I remember 6 years ago I was one of the people who were passionately angry that the missiles weren’t already in the air. I ddn’t care who, or where, I just wanted as many Muslims dead as possible, as quickly as possible.
It’s a good thing hotheads like me aren’t in charge of the nuclear arsenal. Cooler heads prevailed in the days after 9/11, and thankfully we didn’t do what a lot of us were demanding.
It’s amazing how otherwise intelligent, normal people respond to sudden crises. After the surge of testosterone finally washed out, I was back to my normal liberal self after a week or so. Some people held on to the idea that we were at war with all of Islam for awhile, but I think just about everyone realizes that killing everyone east of Turkey and west of India is a terrible idea by now.
So does anyone you know still want the Great Muslim Extermination to go forward? I know at least one - my boss. Without going into too much detail, this man is the biggest character you’ve ever heard about, guaranteed. It’s like someone plucked him out of a batman movie, and he’s the villain. It’s actually pretty comical to watch him get so worked up. He starts talking about how incredible it would be if we had orbital laser platforms and such, so we could destroy the Middle East more efficiently. In front of customers, by the way. It still hasn’t gotten through to him that almost nobody agrees with him, and that most of us are uncomfortable and uneasy when he gets these fits.
Do you know anyone like this? I’m honestly curious about whether this guy is feeding from some secret internet society or something.
Plus, giving political powers to people who would then carry out such carnage would then run the risk that, hey, we’ve already established the precedent of casual genocide, why not try it on YOU?
This happened with a formerly very liberal friend of ours from San Fran. He wrote the most horrifying email on 9/12/01, wishing death on everyone in the middle east, and sent it to everyone in his address book. My wife wrote a reply, seeking to pacify, but - probably unwisely - mentioning that the attacks weren’t really out of the blue as he’d said, if you take the long view, and that many of the Mujaheddin that made up Al Qaeda had been trained by the CIA. Bad idea. He flipped, accused her of lying to hurt America, and we’ve had little contact since. Which saddens me, as he’s a lovely guy.
I’ve just want some people to think - capture the memory of that anger. Then put yourself in Baghdad, even as a Saddam hater. And wait for the American bombers. Shock and Awe might have been good for Rumsfeld’s ego, and have made pretty TV, but imagine how it must have looked if you lived in Baghdad (regardless of the intended target). And then power went out, and the bombings carried on for months, and dangerous, disrespectful foreigners arrived in your streets, and the anger never got time to subside… No wonder it’s such a clusterfuck, and that most of the rest of the Muslim world is insanely angry.
I was having dinner the other night with a charming gentleman who really wanted to nuke one city in the middle east a day until they gave up Bin Laden.
I had a friend who saw the towers come down from his living room window. He went insane, I guess, and has never returned to anything approaching normal. He would push the button, I’m sure of it.
I fight the desire to feel that way almost every day. Then I realize that I don’t have a lot of hate-worthy qualities, so maybe if we nuked 'em all we might be getting a few pretty cool people who just happen to live on the wrong part of the planet.
But if we could just get all the people who would be willing to die for Allah to stand up and be counted …
Excuse the tangent, but is there any city in the middle east that isn’t an Islamic holy city? It seems like every city there is a holy city of some sort. Is Islam a religion, or a real estate scam?