In an analysis of the latest video done by the BBC the anylist emphasises his surprise at OBL’s knowledge of US politics. And yet I know that in the same video OBL asks USAians to convert to islam.
Forgive me for I haven’t watched the video myself, but isn’t the notion that Most nay some, nay a SINGLE FING ONE American is going to comply with his request a sure sign of OBL’s UTTER UTTER UTTER F*ING naivety!!!
Sorry for the over-emphasis but it just beggars belief how anyone can be stupid enough to even ask for this.
Why do idiots gain power? Did the universe divide by zero?
In answer to your last question, yes the universe did divide by zero. We’re still suffering from the effects.
As to the question of why he makes that sort of statement - it’s pretty much like someone here posted about Fred Phelps, and why he and his ‘family’ carry out those absurd, offensive demonstrations at random funerals. He’s not doing it for the sake of society, or even for the honour of God, but rather for the benefit of his own family - to show them how separate they are from the rest of society, and to use the repulsion that his actions inspire in the ‘outsiders’ as a further propoganda win when addressing his own ‘insiders’.
I think that OBL is the same - he doesn’t care about Americans, other than as a group of people to attack and murder. Instead, he’s appealing to the self-righteous sense of religious superiority that is common to his type of leader, and to his followers. He can then say that he ‘offered them the true path’ before attacking them.
If you’re referring to the latest Osama video, there seem to be a lot of experts saying that this tape is probably a fake, spliced together from previous videos.
In particular, they note that whenever it refers to something recent (like sub-prime mortgages), the sound of his voice and the video of his lips seem to go out of sync. In many cases, the video of his mouth seems to freeze altogether. That leads experts to think that this is an old video, with spliced-in pieces to mention recent events.
Sorry, I’ve no direct cite or anything and I’ve been meaning to look into this further but John Pilger, among others have argued that Bin Laden is as full of propaganda as the Bush administration. His motives revolve around oil and the religious rhetoric is merely a means to an end.
To what extent this is true I’m unsure, though I doubt it’s too far off the mark. In my opinion it’s pretty naïve to take his ‘effort’ to convert Americans to Islam at face value, and moreso to conclude, on that basis, that he is stupid.
Despite addressing the American people, I doubt Bin Laden’s speeches are intended for them at all. Radical muslims are the target audience. Same for Bush, when he addresses ‘terrorists’ to warn them about x y and z, he’s really speaking to Americans…
It is just like with telemarketers. They expect only a 1% (if that) success rate. OBL is the same way. He puts the message out and sure 99.999% of the people will think he’s a jerk who deserves to be blown out of this universe, but the other 0.001% will listen and agree with his message. To him that is a success, so he continues to do it.
And let us not discount the motivating power of religious fundamentalism, of whatever stripe: If you believe that God commands you to Speak The Word to the heathens, then you’re gonna Speak The Word to the heathens whether it makes you sound stupid or naive or not.
Is he any more naive than an American evangelical exhorting the Arabs to go Christian? The evangelist says that because it’s part of the role he’s playing; doesn’t mean he expects it to happen.
I don’t think he really expects the U.S. or other western countries to convert to Islam en masse. I think it’s just an exhortation. He sincerely believes that Islam, particularly the hard line Sunni Islam he practices (Salafism? Is that right?) is the best path for mankind and he honestly wants everyone to convert to it. But I don’t think he’ll be surprised when they don’t.
It’s basically the classic, “I’ll give you one last chance” line repeated by every Bond villain, or Bush asking Saddam to turn over the WMDs the day before the bombs started falling. Of course he doesn’t expect anything to come of it, but it would be bad form not to ask.