www.architectureink.com: v2.3

Digital Polemic: Terrorism

The following dialogue occurred between September 13, 2001 and September 14, 2001, following an email update sent from this web site to a subscriber group regarding the tirade, "The Irony of Terrorism." What ensued, was an in depth conversation which explored many of the issues surrounding the terrorist attack on the United States of America, on September 11, 2001.

Not all the individuals involved knew each other prior to engaging in this discussion, and the tone of the conversation reflects this circumstance. The email introductions are catalogued below and the emails which follow document the quick assessment and progression of ideas, as common points are agreed upon, summarized, and then dissected.

The following communications are unedited except for the names of the individuals involved. The chronology of the communications has been preserved; the discrepancies in the times sent are a result of differing time zones. This dialogue has been reproduced with the consent of those parties involved.

From: ARCHITECTUREINK.COM

Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 12:45 AM
To: LISTSERVE-1
Subject: The Irony of Terrorism, Tirade #31

This is as much an web site update as it is a status check on those colleagues and friends of mine who live and work in New York City. Those of you who have not contacted me, please send a quick reply to let me know you are ok.

There has been much discussion of the impact on this event on the American Culture and the American Psyche, and what kinds of social changes will ensue as a result of this disaster.

Architecture Ink sends its best wishes out to those of you who have been personally affected by this disaster; and as always, our reaction to national events has been quick and decisive:

Tirade #31: The Irony of Terrorism

http://www.architectureink.com/

Let us come together as a national community to grieve and to console our friends, and to think long and hard about this tragedy and the appropriate national response.

Best Wishes,

Architecture Ink

From: RH

Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 12:37 PM
To: RK
Subject: RE: Today's events

RK,

Great to hear you are O.K. Really great to hear this in fact. I am taking the article home with me to red ink and make some comments. I have a different opinion on the reasons and purpose for terrorism and it is obviously skewed based on my martial development. For now just let me say that I think it was a brilliantly executed operation of unprecedented proportions and that Americans refuse to accept the possibility that this could happen every day for the rest of their lives. Unlike Israelis, Americans will remain complacent and soft while calling for revenge; a revenge that the recipient will see as Imperial terrorism. Not this or any other act of terrorism will galvanize the fragmented American society. It just is not going to happen. Barbie and Budweiser are far more important than the thousands of people-no millions-that are affected by this act. For every person that is directly affected there are 1000 people who still read the sports page and checked their stocks today. Sad, but true.

From: RK
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 6:41 PM
To: RH
Cc: ID
Subject: RE: Today's events

RH,

i'm forwarding this to my friend ID in san francisco. we have discussed this at length, and i think he will find your comments very compelling.

From: RH
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 1:33 PM
To: RK, ID
Cc: SW
Subject: 11 SEP

RK, ID,

First, my soul goes out to all people in the world who suffer at the hands of terrorism, war or hate.

Rumsfeld comes from the same school as I do, so listen to his dribble and you'll understand my mindset regarding terrorism. I'll give you a quick rundown of how I think.

The purpose of terrorism is to influence the behavior of a person, group or government by attacking a target other than the target audience. The irony lies in the inherent flaw of this approach when you are trying to influence a large, diverse organization or regime. If the group to be influenced is small-say a family or a village-terrorism can be quite effective. Take the Kurtz example from the movie Apocalypse Now. In the movie COL Kurtz talks of an incident where GIs went in to a village to vaccinate children and the VC came in behind the GIs and cut the arms off the children. In this Hollywood example, the target audience to influence-the villagers who were guilty of complicity with Americans-were not the terrorized (the children). Suspend disbelief for one moment and then you can understand how effective this example of terrorism would be and certainly this act would not be perpetrated to influence the victims. In Kurtz's words, "The genius. The commitment."

Now, terrorism done at an international or global level will remain ineffective, meaningless and futile. The target audience to influence is too large and too protected to be influenced. The result-and the irony-of terrorism is that the act makes the individual it is perpetrated against vengeful, it galvanizes the group or community and firms the resolve of any government that the terrorism seeks to influence while unequivocally alienating the terrorist.

I cannot argue against the point of the Tirade that terrorists feel there is no other option, but I cannot readily accept it either. My misunderstanding of the culture of terrorists is so fundamental that I cannot begin to fathom committing suicide for a "cause". I guess my indoctrination in the military-as pervasive as it is-is still not enough to kill myself. Is this because I see the futility in such and act and believe that to live to fight another day is a much better approach than to exercise self-destruction? I don't know.

For many years I have been angry and emotional about the blindness and complacency of Americans. I have been trying to engage everyone that I know, including my family, about how inane the American culture and their lives are. It has always been very difficult to find someone to work through the process of logic to come to terms with the blindness and complacency. I guess it has been a great life that has allowed me to have this argument for 38 years without any real example of why Americans should care about what is going on the world. Amazing the difference a day makes.

With the events of the 11^th of September, it is time to look deep into our collective psyche and see that all of us have a role in these events. All of us should be tried for complicity through complacency and stupidity. The first to go on trial should be the politicians who, for the past ten years or more, have had such an incredibly pathetic foreign policy, or more appropriately a lack of foreign policy. My fear is that as absolutely abhorrent the act is it will still not wake us from our catatonia and slumber of ignorance. I hope that I am wrong. I hope that America and Americans can put their silly prejudices and racism aside and make something positive come out of this tragedy. Honestly, this kick in the balls has been a long time coming. We have been too arrogant, too ignorant, too soft, too weak, too selfish, too self-absorbed, too self-righteous, too self-seeking, too narcissistic, too petty, too pusillanimous and too unrighteous in our sycophantic bowing before the almighty dollar. I do not want to deride the loss that so many people feel, that is absolutely real, but I remain very skeptical that America can make something good come out of this.

Sharpening the sword of freedom,

From: ID
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 12:01 AM
To: RH, RK
Cc: SW
Subject: RE: 11 SEP

RH: Bravo. I believe almost everything you said is absolutely right. In substance I do not believe anything you posited is intellectually antagonistic to the latest Tirade. But I also have a few more thoughts about the terrorist and hopefully I can make these thoughts clear without giving you the wrong impression. First, I cannot say with certainty that acts of international terrorism are destined to futility. Death is a severe price but only to a mind who understands that terrestrial Life is glorious and ecstatic and (perhaps) unsurpassable. To the fundamentalist, all too regularly (and tellingly) a young, poor man, the reward of the "cause" is Life in Heaven -- not an uncommon idea, true, but what *is* uncommon in the fundamentalist is the *absolute* faith. These are black and white minds in the sense that nuances, filigrees, relativities, do not exist. Everything is right or wrong because the word of God says it is so and to doubt the word of God would make you unworthy of eternal reward. Faith is never surer than in the minds of the poor and the downtrodden and those who suffer most at the bottom of the food chain. What alternatives do the downtrodden have? The ugly fact of life is that limited power will always abuse and feast upon the many; to do otherwise would be insulting to human nature. To the starving cattle of this world, after a life of sickness upon failure upon violence upon misery, the path worn most brilliantly by the multitude that preceded becomes irresistible in the search for relief -- and the name of this path is Faith. What could then be more important than a promise by your God that those in power will fall to the feet of the righteous and the righteous shall reign supreme forever? (This is in fact the entire dynamic of Christianity's own Book of Revelations.) So for a person to sacrifice his life in an act that the rest of the rational world finds abhorrent is irrelevant. He dies happy -- and eager. Finally, the terrorist succeeds to the degree he alters the fundamental consciousness of man or men, a task that used to belong the exclusive provinces of the Genius and the Madman. Terrorists are not, I believe, mad in any technical psychological sense; certainly they are not geniuses. Yet here by its very dimensions we have one of the most heinous single crimes perpetrated upon human life in the history of humankind. The continuing tremors and the scars upon the global mind are magnificent in scope. With each building that falls, the terrorist has succeeded cosmetically. With each heart that trembles, the terrorist has succeeded profoundly. The fact that we sated/diluted/dead-soul Americans can be moved by anything in this flash and glitter and cheap-sensation age is a small miracle. Perhaps that is a bit *too* cynical, but it remains arguable that when most people can only describe and associate these images with those of a "movie," the small miracle shrinks even more. To the fundamentalist terrorist all of this may very well mean an endgame that results in (1) physical slaughter and (2) cultural genocide. But there are bigger issues for the fundamentalist terrorist -- is it better, in the long run, to kill what you love or live with shame in the eyes of the thing that you hope loves you?

Finally, any country where people as dissimilar as us can have the luxury of this conversation (and these ideas) will always have a pulse and a possibility -- which makes it all the more important we do not overreact to this tragedy and give the Idiots (politicians) a blessing to restrict/remove/pervert our fundamental freedoms and civil liberties.

From: RH
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 8:16 PM
To: ID
Cc: RK, SW
Subject: RE: 11 SEP

ID,
Brother. How prophetic.

My girlfriend and I had a conversation the other night that the issue of retaliation is problematic. First, it is up to the more righteous to "turn the other cheek." Let me say that I don't advocate pacifism, as is obvious from my chosen vocation, but I understand that the most important thing we can do is understand the implications of our actions or inactions and weigh them carefully. I do not advocate reacting to terrorism with terrorism. Standoff weapons to me are as cowardly-no more so-as killing civilians, sheep.

Your argument is quite cogent and I appreciate the opportunity to engage you in this. However, like I alluded to in my first response, I cannot begin to empathize with the terrorist. I understand the complete and utter acceptance of the dogma and in some respects respect this. The thing is, is that I do not have this kind of faith in my leaders or in a higher being or power. As perverted as it sounds, I respect the terrorists' resolve. The mission was executed with such sophisticated acumen that I cannot help-as a military man-but marvel at its brilliance. Hitler would have been proud.

Attempting to get to one point that seems contentious-terrorism at this level is futile. Beyond the spiritual freedom that the terrorist might gain, I do not see how an act such as this helps the cause of the terrorist or the larger group he represents. Maybe my vision is too limited, too myopic in that I do not think or feel that this small group will be successful at the global level. Certainly that is their aim when they step onto the world stage performing such an act. I think the only argument that can convince me at this point-get your gun-is "time will tell."

I share your cynicism-because I am first and foremost a cynic-and it is all too true that Hollywood provides the only images-until now-that Americans can "relate" to. CNN is merely another form of media-based entertainment so I lump it together with Hollywood. I personally used the Apocalypse Now analogy because I thought that you might have seen the movie, but think about it, what do Americans know of horror and terror? Thank goodness, not much. Yet.

I dunno. I am sitting here writing without thinking enough and have thoughts that I could easily become a zealot even though I make myself believe that my cynicism prevents me from thinking anything that is someone else's cause as only their cause. I wonder how I would feel if a close friend, a brother, sister or other loved one would have been a victim of this attack. I wonder if I would have this calm demeanor and remind people not to judge the group for the actions of the few. I doubt it. Yes, I could easily become a zealot.

ID, not knowing a thing about you I would guess that as different as we might be, we could as easily be very like-minded. I follow orders for a living, but also make myself believe that I am free to interpret these orders. I am vehemently opposed to restricting people's free will unless there is a military objective involved (and this only as defined by the mission at hand). I understand that all politicians are motivated by their own self-interest and inasmuch, I do not trust that they have my, your or Americas interest in mind. I can see how leaders of the caliber of whoever perpetrated this act are respected because they probably live their beliefs, something unheard of in our nation.

I look forward to the next dialogue.

War is an ugly thing

But not the ugliest of things.

The decrepit belief that nothing is worth fighting for

Is far worse.

Peace,

From: SW
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 4:05 AM
To: RH, ID
Cc: RK
Subject: RE: 11 SEP

I guess it is my turn to weigh-in with my characteristic righteous naiveté...some call it the glass is half full...some just call it being "Flash" (RH) - sorry, inside joke.

ID, we haven't met (I don't think), but I know, admire, and even love these other two guys for their ability to make me think AND feel. Funny, my greed for intellectual stimulation [and a healthy dose of conveniently aligned schedules] played a part in introducing R&R, and it is paying dividends today - sadly, in the wake of something horrific. None the less, you have all helped me start to sort this out in my head, and that was an action sorely needed - I've been wandering around in a daze for several days denying the need to make an attempt at [personally] figuring this out. So thanks to all.

First off, I agree with the points made in the Tirade, by RH, and by ID concerning the irony of terrorism - you all made your points in parallel, if minutely vertically separated, ways that I hadn't yet thought about. I find it interesting, though, that the notion of terrorism being self-annihilating exposes a strange global isolationism. I say "strange" because isolationist and global are not usually juxtaposed concepts. We've spoken of the galvanization of a nation (America) - but it seems on the surface so far, that these recent acts are serving to galvanize not just a nation, but the world. The rest of the world can identify with our rage at a deeper level than we are yet able - most have experienced terrorism more keenly than "America the Safe" has. Thus, the irony isn't just that terrorism is making America stronger, and in doing so will hurt its own cause - it is making the world stronger, and in doing so may absolutely obliterate itself. It is creating a global, diverse community that will isolate itself from terrorism by eradicating it. The current global galvanization is showing that no matter what religion or belief system a nation of PEOPLE has, we all have something in common - the MAJORITY (and I guess those irrevocably infested and blinded by evil are the minority) of humanity "feels" what is right and what is wrong in the core of their being, and is guided by that inhabitance of conscience. While that might seem in support of Nietzsche's concepts of "forces of good and evil" ruling life, I think it plays more to the composition of the human spirit. It supports the notion that terrorism, and any belief system or religion that is the catalyst for it, is inherently evil. No, I'm not saying that any particular belief system or religion is fundamentally evil, so don't start throwing stones at me - while I'm angry, I'm not misguided, and I do recognize that "who is to blame" isn't an answered question. I'm saying that evil exists, and it is able to take something that at its core is good and twist it incomprehensibly into something that is evil. The fact that most of the human spirits inhabiting this great earth can recognize inherent evil [my 3 year old son demonstrates this to me regularly] and vow to eradicate it gives me hope in humanity, whether that humanity is inane, soft, and complacent, or is not. Funny, too, that it seems the inane, soft and complacent (according to RH: America) will lead...and that shows me that, on the whole, we are NOT those things. We may have been at some points [or extended periods] in our history, but we are not any more. Yes, it is amazing what a difference a day makes.

I have faith in a higher-power...I believe things happen for a reason. I believe the reason for this recent event was to display to the world evil in all its ugliness - and to demonstrate to the world the difference between justice and revenge. I pray for our leaders because I desperately want them to enact justice, not revenge. I might sound terribly righteous, but you know what? - I cannot empathize with the terrorist, either. I have HOPE that our justice will be enacted through a steely face to face encounter, where terrorism must look at the rest of the UNITED world, see that it is not wanted, and leave forever...or looks at itself in the mirror and detests its reflection. Could it happen without bloodshed? Yes. Will it? No - I don't have that much hope. But just imagine how powerful a world united against one foe can be, whether that foe be a nation or an inherent evil that is scattered about the earth. We have an opportunity here - an opportunity to show that properly enacted, calculated justice (NOT blind justice) can prevail over evil, and an opportunity to show that it is possible for a world to unite without the [complete] assimilation of all world cultures into global capitalism.

So, for now, I will fly my flag and feel pride in America, despite its warts of ambition and attacks of occasional blindness. I will also support the enactment of justice on terrorism and its perpetrators, en mass. I will participate, if needed (yeah, I'm also a military guy). The world will not be perfect, but at least for a time I enjoy the feeling of unification that I know will ultimately, and sadly, pass as time does. And then we will get to do this all over again...and again...and again....until John's "Revelation" plays itself out.

From: RH

Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 4:00 AM
To: SW

Cc: RK, ID
Subject: RE: 11 SEP

SW,

Remember: Stop. Think. Breath. Shoot. Only then can you hit your target. This is not an indictment, just something that came to mind.

Also, I am leaning toward ID's argument (or my interpretation of it) that one cannot underestimate the power of Faith. You know this yourself. The reason I bring this up is that whatever response we use, it (we) will be seen as a terrorist(s) attack by the people we execute. I guess this is the other side of the "righteous sword".

Until we are willing to look "evil" as you call it, in the face, we will never be truly righteous. Standoff weapons to me are just another manifestation of terror and ambivalence. I see standoff weapons as the tool of a bully uncertain of himself and unwilling to take a kick in the balls. I would have no problem participating in a military maneuver to eradicate the perpetrators of this crime. In fact, without this resolve to look thine enemy in the eyes, one cannot begin to understand that he too is a creature of god (if you are so inclined to believe).

Japanese warriors believed that he who was most righteous would win in battle. The man who could wield his sword most proficiently was therefore a spiritually superior being. As arrogant as this sounds, this is my goal. I have been defeated on a martial arts mat and the better man won that day. The battle was not life or death, but the lesson taught me very succinctly that my mind was closed to the possibilities before me. Defeat taught me that I must be more flexible, open minded and willing to bend without breaking.

In your prayers, pray that we-as a global community and as a country governed by bureaucrats-are big enough to not fall into the trap of racism, bigotry and hateful revenge and that we may clearly see our role in the world. Oh yeah, and pray that if we must wield a sword, make it a righteous one…

Peace my brother.

From: ID
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 11:17 AM
To: RH, SW

Cc: RK
Subject: RE: 11 SEP

Gentlemen:

It's still early here in California and my head hurts so please bear with me. First let me say that your responses have impressed me; both of you (RH and SW), and I am not blowing smoke, are exemplars of society, and your willingness to engage your mind with such openness, skill, and passion have left me far more impressed with military personnel than I alone could have ever imagined before. As to all of us, I think SW had it right, each argument being "points in parallel, if minutely vertically separated." I made a mistake by suggesting we are so very different; we clearly share the only qualities that matter in times like these -- and those are vigilance, expectation, and passion about the thoughtful life. But enough of the love fest -- back to the business at hand. I want to state right off that I did not mean to suggest I was sympathetic to the terrorist. What I tried to do was tease out the greater complexity and psychology of the criminals who have committed this cruel and vicious act. Because really, I think that's what these men are -- criminals -- not figures of pure evil. Though it is arguable that an essential evil exists, I don't think what we witnessed here is that. Misguided, surely. Committed, obviously. Stupid, ultimately. But evil? I'm unsure. I want the criminals punished and I want them to be punished severely. But like RH, I tend to believe a lot of "innocent" people are going to suffer and believe the way we end up reacting is terroristic in its own right. That in itself is morally unacceptable in my world view; I don't believe you cure evil by the commission of evil itself. We've been kicking all sorts of countries in the balls for the entire existence of our nation -- it may have been covert or unreported or spinned clean, but it is inarguable that foreign peoples have (and should have) legitimate gripes with all our foreign policy that involved (and involves) underlying propagation of the falsest idol of them all, the almighty buck. The people to blame, of course, are our "glorious" leaders. As is the example of the WTC -- the "soldiers" of bin Laden are now world criminals because they were quite devout and probably quite moral within their own universes of being. (I'm sure they made fine neighbors and citizens in their own country.) Ideologues sending good men to commit death and to receive death for the sake of ideologies, whatever they may be, are completely unacceptable to me; and leaders across the globe have done this throughout human existence. This is wrong, absolutely wrong, a greater evil than the individual acts of evil themselves. So what I expect from the administration (and what I hope from Americans) in the following days is *wisdom* and skill in the execution of punishment. If this punishment must act as a deterrent force for the future, so be it. But let us be enlightened humans, show grace and wisdom where those who would kill us first should (in retrospect) be humbled by our greatness of spirit. It will be easiest, of course, to destroy with the wrath of Gods -- but as you can all tell by now, I'm not a proponent of war (though I understand its inevitability), and I believe we must remember that we go to war with *nations*, not terrorist groups; it should be beneath our dignity as a nation to engage in verbal promises of "war" with mere factions of people. I think more than anything what we as a nation have to do is re-order our priorities, revivify the human soul and all that that means -- and it means everything. Quality of life, essential experience, morality for its own sake, promotion of love and understanding, devotion to art, repulsion of money idolatry, etc. -- and perhaps, in the end, we should be optimistic that it can be done. I'm beginning to understand that I have to shake my pessimism and my previous disgust and open my mind and let it become *more* flexible, not less, and I have to believe in humanity because even in the eventual face of total failure, if I do not make my own microcosmic move to attempt to restore the best in Man, when Man fails me, my disgust will have to extend to myself. To that end, I humbly offer you this:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/

Alive and breathing and thinking,

From: RH

Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 12:27 PM
To: ID, SW
Cc: RK
Subject: RE: 11 SEP

Let me start by getting back to SW's note and the parallel arguments. This is the best type of argument, one that is seamless and flows without cutting across the boundaries and running into loggerheads; one that seeks, through enlightened discussion and discovery, to come to a logical conclusion.

ID, Not for one moment in any of your notes did I sense any sympathy for the terrorist. In fact, I saw your argument as a direct response to the note I had written with a clarification of the ideas and ideals that the terrorists (if in fact it was Islamic extremists) hold so dear.

Again today my brilliant girlfriend brought up the point of the inane statements of war. You do not react to a crime with war. You cannot go to war against an idea or faction with no political identity. I know, this is again an untenable position to try and defend, but the fact remains that this crime can only be resolved through a righteous (been throwing this word around a lot) action that balances the scales of justice.

ID, I think you have hit the center of the target with the belief that this is a time to shed our crusty old soul and renew that that is wonderful about humanity. The thing that sets us apart from animals is not our ability to reason, but rather our ability to make something of this reasoning-ability and preferably to make something beautiful that will survive regimes and span eras.

We stand at the edge of the canyon of possibility and it is our choice to build a bridge over the failures, misgivings and lust for power of the past or to plunge headfirst into the chasm from which we were just pulled.

Even if this is a completely egoistic, self-gratifying statement, I believe that we have it in us to create a new society that embraces diversity, not cowers from it; that seeks to resolve through understanding, not through force; that loves to love, not hates to hates.

It was our own fault

And a very grave though,

But now we must put it to use

We have forty million reasons for failure

But not a single excuse.

--Kipling (hopefully I didn't butcher this too much)

Gentlemen, I am out for the weekend. I will resume for one day on Monday and then I take off for six weeks to Poland, but I should be back on email within a week of departing here. That is, if Mercury is with me.

Finally, that website is brilliant!

Peace,

There are two ways to exert oneself,

One is by pulling up; the other is by pushing down.

From: ID
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 4:06 PM
To: RH, SW
Cc: RK
Subject: RE: 11 SEP

RH, what you said cannot be improved upon -- the idea is so fundamentally sound that anything I add will only be ornamental. But I wish to note that the *only* problem with our enthusiasm for a new way of life is that time and time again the great men of our past have exhorted society over and over to do exactly what we're hoping for now. A few hear the message, take it to the next generation, and the next few do the same, and so on, but the mob's tiny imagination is never captured; they remain stubborn, deaf, insensitive, and antagonistic to anything they can't comprehend. Of course it is the responsibility of the next few to try once again to scale that massive, willing ignorance of the mob. But how? What was the last great work of art to do this? A damnable society we are; such crass, insensitive louts we have become! The majority of the universe's bogglingly beautiful canvas is ignored and betrayed by our laziness, social idiocy, and our almost total lack of curiosity (emotional and intellectual) as a collective. No appreciation for things that do not have literal, immediate, external rewards. And how silly it is that modern man only conceives of the universe in empirical terms. True, the only thing man can know as certain *will* be empirical. But where is the care for the half we cannot see, the dark matter we do not understand? It's there, obviously, even in the form of Love. Only art offers us an avenue to things unempirical. Where is salvation from the religion of Science? As clever and interesting and valuable as it proves to be, it seems to me that so much of it causes as much suffering and diminishment of the human being as any plague, earthquake, or terrorist. Which is not to say I am a Luddite, far from it, but it is a powerful irony that bin Laden uses his Palm Pilot to plot our doom and coordinate his army. I suppose, in the end, I'm really asking you fine sirs a question: How does a person or persons revolutionize the consciousness of his/her time without violence? After all, physical creation is at its core violent and mental creativity is no different.

In Vino Veritas,