Last night, I put up a post on SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? asking readers to read the excerpt of the two reports I had included in the posts. If you have not read it, please do so. I am not sure if many of you noticed the little details there.
I went on to do more research and came across THIS SITE which provides a lot of information and the following article which I would like to share with you this morning. I know it is kind of heavy reading on a Friday morning but it is worth your time. Take care and have a wonderful weekend!
I went on to do more research and came across THIS SITE which provides a lot of information and the following article which I would like to share with you this morning. I know it is kind of heavy reading on a Friday morning but it is worth your time. Take care and have a wonderful weekend!
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Listening to the Language and the Voices of Terrorists by Noa Zanolli
On September 14, 2001 President Bush stood on the ruins and ashes of Ground Zero. He was addressing the rescue workers wearing a sports jacket with an open-collar shirt. The president had his left arm wrapped around the shoulders of one of them. In his right hand the president held a megaphone. He responded to all the rescue workers who were shouting ‘USA! USA! USA!’ loudly and clearly: “I can hear you and the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!” The president expressed his anger at the despicable act of aggression and gave voice to the unspeakable desperation and resolve of the moment.
And the people who presumably are responsible for having “knocked these buildings down” are still hearing from the United States and from their allies with no less determination to eradicate terrorism and kill those leaders and followers that profess to perpetuate it.
The messages—the incessant exchanges of acts of violence on either side—do not seem to achieve their ends, however. On the contrary. What is being said by either expression of violence—the war on terror on one side and the proliferation of violent extremism on the other—is not heard nor understood just like in an incessant shouting match (if this disproportionate comparison may stand).
What is terrorism telling us? What are terrorists saying with their horrific deeds? What grievance do these voices express—justified or not? Whether the voices come from Palestine or Pakistan, from Afghanistan or Algiers, from Baghdad or Bali, London or Madrid? And what do terrorists hear the U.S. saying? Can we only communicate with each other through mutual mass murder? What does it mean when we interpret the acts of terrorism in this simplified formula: “They hate us. They hate our way of life”? These questions are debated among scholars and in the political science classrooms but not among the general public and generally not in the daily mass media.
Listening to the voice of terrorism and interpreting its language does never mean condoning it or diminishing in any way all that democratic governments have to do to protect and police their citizens in accordance with their laws.
CLICK HERE for the rest of the article.
And the people who presumably are responsible for having “knocked these buildings down” are still hearing from the United States and from their allies with no less determination to eradicate terrorism and kill those leaders and followers that profess to perpetuate it.
The messages—the incessant exchanges of acts of violence on either side—do not seem to achieve their ends, however. On the contrary. What is being said by either expression of violence—the war on terror on one side and the proliferation of violent extremism on the other—is not heard nor understood just like in an incessant shouting match (if this disproportionate comparison may stand).
What is terrorism telling us? What are terrorists saying with their horrific deeds? What grievance do these voices express—justified or not? Whether the voices come from Palestine or Pakistan, from Afghanistan or Algiers, from Baghdad or Bali, London or Madrid? And what do terrorists hear the U.S. saying? Can we only communicate with each other through mutual mass murder? What does it mean when we interpret the acts of terrorism in this simplified formula: “They hate us. They hate our way of life”? These questions are debated among scholars and in the political science classrooms but not among the general public and generally not in the daily mass media.
Listening to the voice of terrorism and interpreting its language does never mean condoning it or diminishing in any way all that democratic governments have to do to protect and police their citizens in accordance with their laws.
CLICK HERE for the rest of the article.
Village Boy Peace is actually far more than the mere absence of war.