Y'see, the problem is that our society is trapped in the dogma of Good versus Evil. We're Good, and anybody else who disagrees with us is Evil. This includes people inside the system who point out flaws within the system, until they become so large and gaping that you can't help but respond - "The emperor has no clothes!"

I heard an interesting metaphor, ironically enough, from the Islamic religion itself. Islam actually has two different kinds of Jihads - the Greater Jihad, which is the struggle within your own soul to purify yourself of all the sins of the world, and the Lesser Jihad, the fight to convert all of the world to Islam. According to the Koran, one may only partake in the Lesser Jihad after succeeding in the Greater Jihad - something which is impossible in this world.

Now, those morons that we backed in Afghanistan - and note I'm not saying Bin Laden since IMO he's just a bit player - have got it in their heads that they already have won the Greater Jihad, and now it's time to go on the Lesser Jihad. Never mind that by taking the actions that they have, they have shown themselves to have failed in the Greater Jihad. My source for this information? Last weekend, my wife and I stumbled into a Synagogue in time for the Shabbat services (my bad - when I read the paper, I thought it was the name of the temple, not the Sabbath!) and found out they were having a very interesting discussion with a member of the Israeli Defense Force, jewish down to that little skullcap that they wear, I don't remember the name. I then verified what he told me with a pair of Islamic friends of my wife, and they agreed completely with what he said.

I would say that the Taliban and most of the other terrorist groups out there are a symptom, not the disease. Admittedly, the symptoms have gotten so bad that we do need relief from them as well - but that does not excuse the source of the disease either. The source is our own blind acceptance of ourselves as the source of all that is Good in this world - and that is why I attack the notion of Good versus Evil.

You call for a rediscovery of the power of the Western world. I am calling for a discovery of a new kind of power, not the same old bullshit - because if we point it at somebody, it sure as hell will be used against us some day. If I'm going to be called in for execution because somebody else doesn't like the way I think, I'd rather be called in by somebody who's actively questioning their own motives instead of doing the same "my side right or right" bullshit you're pushing.

Not only that, but the same old bullshit hasn't worked in the past, otherwise we wouldn't be here right now. And before you pass it off as "it worked last time, until the knee-jerking pacifist broke it" - well, that's the natural result OF that kind of same old bullshit.

Now, back to what I was saying earlier about the Greater and Lesser Jihads. While an interesting idea, I don't subscribe to it - because while you're trying to purify yourself, somebody who has no interesting in purifying themselves comes up to you and your family, takes everything, and kills you. So yeah, I do believe in doing to others before they do to you. On the other hand, I don't believe in doing it because you believe you are Good and they are Evil - not because they may or may not be, but because we cannot ever truly know what really is Good and Evil. I have never seen any proof that this universe cares about human life - after all, it seems rather frivolous about how it is spent. I have not seen any real caring from the United States about the loss of human life other than it's own, and the occasional "Oh my god - they're starving in Africa! Let's airlift tons of food to the monsters that created the situation in the first place!" knee jerking.

Face it - this current fight isn't about Good versus Evil - it's about the most powerful bully in the school being hit by surprise by the school wimp, and getting a big gusher of a bloody nose. Now we're going to take down that kid, and we're going to earn ourselves the hatred of a lot more folks. They may not like the wimp, but they sure won't like the implications of our actions too much either.

Terrorism is just the latest question on the test. Are you going to throw away the whole test just so that you can be right on one question?

(BTW, I've been working on a final paper for class all week, and have been pretty busy at work, which is why I've been sniping as opposed to giving a proper responses. Sorry about that, Marlowe - I'm not normally a sniper. I'm still working on the paper, but I've had enough, so I kinda spewed this response out. Not enough time to really defend it, so if somebody else wants to shoot for me, go for it.)