Terrorism and the forces of evil.

[Aerist]

Like many of you, I suspect, I have been mulling over the purpose of terrorism in the process of reality and evolution.

The best I have, is that the purpose of the terrorist is to inspire hatred. Once a person allows themselves to hate, they are blocked from spiritual development - the aim of evil forces. It's a devilish trick.

I would be interested in other views, and also in recommended spiritual technologies to extricate ourselves from this kind of trap.

 

[Ahanu]

Like many of you, I suspect, I have been mulling over the purpose of terrorism in the process of reality and evolution.

The best I have, is that the purpose of the terrorist is to inspire hatred. Once a person allows themselves to hate, they are blocked from spiritual development - the aim of evil forces. It's a devilish trick.

I would be interested in other views, and also in recommended spiritual technologies to extricate ourselves from this kind of trap.

How did the purpose to inspire hate grow in the heart of the terrorist in the first place? The righteous should feel half guilty that the conditions exist for a terrorist mindset to form and take root.

 

[RJM]

How did the purpose to inspire hate grow in the heart of the terrorist in the first place? The righteous should feel half guilty that the conditions exist for a terrorist mindset to form and take root.

Sorry I don't buy that

I don't believe that anyone is responsible for the evil actions of another. Even if I was righteous I would not feel guilty or responsible for those who choose to deliberately target innocents and children -- which is what terrorism is.

Evil simply looks for an excuse -- any excuse to manifest its true nature, regardless of the time and place or historical context, imo

 

[Niblo]

Sorry I don't buy that

I don't believe that anyone is responsible for the evil actions of another. Even if I was righteous I would not feel guilty or responsible for those who choose to deliberately target innocents and children -- which is what terrorism is.

Evil simply looks for an excuse -- any excuse to manifest its true nature, regardless of the time and place or historical context, imo

‘Say, ‘Should I seek a Lord other than God, when He is the Lord of all things?’ Each soul is responsible for its own actions; no soul will bear the burden of another. You will all return to your Lord in the end, and He will tell you the truth about your differences.’ (Qur’an 6:164; my emphasis).

 

[EricPH]

I abhor any violence, 9/11 was an act of terrorism. But, did the US also become terrorists, they bombed and invaded Afghanistan. 176,000 were killed, including 46,000 civilians, 200,000 became refugees.

Of the 176,000 Afghans killed, how many were directly responsible for 9/11? My guess would be, that up to 170,000 deaths were innocent victims, and they had nothing to do with 9/11. Not to mention all the deaths from the invasion of Iraq.

It seems we don't like to associate terrorism with armies that wear a uniform, but what is different, innocent people die.

 

[RJM]

abhor any violence, 9/11 was an act of terrorism. But, did the US also become terrorists, they bombed and invaded Afghanistan. 176,000 were killed, including 46,000 civilians, 200,000 became refugees.

You are creating false equivalence between the horror and tragedy of 'collateral damage' civilian casualties in wartime, and the deliberate terrorist targeting of innocents and children on a normal peaceful day, and using hospitals and refugee camps etc, as deliberate human shields, imo

 

[EricPH]

You are creating false equivalence between the horror and tragedy of 'collateral damage' civilian casualties in wartime, and the deliberate terrorist targeting of innocents and children

Ask the victims of those injured, or the relatives of those killed, does it make a difference to you, that your loved ones were killed because of collateral damage, or an act of terrorism? Which is the worse tragedy, the 3000 Americans killed on 9/11, or the 176,000 killed in Afghanistan, including 46,000 civilians.

As I understand, large compensations were paid out after 9/11. Were do the relatives of the 176,000 Afghans get justice and compensation? If you were an Afghan, would you consider the American invasion to be an act of terrorism?

When you talk about justice, you must first remove all labels, Americans and Afghans are human, they are the same, they both deserve the same justice.

My 2c.

 

['Amir Alzzalam]

Terrorism is never terrorism to the terrorist . . .

 

[Niblo]

‘And the King will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”’(NKJV; my emphasis).

If this is true – and for Christians it most certainly is – then Yeshua (ʿalayhi as-salām) is being oppressed and slaughtered every day in Gaza; but certain Christians shout ‘Hey, not to worry, he is merely collateral damage!’

Woe to these folk, come the Day.

And don't forget the invasion of Iraq, another country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11.

 

[EricPH]

And don't forget the invasion of Iraq, another country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11.

How do you make someone so desperate, that they are willing to risk their lives in an act of 'terrorism'?

Saddam was evil in the eyes of the west, he was hiding invisible WMDs. But is that a good enough reason to invade Iraq. There might be millions of angry Iraqi, who blame America and its allies for the death and destruction. They cannot go to their own government for justice, it has no real power. They can't get justice from the US. There will be huge numbers of angry Iraqi who are powerless to get the justice they think they deserve. The only thing in their power to do, is some act of terrorism.

Justice is only justice when we remove all labels. Americans and Iraqi are all part of the same human race. Justice is only justice when we are all treated equally and by the same law.

 

[Niblo]

How do you make someone so desperate, that they are willing to risk their lives in an act of 'terrorism'?

Saddam was evil in the eyes of the west, he was hiding invisible WMDs. But is that a good enough reason to invade Iraq. There might be millions of angry Iraqi, who blame America and its allies for the death and destruction. They cannot go to their own government for justice, it has no real power. They can't get justice from the US. There will be huge numbers of angry Iraqi who are powerless to get the justice they think they deserve. The only thing in their power to do, is some act of terrorism.

Justice is only justice when we remove all labels. Americans and Iraqi are all part of the same human race. Justice is only justice when we are all treated equally and by the same law.

Justice will come only at the Judgement. On that Day, and only on that Day, will folk be treated equally, and judged by the same law.

May it come sooner rather than later.

 

[RJM]

Terrorism is never terrorism to the terrorist . . .

Perhaps 'guerilla fighter' is the neutral term between one man's freedom fighter and another man's terrorist?

 

[RJM]

this is true – and for Christians it most certainly is – then Yeshua (ʿalayhi as-salām) is being oppressed and slaughtered every day in Gaza; but certain Christians shout ‘Hey, not to worry, he is merely collateral damage!’

False equivalence again. War is always terrible and seldom just. Civilians always bear the brunt. But deliberately targeting innocents and children in their beds for massacre and as hostages is not the same thing. Don't try to make it ok, or justify it in any way, imo?

 

[RJM]

Imagine your daughter and her husband, with their new baby are God fearing Jewish people in their kibbutz on a peaceful Saturday afternoon when Hamas 'militants' invade their home and kill the father and then put the baby in the microwave oven while raping the mother.

Read it again. That's what happened. There are other events -- a man bound to his child with wire and both set alight. Read it again!

These are verified.

Israel won't let it happen again. Israel won't stand down and leave to disperse again amongst the nations . It's not going to happen.

My 10c worth and probably enough ...

 

[Niblo]

False equivalence again. War is always terrible and seldomn just. Civilians always bear the brunt. But deliberately targeting innocents and children in their beds for massacre and as hostages is not the same thing. Don't try to make it ok, or justify it in any way, imo?

Save it for the Day. I'm not the one you will answer to.

Any man who looks at a woman with lust in his heart is no better than an adulterer. You will recall who said this.

Anyone who seeks to excuse slaughter is no better than the slaughterer.

And yes, you have said enough.

 

[RJM]

Accept the rights of Israel to a place and start to negotiate. Don't send grown men out to deliberately target babies in their beds -- as the TARGET -- and expect Israel to just lie down and die

 

[muhammad_isa]

Israel won't stand down and leave to disperse again amongst the nations..

When you say 'Israel', you refer to the Zionist administration, I assume..

 

[RabbiO]

When you say 'Israel', you refer to the Zionist administration, I assume..

You can’t be so unknowledgeable as to believe that Zionism is monolithic, that all who identify as Zionists think exactly the same, act exactly the same, walk in mindless lock step together. Of course that might explain why you use the word “Zionism“ as a perjorative.

 

[Ahanu]

Sorry I don't buy that

What do you buy?

I don't believe that anyone is responsible for the evil actions of another.

I don't believe anyone can be fully responsible for another's evil actions. I don't believe another person is evil just because they are arbitrarily evil either.

Even if I was righteous I would not feel guilty or responsible for those who choose to deliberately target innocents and children -- which is what terrorism is.

And don't forget the invasion of Iraq, another country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11.

Let's say the righteous is an American. She pays her taxes to the American government. Because of this, she contributes to America's war fund. I'm not sure if the numbers are correct, but let's assume "the average American taxpayer will have paid nearly $7,500 to fund the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria since the 9/11 attacks, according to previously unreported Pentagon budget data sent to Congress" in the year the article was written. American bombs leave many children in the Middle East without families. Perhaps some of them join a radical ideology against the United States as a result. It's classic cause and effect.

Any American citizen that pays taxes contributes to fanning the flames of terrorism. Few people would pull a Thoreau and refuse to pay their taxes and endure hardship over the issue.

War would be more difficult if, say, a technology existed that could change human organization with the separation of money and state. Some believe this technology to help end human war is Bitcoin. Here's an excerpt from The Network State for those interested in more:

A key thesis of The Sovereign Individual – and an important argument for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies more generally – is that if a government cannot seize money, then it cannot start wars.


Why? If a state can’t coerce, it can’t pay to enforce conscription, or pay the conscripts themselves, or seize the money to pay for all the equipment needed to prosecute the expensive industrialized wars of the 20th and early 21st century.


There’s a book called Gold, Blood, and Power: Finance and War Through the Ages that describes how finance was a weapon of war, and that the 20th century was one of the first times where huge wars have been fought without any country running out of money. The only thing the countries ran out of were bodies, because they were giant centralized states that could seize everything in their territory, and could propagandize everyone in their territory, and could just drive total war. So the Nazis, Soviets, and Americans just grabbed everything in their territory to fight these wars, like enormous ghosts that commanded millions of bodies in these titanic ideological combats.


How did they command those bodies? If you think about The Tripolar Triangle, the lower left corner of NYT is voice, and it’s convincing people with words. The lower right corner of BTC is choice or exit, and it’s convincing people with money. You can think of these as left and right democracy respectively.


But there’s a third pole. The top pole is loyalty. It’s CCP. Today, it’s AI. And it’s convincing people without convincing people at all. Because they’re all literally one. It’s harmony. And robots fit at that pole. Why? Because unlike a human soldier, a robot can’t be propagandized. And unlike a human soldier, a robot doesn’t need to be paid, just charged.


So: the problem is that Bitcoin could end human war, but not robot War.

Evil simply looks for an excuse -- any excuse to manifest its true nature, regardless of the time and place or historical context, imo

Surely most people don't just randomly decide to act out and target innocents and children, do they? People's decisions are to some extent shaped by their environments. Poor environments can negatively affect your brain's ability to make better choices.

"Evil simply looks for an excuse" doesn't tell me why it is manifesting itself except through a corrupt will. It also doesn't explain why evil manifests itself today to a slightly lesser degree than the ancient past. The history of human violence reminds me of the history of Earth. Billions of years went by in which an infant Earth was frequently hammered by meteors and comets. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes were more frequent back then as well. Eventually the Earth's crust cooled and solidified. It became habitable for plants, animals, you, and me. Similarly, the long history of the human species will chill out and become less and less violent as it continues to act and transform the environment and themselves.

 

[muhammad_isa]

You can’t be so unknowledgeable as to believe that Zionism is monolithic, that all who identify as Zionists think exactly the same, act exactly the same, walk in mindless lock step together. Of course that might explain why you use the word “Zionism“ as a perjorative.

As far as I am aware, Zionism is an ideology that supports "the development and protection of the State of Israel".
Naturally, not all those who support the ideology have identical beliefs.

I was just commenting on @RJM's post, where he used the word 'Israel' as a collective term.