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ALIENATED ENVIRONMENTALISTS BLAMED
In searching to assign responsibility for the rise in home-grown terrorists, Cranfield University terrorism expert Bill Durodie sweeps past a certain religion and blames ... pessimism, Western degeneracy, and environmentalists:
We should remind ourselves that the form of terrorist threat that we face today is not necessarily one that comes and is driven by some alien and foreign ideology as many people seem to assume, but rather one that is cultivated within our own communities, within our own society, from a layer of people - not all of whom will be Asian - who are extremely alienated from the way of the world today and who want to lash out against it in a highly destructive manner.
And we need to ask ourselves, what kind of climate creates this? Is it some kind of religious ideology, as many commentators seem to suppose? Or is it maybe our own sense of nihilism and negativity that comes through in many, many debates we see today - from issues about how humanity destroys the planet, coming from environmentalists, to numerous other areas of our lives, where we seem to err on the pessimistic side of the argument in almost every situation. I suspect it’s that kind of almost degenerate cultural climate that then encourages an alienated few to lash out.
As keen as I usually am to mock environmentaloids, the idea that they’re driving people towards fundamentalist Islam seems something of a stretch. After all, they’ve got their own doom cult to worry about. Durodie continues:
A point I often make in this kind of debates is that it’s not so much what it is that attracts a few individuals to fringe radical organisations that we need to worry about, but rather what it is about our own society that it fails to attract quite often young, articulate, bright, energetic and ambitious individuals, that they feel so alienated from it that they look for something else to provide substance and meaning to their lives. Surely, that’s an indictment of ourselves as well.
Somehow it’s always the West’s fault, whether through Western arrogance or now Western pessimism. Andrew Bolt writes:
Durodie is right to suggest that the hate-filled Left is feeding this destructive nihilism - but is very wrong to ask us to ignore that the guys actually doing the killing are what they say they are. As in: Muslim.
Disagree on the first point—the Left’s destructive nihilism is mostly destructive in response to Islamic fascism, rather than in the creation of it; although it will be interesting to see how the Left reacts now that they’re accused of being a root cause—and agree, obviously, on the second.
(Via casanova)
A point I often make in this kind of debates is that it’s not so much what it is that attracts a few individuals to fringe radical organisations that we need to worry about, but rather what it is about our own society that it fails to attract quite often young, articulate, bright, energetic and ambitious individuals
So, our society fails to attract young, articulate, bright, energetic and ambitious people???? And radical Islam does??? I don’t think I would ever describe the hate-filled, mono-minded fundamentalist as any of the above.
what it is about our own society that it fails to attract quite often young, articulate, bright, energetic and ambitious individuals?
Relentless leftist indoc. True enough Patricia. Also please consider the constant “world is going to end because we’re destroying the planet” drumbeat. If that’s all I heard as a talented young buck, why would I want to make anything of myself?Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 08 12 at 11:40 AM • permalinkI would tend to agree with AB that the leftoid hatred of our own society and the interwoven cultures of resentment, entitlement and victimization that it spawns/encourages creates an environment in which those who would otherwise be passively in favour of our destruction will be encouraged to take action.
Am I allowed to call Bill Durodie a twit?
Apart from anything else, mosques and burqas are not part of my community or society. Huh.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2006 08 12 at 12:25 PM • permalink#5, And there’s also the point that young, articulate, bright, energetic and ambitious individuals are often quite creative and successful in society, automatically cutting themselves out of the lefty list of victims with grievances. In fact, the left relegates such individuals to the status of “enemy”.
Islam: The Religion of P.J. O’Rourke’s Moody Loners with Handguns…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 08 12 at 03:15 PM • permalinkAnd a good many young, articulate, bright, energetic and ambitious individuals, rather than applying their many talents to legitimate pursuits, instead choose a criminal career path. Why? Could be lots of contributing factors but I’m willing to bet good old-fashioned narcissism plays a large role.
But, you know what? Apart from it being an interesting intellectual exercise, I really don’t care. Just round ‘em up and put ‘em away. Foreign-grown terrorists, home-grown terrorists, criminals, whatever.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 08 12 at 04:12 PM • permalinkI’m personally willing to bet that if we picked up a bunch of theis young, articulate, bright, energetic and ambitious individuals after their bad behavior and started by administering public canings to the point of them needing a doctor, followed by lengthy incarceration fewer would be attracted.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2006 08 12 at 09:08 PM • permalinkThere seems to be a spiritual emptiness at the heart of Western Civilization, arising over the last century or so from the philosophies of nihilism, nacissism and self-gratification that the left holds so dear. This is leading people in Europe, the US, and elsewhere to join the extremist Islamic religious movements that have immigrated to our countries. For the new generation of second-generation immigrants it is a badge of ethnic identity, for the convert a comforting refuge from the solitary emptiness of the degenerate zeitgeist.
Mind you they could probably get a similar feeling from Christianity or Judaism in their more robust and fundamentalist forms, without the emphasis on jihad and killing the infidels and bringing Sharia to the benighted lands of the Dark Continent of Europe. This is one of the reasons that the new Pope has talked about a reevangelization of Europe. It would be appropriate if he brought in missionaries from Africa to preach the gospel in the Dark Continent of Europe. In America the nifilistic degeneracy has not gone as far as in Europe, but it has a strong position in the Chattering Classes and on the two left coasts.
If we are to win this war we must purge our culture of this cynicism and nihilism. Things will get worse before they get better, if they do.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 08 12 at 09:09 PM • permalinkI caught Bolt on Insiders this morning with Misha Schubert and George Megalogenis, whose steadfast refusal to acknowledge the link between contemporary terrorism and Islam was straight from the MSM playbook. Megalogenis even used Martin Bryant as some sort of proof that non-Muslims could be baddies too.
Alex: “For ten points: an unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings.”
MSM: “What is a river in Africa?”
I don’t think that Durodie should be understood to be saying that blame does not attach primarily to the islamists in the current crisis. I think the point he is making - or, let me say, the point I would like to think that he’s making - is that Western culture is turning against itself, and that a house so divided cannot stand. (This is a claim that many on this very board have made, so it shouldn’t be that controversial.) He will be referring to the fashionable disillusionment with both the enlightenment project and the Christian faith, and the equally fashionable cynicism that denies that moral progress is possible within the Western system, or that a life worth living is to be had within the limits of this culture.
This, as most people know, has been a feature of Western elite opinion since the Great War, but its intellectual origins can be traced further back into the XIXth century, with the rise of the bourgeoisie and the simultaneous creation, displacement, and subordination of an ‘intellectual’ class. (See Grana, ‘Modernity and its Discontents.’) This class sees itself as morally superior to the dominant group and feels that the world is unjust to deny it the dominant role. Its dissatisfaction is expressed in a rejection of all the things that are valued by the dominant group and of all the things that contribute to the continuance of their domination. Since that group - in the intellectual imagination - now includes almost the entire society (and in reality includes them!) their act of rejection creates the situation of a culture at war with itself.
But this only provides the environment in which actual oppositionist movements can thrive. Today that opposition is most effectively pursued by the Islamists, yesterday it was the Environmentalists, the day before yesterday it was the Socialists of various stripes. Today it is the United States as the representative of the West that is hated by all ‘right-thinking’ people. Yesterday it was Great Britain. (The hatred towards Britain expressed in XIXth century cartoons and pamphlets from the continent - especially during the Boer War - was easily equal to the best of Le Monde.)
Opposition movements will come and go (one hopes), but the pathology that leads to intellectual sympathy (active or passive) for them continues.
SteveGW: I assumed this also at first, having skimmed thru some of his articles which someone here had linked to; I thought he was referring to the self-flagellation of the western “intellectuals”, anti-capitalists, anti-moralists, environmentalists et al.
But he lost me when I read a precis of his program on the SBS site, where he rehashed the meme Bush Neocon Conspiracy cooks up fear to keep the voters in line. Pretty much in the Fisky-Phattams camp in that regard.
Yes Mr Doodie, a philosphy of life buried in the 7th century does not empower anyone to cope with the 21 th century.
Oh those damned Presbyterians again.(s… off)
Posted by LaVallette on 2006 08 13 at 03:53 AM • permalink#17 Michael: If we are to win this war we must purge our culture of this cynicism and nihilism
So true. Even Andrew Bolt has been a weak reed on the Lebanon war, wailing several times that ‘Israel is losing’ instead of being positive like the Jews themselves.
Defeatism is one product of nihilism, which lacks any transcendent appeal to buttress great values.
Islamofascism HAS this [evil] transcendence, so it is not nihilistic like our post-marxism. It EXPECTS to dominate, like the Nazis did at first.
It is more dangerous than Nazism too, which was a pagan reversion lacking any spiritual depth under pressure. It arose from the German anti-Christian nihilism of the 20s.
France is weak because of its postmodern, existential nihilism and so is Britain - both now post-colonial sooks.
Only the USA retains a large enough genuine Christian population that can evaluate the Islamic enemy correctly, and take the only action appropriate to the threat.
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having just read the quote you extracted I think you may be reading Bolt wrong on the first point: I take ‘feeding’ to imply helping and nurturing (shit, i don’t believe i just wrote that horrid word) the conditions that have emasculated our response to the murderous bastards, and I think that’s certainly true.