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The Irony of Terrorism
September 12, 2001
Konrad Switters
The act of terrorism
in New York City was an objectively flawed act. Unfortunately, the terrorist
[who remains unknown at present], feeling that they were left with no other
options, proceeded with an intentionally destructive action against their
perceived detractors.
A terrorist does not
justify their actions, beyond listing a historical chronology of personal
loss at the hands of those it terrorizes. We can posit that their actions
are a result of having become frustrated with having exhausted all other possible
negotiating tactics, but the reality is that their inability to understand
and predict the long term effect of their actions on their own culture, dooms
them to cultural extinction.
On the Global Capitalist
stage there are only two possibilities for the development of the socio-economic
structures of a governed state:
1. They become culturally
and economically isolated via the process of consciously [actively and politically]
rejecting the hegemony of democratic, economic, political, and social processes.
In this scenario, the economic isolation which ensues is rivaled only by
the loss [on the part of those powers which then deny the existence of the
rouge outcast] of cultural smelting into the world stage [through things
as simple as the loss of language, cultural values, cuisine, and other less
tangible culture precocity].
2. They become culturally
watered down due to their acceptance of the mass-consumer culture associated
with Global Capitalism. In this scenario, the benefits afforded by Global
Capitalism are embraced [such as advances in healthcare and the availability
of a wide variety of affordable and desirable consumer goods] with the hope
that culture will survive the onslaught of this one-size-fits-all, consumer
culture oriented mass-marketing.
To want the superficial
things available to the capitalist economy is not necessarily a bad thing.
People want to be able to buy convenience, they want purchasable sophistication
and glamour, and they want the perception of having many choices. Capitalism
offers these things, and offers them by suggesting that through hard work,
it is attainable by all. The question is not, whether or not this Global Capitalist
empire will come to fruition, the question is, how will existing ethnic groups
and cultures position themselves so that they can maintain their culture in
spite of this Global Capitalism.
Though both possibilities
listed above ultimately lead to a degradation of local culture, the first
is ultimately more destructive to an ethnic group and their culture, and it
is the terrorist that chooses this unfortunate path.
The philosopher Karl
Popper argues that if you enter into a disagreement with someone and you know
positively that your adversary's position is that they cannot, and will not,
be convinced of your argument, that it is more reasonable for you to shoot
that person than try to convince them of your point of view. Why have a pointless
argument?
The terrorist believed
that argument was futile and their short-sightedness lead them to choose violence
as the answer to their problems. And in doing so, they choose the path of
rejecting the possibility of their incorporation into the blossoming [and
arguably inevitable] Global Economy; as described above, this is akin to cultural
suicide.
If you destroy your culture
in the American mind, the global capitalist market will deny your existence
and your advancement in the global stage. The goals of the terrorist act,
which masqueraded as a champion on issues of religious hegemony and geo-political
sovereignty, masks the long term effects of economic isolation and the cultural
destruction which will ultimately follow.
The tendency for humans
to project the actions of one individual on all members of that individual's
ethnic group [some call this racism] will ultimately isolate an entire ethic
group for exclusion from the global economy. And when the party responsible
for this horrible act is discovered, what the United States of America doesn't
exterminate through military might, will be systematically and brutally destroyed
through a process of organized capitalist degradation.
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