "whole" to be restored??
"If this were a McVeigh or a Unabomber, we would have no hesitation about speaking up"
--Remind me, who spoke up and stopped McVeigh and Ted?
--Remind me, who spoke up and stopped McVeigh and Ted?
5
ERIC HOFFER: I HAVEN'T HEARD HIS NAME RECENTLY . . .
...but this longshoreman who became known for his many writings during ,id-century ... said in plain spoken language a great deal ... that many intellectuals respected.
There is often a state of what Durkheim referred to as anomie in the world. And one might posit that with the advent and proliferation of social media ... it would lessen. But, the opposite seems to have happened ... as I have seen so many sitting in the same room ... and each is texting either to strangers or the very few in the room.
Yes, social media seems to have (at least) created a greater degree of isolation ... both in the Western nations and the Middle East ... and this degree of anomie can lead to having virtual "friends" and feel in a virtual network ... and still be and feel alone.
ISIS has used this devise to build virtual communities ... spreading propaganda to people who don't even know each other ... and will never meet or have a genuine relationship with.
Another example of unintended consequences due to benign changes or new technology.
...but this longshoreman who became known for his many writings during ,id-century ... said in plain spoken language a great deal ... that many intellectuals respected.
There is often a state of what Durkheim referred to as anomie in the world. And one might posit that with the advent and proliferation of social media ... it would lessen. But, the opposite seems to have happened ... as I have seen so many sitting in the same room ... and each is texting either to strangers or the very few in the room.
Yes, social media seems to have (at least) created a greater degree of isolation ... both in the Western nations and the Middle East ... and this degree of anomie can lead to having virtual "friends" and feel in a virtual network ... and still be and feel alone.
ISIS has used this devise to build virtual communities ... spreading propaganda to people who don't even know each other ... and will never meet or have a genuine relationship with.
Another example of unintended consequences due to benign changes or new technology.
9
Eric Hoffer and "The True Believer" was a touchstone for me when I was a young man seeking to orient myself with respect to personal and political idealism and realism, and I agree that the book has much to tell us about the psychology of radicalization. (Another useful book in this context is "The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle" by J. Glenn Gray.) All the same, I find it hard to fathom how you could read Hoffer's book and derive from it a recommendation for a ground war against ISIS.
A ground war against ISIS would deny ISIS any plausible claim to statehood and it would impose a major hindrance on ISIS's ability to rase funds, collect weapons and physically muster recruits, and for these and other reasons it might be argued that a ground war against ISIS is a good idea. But to suggest as you do that a ground war against ISIS would undermine ISIS's ideological appeal is, to put it bluntly, ridiculous.
ISIS would not be "humiliated" by military defeat at the hands of the USMC, its fighters would be "martyred." And it is all but guaranteed that in addition to the Internet videos of beheadings and suicide bombings of Syrian Army forces, we would be treated to months or years of filmed guerrilla attacks on the "Infidel armies" of America.
Hoffer should've taught you that the unreal, fantastic nature of the idea that ISIS could ever defeat the US in battle is no reason for the susceptible to reject that idea. It's a good part of its appeal.
A ground war against ISIS would deny ISIS any plausible claim to statehood and it would impose a major hindrance on ISIS's ability to rase funds, collect weapons and physically muster recruits, and for these and other reasons it might be argued that a ground war against ISIS is a good idea. But to suggest as you do that a ground war against ISIS would undermine ISIS's ideological appeal is, to put it bluntly, ridiculous.
ISIS would not be "humiliated" by military defeat at the hands of the USMC, its fighters would be "martyred." And it is all but guaranteed that in addition to the Internet videos of beheadings and suicide bombings of Syrian Army forces, we would be treated to months or years of filmed guerrilla attacks on the "Infidel armies" of America.
Hoffer should've taught you that the unreal, fantastic nature of the idea that ISIS could ever defeat the US in battle is no reason for the susceptible to reject that idea. It's a good part of its appeal.
16
In fact, the only way that ISIS goal will succeed will be to entice America and the West to put boots on the ground in the region. Please read: U.S. Strategy Seeks to Avoid ISIS Prophecy in today's paper and couple it with Hoffer's observations. All leaders who propose following the script that ISIS has planned is a fool. Donald Trump is such a fool and so is "the sky is falling" Graham. There are others.
1
Wrong again, Mr. Brooks. The husband-wife team in San Bernardino may have been intoxicated by the seductive ravings of the Islamic State's global campaign. That's not what killed 14 Americans. The method of their public execution was the weaponry that Mr. Farook and Ms. Malik brought to the building. But for easily- bought WMD's, championed by your party and the NRA and their Second Amendment zealots, these 14 dead might still be alive. No one, Mr. Brooks, believes that the Islamic State is not playing for keeps. They prey upon fear and that fear has loosened all restraint here as the panic spreads. The NRA is shouting "fire" in the crowded hall and a foolish Congress complies by refusing to accept responsibility for the danger by tightening our laughable, non-restrictive gun laws to prevent their ready availability. Anyone here in this country who has no affiliation with ISIS is halfway to a jihad by simply walking into a gun store, showing up at a gun show, or buying WMD's on-line. The thing has been done; all that remains is the target and the body count. Congress and the NRA are domestic terrorists far more worrisome than ISIS. The "psychological and military" solutions that you posit are out of a nursery rhyme. The Islamic State's threat is the drive-through approach to weapons purchases so beloved by the GOP/TP. They're the killers.
311
Knives kill too. Cars kill too. Stones kill too. The guns are just more sophisticated and efficient.
2
NRA, not my favorite by any means, was not involved in the Boston Marathon bombing. These zealots are going to use a variety of weapons to fulfill their missions. To think that by banning firearms you're going to stop msss killings is like believing that if you push in one side of a balloon you've reduced its contents. Doesn't happen. You may better control psychotics with gun control, but it will have no impact whatsoever on ISIS' followers. They'll simply switch to other weapons...e.g. 777 aircraft, IEDs, Molotov cocktails==you name it.
5
Odd how Brooks left out the GOP'ers letting the ban on assault weapons expire in 2004, and the coinciding reduction in funding for community police officers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/politics/campaign/kerry-faults-bush-fo...
Letting the assault weapons ban expire, and having the ability to purchase huge volume ammo clips for them, are mistakes that have not made us safer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/politics/campaign/kerry-faults-bush-fo...
Letting the assault weapons ban expire, and having the ability to purchase huge volume ammo clips for them, are mistakes that have not made us safer.
5
Synopsis: People who think they have nothing to live for find it easy to find something to die for. And kill for.
There is something missing in a young couple with a six month old baby feeling they have no purpose and direction in life. Usually babies provide their parents with all the direction and purpose one could wish for, and then some. The case of the couple in the Bakersfield massacre is a lot more psychologically complicated than two starry-eyed youngsters seeking a goal in life. One wonders what that abandoned child will think when he/she discovers the truth.
There is no military quick fix to this problem, no matter what a certain loud-mouthed presidential pretender says. Another Western invasion/occupation would make things worse by orders of magnitude. Obama knows this, and, I suspect, some Republican members of Congress do to, although the latter have not the integrity to come out and say so.
There is something missing in a young couple with a six month old baby feeling they have no purpose and direction in life. Usually babies provide their parents with all the direction and purpose one could wish for, and then some. The case of the couple in the Bakersfield massacre is a lot more psychologically complicated than two starry-eyed youngsters seeking a goal in life. One wonders what that abandoned child will think when he/she discovers the truth.
There is no military quick fix to this problem, no matter what a certain loud-mouthed presidential pretender says. Another Western invasion/occupation would make things worse by orders of magnitude. Obama knows this, and, I suspect, some Republican members of Congress do to, although the latter have not the integrity to come out and say so.
104
We will not invade, or not until we need the oil again. We will pull strings, feed "intelligence" and fund others to trample the fields where figs and dates are grown in a holy crusade (jihad?) to keep the world safe for our one true god, the almighty dollar.
1
"Another Western invasion/occupation would make things worse by orders of magnitude."
Amen!
Amen!
2
Defeat them how militarily? When we first attacked ISIS, the pentagon said there were about 30K members. The pentagon announced a few days ago they had killed 20K. The new amount for ISIS is about 30-50K. At this rate we will kill all of ISIS, never.
You have the saudis (Sunnis) which since the 70s' has been spending about 300 million dollars every year to teach their radical version of Islam, which both al quada and ISIS follow (Both are Sunnis). Then you have the sunni countries giving money and weapons, plus people to Isis to fight for the cause.
Let me know how your perpetual war makes out by trying to defeat them militarily. Because w/o all out war and about 500K troops, there is no military option. And be prepared to have many US soldiers dying in a target rich environment where they are the targets.
And since we are joining europe in the hate game against muslims, that will only cause more to become radicals and join the cause. Europe is not going to change how they treat the muslims, no more than they were willing to change for the jews.
You have the saudis (Sunnis) which since the 70s' has been spending about 300 million dollars every year to teach their radical version of Islam, which both al quada and ISIS follow (Both are Sunnis). Then you have the sunni countries giving money and weapons, plus people to Isis to fight for the cause.
Let me know how your perpetual war makes out by trying to defeat them militarily. Because w/o all out war and about 500K troops, there is no military option. And be prepared to have many US soldiers dying in a target rich environment where they are the targets.
And since we are joining europe in the hate game against muslims, that will only cause more to become radicals and join the cause. Europe is not going to change how they treat the muslims, no more than they were willing to change for the jews.
18
Skip, there is already a movement within Islam Da'wah or Tabligh. Tablighi Jamaat is a global proselytizing movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablighi_Jamaat
"Tablighi Jamaat believes that Muslims are in a constant state of spiritual Jihad in the sense of fight against evil, the weapon of choice is Dawah (proselytization) and that battles are won or lost in the "hearts of men."
This is a peaceful non violent movement. Bare hands. It is a successful movement in parts of the world where most Muslims live peacefully, co exist with other religions. This is not a militant group. Unfortunately people in the media like David Brooks are ill informed and not aware of majority of peaceful Muslims. David lives one foot in Israel (theologically, emotionally), so it is in his interest that the wars continue to protect his homeland. People in the media should focus on what is working in peaceful parts of the Muslim world, not on the radical parts. If you want to dissect radicalism, go to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran and you will uncover the basis, the foundation, the funding, the financing, the propaganda of radical Islam.
"Tablighi Jamaat believes that Muslims are in a constant state of spiritual Jihad in the sense of fight against evil, the weapon of choice is Dawah (proselytization) and that battles are won or lost in the "hearts of men."
This is a peaceful non violent movement. Bare hands. It is a successful movement in parts of the world where most Muslims live peacefully, co exist with other religions. This is not a militant group. Unfortunately people in the media like David Brooks are ill informed and not aware of majority of peaceful Muslims. David lives one foot in Israel (theologically, emotionally), so it is in his interest that the wars continue to protect his homeland. People in the media should focus on what is working in peaceful parts of the Muslim world, not on the radical parts. If you want to dissect radicalism, go to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran and you will uncover the basis, the foundation, the funding, the financing, the propaganda of radical Islam.
2
Mr. Brooks doesn't think about the billion muslims who aren't attacking/hating us. The policies the right keeps offering would just make more enemies, which was my point, though not clearly made.
Unfortunately the media thrives on the sensational, which means only the worse gets reported usually. And the people don't want to hear about peaceful muslims, it doesn't fit into their hate.
I find it strange that two of the most radical countries are 'good allies' while the 3rd is a country we screwed over royally back in the 50s'. It's almost like we did bad things to them. Of course how can that be true when they are such good friends of ours? I have researched how they became radical. And yet we sell weapons and give money to two of the countries in the hopes they won't use them against us.
Unfortunately the media thrives on the sensational, which means only the worse gets reported usually. And the people don't want to hear about peaceful muslims, it doesn't fit into their hate.
I find it strange that two of the most radical countries are 'good allies' while the 3rd is a country we screwed over royally back in the 50s'. It's almost like we did bad things to them. Of course how can that be true when they are such good friends of ours? I have researched how they became radical. And yet we sell weapons and give money to two of the countries in the hopes they won't use them against us.
The analogy between low income Republicans and followers of ISIL was an interesting one. For 15 years at least it has been clear that poor Republicans have been voting against their own interests. Certainly this is not in the same category as a suicide mission, but then the situation in the US is not so dire. (Nevertheless we did manage to produce one Timothy McVeigh.) The process of brainwashing, however, is much the same.
As I read the article and Hoffer's quotes, I was struck by how much the description seemed to fit the Republicans today. For example:
"Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future" -- And so we go from Reagan the Great to Donald Trump making America great again.
"They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap.” -- Think about the Great Wall of the Rio Grande, the deporting of 11 million people, the elimination of the IRS, the banning of all Muslim immigrants.
I agree with the prescriptions at the end except for the nonsense about military humiliation. Haven't we had enough of that? Sadaam Hussein is gone, his army is decimated, OBL rots on the ocean bed and Al Qaeda is a shadow of its former self, Gadaffi is gone, our drones daily wreak terror from the sky, and yet here we are, with a foe strong as ever.
As I read the article and Hoffer's quotes, I was struck by how much the description seemed to fit the Republicans today. For example:
"Its doctrine celebrates a glorious past and describes a utopian future" -- And so we go from Reagan the Great to Donald Trump making America great again.
"They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap.” -- Think about the Great Wall of the Rio Grande, the deporting of 11 million people, the elimination of the IRS, the banning of all Muslim immigrants.
I agree with the prescriptions at the end except for the nonsense about military humiliation. Haven't we had enough of that? Sadaam Hussein is gone, his army is decimated, OBL rots on the ocean bed and Al Qaeda is a shadow of its former self, Gadaffi is gone, our drones daily wreak terror from the sky, and yet here we are, with a foe strong as ever.
187
For explaining the causes and motivations of the ISIS terror actions Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" is not prrhaps a correct guide. For, while Hoffer's work attempts to explain the social psychological factors behind the rise of various socialist revolutionary and nationalist or religious reactionary movements and uprisings of the pre and post war period, mainly from the Western ethnocentric perspective, the circumstances and causes behind the rise of the ISIS or similar Islamist terror groups and their goals are totally different. The US led Western intervention in Iraq, the regime change, and effecting the sectarian power balance there could be the main cause for the rise of ISIS, the Syrian civil war and anarchy around offered a fertile ground for its growth,further accentuated by the impact of social media. It's not a mass movement, nor with any goals except to terrorise the world, specially focused on the West. The real instances of the mass movements could be the Gandhi led national movement in India, Martin Luther King Jr.led civil rights movement in America, or the Mandela led anti-apartheid movement in South Africa- all well organised, focused on larger goals, and without violence and hatred. The ISIS is purely a terror outfit, directed against humanity and civilisarion.
31
This kind of radical violent group misunderstands the core of Islam teachings. How can someone who prays or is required to pray 5 times a day, commit atrocities against fellow human beings? Clearly those prayers 5 times a day are not prayers. Because if they were real prayers they would fill the devout's hearts with peace, stillness, unconditional love, fulfillment of spiritual longing. Clearly it is a failure of prayer, despite the external exhibition of congregating for prayers in a mosque. How can the CA couple pray 5 times a day and plan a rampage the rest of the day, their non prayer full time? It is totally bizarre and a gross misunderstanding or Islam or any religion that brings humanity together.
2
The ISIS or similar other Islamist terror groups have nothing to do with Islam. They are simply using( misusing) the faith to serve their selfish goals that are essentially against the humanity and core values of life.
1
Karen Armstrong articulates a historic perspective of emergence if Isis http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/25/-sp-karen-armstrong-religio...
"Many secular thinkers now regard “religion” as inherently belligerent and intolerant, and an irrational, backward and violent “other” to the peaceable and humane liberal state – an attitude with an unfortunate echo of the colonialist view of indigenous peoples as hopelessly “primitive”, mired in their benighted religious beliefs. There are consequences to our failure to understand that our secularism, and its understanding of the role of religion, is exceptional. When secularisation has been applied by force, it has provoked a fundamentalist reaction – and history shows that fundamentalist movements which come under attack invariably grow even more extreme. The fruits of this error are on display across the Middle East: when we look with horror upon the travesty of Isis, we would be wise to acknowledge that its barbaric violence may be, at least in part, the offspring of policies guided by our disdain. •
• Karen Armstrong’s Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence is published today by Bodley Head."
"Many secular thinkers now regard “religion” as inherently belligerent and intolerant, and an irrational, backward and violent “other” to the peaceable and humane liberal state – an attitude with an unfortunate echo of the colonialist view of indigenous peoples as hopelessly “primitive”, mired in their benighted religious beliefs. There are consequences to our failure to understand that our secularism, and its understanding of the role of religion, is exceptional. When secularisation has been applied by force, it has provoked a fundamentalist reaction – and history shows that fundamentalist movements which come under attack invariably grow even more extreme. The fruits of this error are on display across the Middle East: when we look with horror upon the travesty of Isis, we would be wise to acknowledge that its barbaric violence may be, at least in part, the offspring of policies guided by our disdain. •
• Karen Armstrong’s Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence is published today by Bodley Head."
1
Lots of tap dancing here to avoid the word 'religion'. ISIS is first and foremost a religious organization spun from the strictest interpretations of the sayings of the Prophet. Those interpretations shan't be 'defeated militarily' and will likely thrive on Brooksian style humiliation. Instead, as thought precedes action, rigid and extreme interpretations of Islam need to be loosened and smoothed into a state of toleration of other religions and the modern world. Patience, thought and negotiation is required. Carpet bombing not at all.
11
"Patience, thought and negotiation is required."
Right. Had only someone invited the San Bernardino couple to sit & talk things through BEFORE they started shooting. The rational actors they were, surely they could've been talked out of it.
Right. Had only someone invited the San Bernardino couple to sit & talk things through BEFORE they started shooting. The rational actors they were, surely they could've been talked out of it.
1
The politically incorrect truth is that ISIS appeals to Middle Easterners or Western-born of recent Middle Eastern roots. Their message is not reverberating noticeably among those whose forbears came to this country even a few generations ago from any other venue. It radicalizes those of Middle Eastern, South Asian and North African blood.
Despite the discomfort of this observation, it’s a pretty obvious one. Unless we stanch the rise of ISIS, Qaeda, Taliban, Boko Haram, those taught by the Salafist Wahhabi, the blood they cause to pour in the West, sooner or later, will compel a reaction here and in Europe that could be monstrous. We’re seeing it in France with the recent rise of Marine Le Penn’s National front, elsewhere in Europe and in the acceptance by many of Donald Trump’s recent fulminations. Yet continued unwillingness to publically recognize this truth suggests that our constitution IS a mutual suicide pact.
David offers an explanation of HOW ISIS radicalizes. Frankly, I suggest that this question is immaterial, as only other Muslims can counteract such radicalism. And healing “the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements” is not something easily done when societies that suffer so are impervious to wholesome change. We still need to stanch the blood. Unless we in the West can come up with a rational way of focusing on the targets of radicalization without tarring the adherents of an entire religion, we WILL react by tarring all of them.
Despite the discomfort of this observation, it’s a pretty obvious one. Unless we stanch the rise of ISIS, Qaeda, Taliban, Boko Haram, those taught by the Salafist Wahhabi, the blood they cause to pour in the West, sooner or later, will compel a reaction here and in Europe that could be monstrous. We’re seeing it in France with the recent rise of Marine Le Penn’s National front, elsewhere in Europe and in the acceptance by many of Donald Trump’s recent fulminations. Yet continued unwillingness to publically recognize this truth suggests that our constitution IS a mutual suicide pact.
David offers an explanation of HOW ISIS radicalizes. Frankly, I suggest that this question is immaterial, as only other Muslims can counteract such radicalism. And healing “the social disintegration that is the seedbed of these movements” is not something easily done when societies that suffer so are impervious to wholesome change. We still need to stanch the blood. Unless we in the West can come up with a rational way of focusing on the targets of radicalization without tarring the adherents of an entire religion, we WILL react by tarring all of them.
21
Boko Haram is from the Middle East?
1
dEs:
Johnson is spelled JoHnson?
I didn't write that Boko Haram was Middle Eastern. I wrote that Boko Haram could turn out to be dangerous.
Johnson is spelled JoHnson?
I didn't write that Boko Haram was Middle Eastern. I wrote that Boko Haram could turn out to be dangerous.
1
Richard,
You don't really get it do you? Perhaps you haven't been reading Ross Douthat lately. Hoffer wrote of the human condition and so many of your ideological compatriots know less than nothing about the world its people and the basic nature of who and what we are. I do at lot of looking in the mirror and see much room for improvement but I like what I see. I see little difference between ISIL and the inheritors of the Legacy of Fred C Koch and William F Buckley Sr and Jr.
It is almost 100 years since William F Buckley Sr called for a war with Mexico control of the world is not an American birthright.
Your friends on the right are a dangerous lot and severely historically and cognitively challenged. If I may present for your perusal the following my comment and response from yesterday's Krugman column.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/opinion/the-not-so-bad-economy.html?co...
I am almost ready to give up on America but I know the spark that lit the fuse and maybe liberty and justice for all can become a reality.
America's right wing is no longer in the West it is in the MidEast. I do not know why Bibi Netanyahu is not eligible for the GOP nomination he is certainly the defacto leader and its spiritual and intellectual leader.
I know my Bible and the GOP and ISIL are certainly biblical tribes. Unfortunately neither knows or more specifically understands the context of either the Bible or Koran. Hofer did understand.
You don't really get it do you? Perhaps you haven't been reading Ross Douthat lately. Hoffer wrote of the human condition and so many of your ideological compatriots know less than nothing about the world its people and the basic nature of who and what we are. I do at lot of looking in the mirror and see much room for improvement but I like what I see. I see little difference between ISIL and the inheritors of the Legacy of Fred C Koch and William F Buckley Sr and Jr.
It is almost 100 years since William F Buckley Sr called for a war with Mexico control of the world is not an American birthright.
Your friends on the right are a dangerous lot and severely historically and cognitively challenged. If I may present for your perusal the following my comment and response from yesterday's Krugman column.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/opinion/the-not-so-bad-economy.html?co...
I am almost ready to give up on America but I know the spark that lit the fuse and maybe liberty and justice for all can become a reality.
America's right wing is no longer in the West it is in the MidEast. I do not know why Bibi Netanyahu is not eligible for the GOP nomination he is certainly the defacto leader and its spiritual and intellectual leader.
I know my Bible and the GOP and ISIL are certainly biblical tribes. Unfortunately neither knows or more specifically understands the context of either the Bible or Koran. Hofer did understand.
2
The job of creating radicals among Muslims is not entirely on ISIS as most would like to believe. The Far-right (Trump-Le Pen school) plays a greater role in strengthening ISIS. A victory for the Far Right politics especially in Europe offers ISIS more recruits as the disenfranchised minorities turn to the welcoming hand of the Caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Bombings on the other hand and creating fences to push away civilians fleeing the bloodbath is not exactly a conducive way of containing terror.This breeds desperation and at the moment, it is only ISIS who are offering the means to resettle anyone within it's Islamic State. Whichever way you look at this, ISIS has the upper hand.
14
After being subject to watching a Trump rally, I'm more concerned about the radicalization of his audience than I am about ISIS.
490
I know what you mean. I remember one candidate saying if they bring a knife we bring a gun.
6
There is something truly chilling about watching Americans behave like Nazis.
14
Mr Brooks,
Really, even you, for all your worthless erudition, should know that ideas cannot be defeated militarily. Never have been, never will be. The only way to defeat pernicious ideas is to rob them of their oxygen, and in this case the oxygen is militarist interventionism by western powers in Muslim lands. The more we up the ante militarily the more oxygen we provide. The wisest policy is simply to withdraw and let the nations of the Middle East sort things out for themselves.
Really, even you, for all your worthless erudition, should know that ideas cannot be defeated militarily. Never have been, never will be. The only way to defeat pernicious ideas is to rob them of their oxygen, and in this case the oxygen is militarist interventionism by western powers in Muslim lands. The more we up the ante militarily the more oxygen we provide. The wisest policy is simply to withdraw and let the nations of the Middle East sort things out for themselves.
281
@amboycharlie
How about we withdraw all economic interests from the Middle East, focus on developing our own energy supply (which we are on our way to doing), and stop all news coverage when the carnage goes on with or without the United States being involved? And if the refugees continue to pour into Europe after all of that "non-intervention", we tell them it's not our problem.
Or, you might consider that the radical Muslims in that part of the world are just a wee bit worst than the religious devotees you so regularly attack here. If Americans were taking down the nation with guns and bombs, my guess is that you would be just as uneasy as the refugees fleeing Syria.
But I suppose it's all George W. Bush's fault, so no refutation of your logic is allowed.
How about we withdraw all economic interests from the Middle East, focus on developing our own energy supply (which we are on our way to doing), and stop all news coverage when the carnage goes on with or without the United States being involved? And if the refugees continue to pour into Europe after all of that "non-intervention", we tell them it's not our problem.
Or, you might consider that the radical Muslims in that part of the world are just a wee bit worst than the religious devotees you so regularly attack here. If Americans were taking down the nation with guns and bombs, my guess is that you would be just as uneasy as the refugees fleeing Syria.
But I suppose it's all George W. Bush's fault, so no refutation of your logic is allowed.
5
Well said - military confrontation is exactly what they desire. And why are we now, or have we ever been, in the middle east at all? What has our involvement in the region ever gained us? As far as I can tell, we have wasted untold amounts of money and blood, while simultaneously giving people in the region a focus for their anger. Why not deprive them of this, and allow them to turn against each other.
4
Excuse me? Can you show me an instance of my regular attacks on religious devotees? Unless, of course, you are thinking of those who only worship mammon. As for the carnage, it seems to me that Saddam, Ghaddafi, Assad, and all the other Arab Socialist dictatorships once under Russian influence, and not accepting American loans that rob them of their foreign exchange, kept a pretty good lid on sectarian strife and couldn't be said to be running failed states. None of this would have occurred had we not needed an enemy to justify the military industrial complex after the Soviet Union collapsed. And did I even mention the Shrub?
2
This is all very interesting, and although it’s about the kind movement that might radicalize the ISIS crowd, it sounded strangely familiar. Then I realized that denigrating the present, celebrating a glorious past and describing a utopian future sounded very much like the 2016 Republican platform.
All the elements are there, including the fanatical need for individuals to acquire more weapons than they could possibly shoot to defend themselves against enemies that don’t exist. Underlying it all is an apocalyptic vision energized by fundamentalist religious views. This has caused an uprising of voters in Iowa who will not stand for affordable health care, a livable minimum wage or retirement security. But I digress.
Note that the three-part solution offered by Mr. Brooks involves two vague and impossible tasks, namely to heal social disintegration and replace suicidal causes with inspiring ones. But the entire column is actually designed to promote only the third part of the final solution, which is to break ISIS militarily. Brooks thinks this diffuse, poisonous and persecuted group of religiously-motivated zealots can be killed with bullets. He wants us to kill a death cult. You’d have better luck trying to drown a fish.
A more practical solution would be to go back in time and avoid meddling in the Middle East and creating the oil-fueled chaos that made ayatollahs sound like the way out.
All the elements are there, including the fanatical need for individuals to acquire more weapons than they could possibly shoot to defend themselves against enemies that don’t exist. Underlying it all is an apocalyptic vision energized by fundamentalist religious views. This has caused an uprising of voters in Iowa who will not stand for affordable health care, a livable minimum wage or retirement security. But I digress.
Note that the three-part solution offered by Mr. Brooks involves two vague and impossible tasks, namely to heal social disintegration and replace suicidal causes with inspiring ones. But the entire column is actually designed to promote only the third part of the final solution, which is to break ISIS militarily. Brooks thinks this diffuse, poisonous and persecuted group of religiously-motivated zealots can be killed with bullets. He wants us to kill a death cult. You’d have better luck trying to drown a fish.
A more practical solution would be to go back in time and avoid meddling in the Middle East and creating the oil-fueled chaos that made ayatollahs sound like the way out.
577
Interesting that Brooks's GOP'ers start with his third step as their first plan of action - military defeat and humiliation, omitting ' First ' and ' Second ', huh ?
And interesting that Brooks offers no solution to the social disintegration he identifies as the seedbed of radicalism; wouldn't that solution necessarily call into question the actions of Big Oil in funding despots and fiefdoms all across the planet that are in control of so many such ' seedbeds ' ?
And wouldn't the climate talks in Paris aimed at reducing Big Carbon's share of energy production help democratize many of those fiefdoms by knocking out from under the despots the revenue stream that props them up ?
Is Brooks coming out in support of Big Solar and the Paris climate talks - against Big Carbon that is such a chief source of GOP'er funding ?
And interesting that Brooks offers no solution to the social disintegration he identifies as the seedbed of radicalism; wouldn't that solution necessarily call into question the actions of Big Oil in funding despots and fiefdoms all across the planet that are in control of so many such ' seedbeds ' ?
And wouldn't the climate talks in Paris aimed at reducing Big Carbon's share of energy production help democratize many of those fiefdoms by knocking out from under the despots the revenue stream that props them up ?
Is Brooks coming out in support of Big Solar and the Paris climate talks - against Big Carbon that is such a chief source of GOP'er funding ?
26
My thoughts exactly. When I read the following passage written by David Brooks, I thought it was a perfect description of the conservatives whose resentments the Republicans exploit:
"They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams. They sometimes live with an unrelieved boredom. Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration because they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity."
"They are driven primarily by frustration. Their personal ambitions are unfulfilled. They have lost faith in their own abilities to realize their dreams. They sometimes live with an unrelieved boredom. Freedom aggravates their sense of frustration because they have no one to blame but themselves for their perceived mediocrity."
318
Right, Gemli...unfortunately 'Back to the Future' scenarios are only real in movies. There goes your "practicality".
It's a thorny problem, and the only thing we REALLY have any control over, is our own behavior and attitude. That's the place we need to start (we're always at a starting place). So let's ensure that our 'American Exceptionalism', meaning the original concept of 'freedom', as envisioned by The Founding Fathers, does not die in the fear created by 'a thousand year old' philosophy. Otherwise we become them. Maybe we need to look at this as the 21st century American (or more rightly 'Western' or 'Modern') Revolution. Nothing less.
And in the mean time, let's work on changing the root causes 'on the ground', and protecting out citizenry. This is really 'pick and shovel' work and the problem(s) won't be solved by a bunch of bombs, and excluding people we don't like from our shores. Let's not forget we're an immigrant country...that's what's 'exceptional'.
Brooksie never gets it completely right...and this one (mostly Hoffer, not David) seems to remind us of some enduring truths.
It's a thorny problem, and the only thing we REALLY have any control over, is our own behavior and attitude. That's the place we need to start (we're always at a starting place). So let's ensure that our 'American Exceptionalism', meaning the original concept of 'freedom', as envisioned by The Founding Fathers, does not die in the fear created by 'a thousand year old' philosophy. Otherwise we become them. Maybe we need to look at this as the 21st century American (or more rightly 'Western' or 'Modern') Revolution. Nothing less.
And in the mean time, let's work on changing the root causes 'on the ground', and protecting out citizenry. This is really 'pick and shovel' work and the problem(s) won't be solved by a bunch of bombs, and excluding people we don't like from our shores. Let's not forget we're an immigrant country...that's what's 'exceptional'.
Brooksie never gets it completely right...and this one (mostly Hoffer, not David) seems to remind us of some enduring truths.
6
"Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated."
This is absolutely true. The idea that we can defeat the Islamic State by closing Guantanamo Bay or passing gun control or refusing to utter the words "Islamic extremism" is nothing short of delusional. The Islamic State's entire cachet is wrapped up in its success. If you close Guantanamo, the Islamic State will call it a victory and will be believed by their adherents and millions of others. If it requires you a paragraph to explain why the Islamic State is really losing or really is "contained," you have lost the most important fight, the fight over legitimacy. You can cry all you want that they are not Islamic, but nobody really believes you. Who is more authoritative regarding Islamic standing, tens of thousands of Muslims or an American president? You can call them the JV, but when they are able to route the Iraqi Army, you look foolish, and they look triumphant. You can say they are not a state, but as long as they rule on the ground, you look like a petulant loser and they look strong. The Islamic State is at war with us and capable of killing our citizens and the citizens of our allies. This requires no nuance. The answer is simple--declare war and defeat them by whatever means necessary. Stop oxymoronically leading from behind.
This is absolutely true. The idea that we can defeat the Islamic State by closing Guantanamo Bay or passing gun control or refusing to utter the words "Islamic extremism" is nothing short of delusional. The Islamic State's entire cachet is wrapped up in its success. If you close Guantanamo, the Islamic State will call it a victory and will be believed by their adherents and millions of others. If it requires you a paragraph to explain why the Islamic State is really losing or really is "contained," you have lost the most important fight, the fight over legitimacy. You can cry all you want that they are not Islamic, but nobody really believes you. Who is more authoritative regarding Islamic standing, tens of thousands of Muslims or an American president? You can call them the JV, but when they are able to route the Iraqi Army, you look foolish, and they look triumphant. You can say they are not a state, but as long as they rule on the ground, you look like a petulant loser and they look strong. The Islamic State is at war with us and capable of killing our citizens and the citizens of our allies. This requires no nuance. The answer is simple--declare war and defeat them by whatever means necessary. Stop oxymoronically leading from behind.
11
If war is declared then reinstate the draft with limited deferments and institute a 'War Tax'. The entire nation needs to have skin in the game.
I don't see that happening so the same poor folks in the already overstretched military will be asked to sacrifice again while armchair generals pontificate safely on the couch.
I don't see that happening so the same poor folks in the already overstretched military will be asked to sacrifice again while armchair generals pontificate safely on the couch.
167
@Charles
Stop talking sense. Don't you know that these people are good folk who just want jobs and to be our friends?
Stop talking sense. Don't you know that these people are good folk who just want jobs and to be our friends?
4
Spoken like a true citizen of a city named after the leader of a mass movement, of the Shawnee tribe of Native Americans, whose lands were stolen by white colonial settlers and who were then exterminated by those violent settlers under the radical ideology of Manifest Destiny. The descendents of such settlers overthrew a democratically elected government in Iran in 1954, funded Saudi sheiks, a longtime dictator in Iraq (until deciding to plunge that country into chaos bu invading it), repeated such in Libya, decimate with bombs much of Afghanistan and eastern Pakistan, killing untold children and grandparetns. It is fantasy to believe that those suffering the consequenecs of such western led actions would not feel kindly disposed towards the perpetrators. So, according to the prescriptions of Mr. Brooks, and his supporter, follow the Tecumseh solution, carpet bomb the rest ot them into extermination, until they succumb like the Japanese after we dropped an Atomic Bomb on them.
23
Deja Vu. I felt like I was back in freshman history reading the longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer.
Mr. Brooks is correct. Eric Hoffer is still the best source of wisdom on the subject at hand, although certainly not the only one. His analysis seems pertinent today as well as the responses brought by Mr. Brooks.
Sometimes, it pays to remember the classics. Mr. Hoffer died over 30 years ago. He should not be forgotten.
Mr. Brooks is correct. Eric Hoffer is still the best source of wisdom on the subject at hand, although certainly not the only one. His analysis seems pertinent today as well as the responses brought by Mr. Brooks.
Sometimes, it pays to remember the classics. Mr. Hoffer died over 30 years ago. He should not be forgotten.
17
It is proof of the pudding that we can learn from our young ones for it was a student, struggling with the mandatory reading at school of 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' and got plowed by the readers, who brought Eric Hoffer to my attention, and I told him with appreciation that he was to be commended for not joining the Mob literary arrest squad.
"Third, mass movements are conquered when their charisma is destroyed, when they are defeated militarily and humiliated. "
Example, please, of the last time this has been accomplished.
Example, please, of the last time this has been accomplished.
86
That would be WWII with the axis powers. However that worked because the germans, italians, and japanese were not separate tribes forced together, they had a strong national identity in each country even after being defeated.
In the middle east they are divided by religion and tribes, which for centuries fought against each other. Which is why when the strong leader is killed, the country falls apart in power struggles and the old hates are brought out again. They fall back into tribalism and everyone else becomes the enemy.
Your basic premise that it won't happen in the middle east is correct.
In the middle east they are divided by religion and tribes, which for centuries fought against each other. Which is why when the strong leader is killed, the country falls apart in power struggles and the old hates are brought out again. They fall back into tribalism and everyone else becomes the enemy.
Your basic premise that it won't happen in the middle east is correct.
16
Nazi Germany?
3
Uhh, Germany, Italy and Japan in 1945?
4