A generation or two ago, a hard and fascinating question for historians and biographers was this: What were things like in the soul of Adolf Hitler? They were asking after the source and nature of profound evil in human personality.
For us, the hard and fascinating question is, what is it like in the soul of a terrorist?
And here's an answer you might not like: The soul of the terrorist is the soul of a saint.
A suicide bomber is an idealist, a holy person with an absolute commitment to God, a moralist with an absolute courage of conviction. In short, the suicide bomber is a most extraordinary person.
In any era, and particularly in ours, truly selfless action is rare, and many thinkers (for example, Adam Smith and Ayn Rand, in the spirit of capitalism) have denied that it is possible at all. But in every era, people - especially the young - yearn for selflessness, yearn to transcend or overcome the self and merge into something greater. They yearn to show by a heroic act that they are not merely self-interested and that they are dedicated in the most serious way to helping their people, all people, or the world.
It is a romantic yearning, and though selflessness is at its heart, it also acts as a claim to be recognized as extraordinary.
No more convincing proof of that sort of moral heroism is possible than being willing to die for one's fellows, one's values and the God in whom one believes. Many of the early Christian saints were willing martyrs, and many secular heroes possess a mystique in virtue of the same qualities: the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., for example, or Abraham Lincoln.
When I was a young man, I wanted to regard myself in this way, and I was willing to commit acts of violence to show the seriousness of my beliefs. In fact, I did blow up some things (but no persons). And even if what I did was wrong, I did it to witness my moral commitment.
Now that I'm a middle-aged, middle-class teacher and daddy, I am a better person - less violent and dangerous. I'm also cowardly, more mediocre, a person who's made a thousand safe, self-serving compromises.
Some of the causes championed by terrorists - for example, the preservation of a culture or of a religious tradition or the autonomy of a people (Kurds, Basques, Palestinians) - are causes that demand and justify selfless action. But blowing up people not directly involved in the conflict is still utterly wrong.
But I believe that the impulse of the suicide bomber is fundamentally heroic, though its results are monstrous. In many ways, it is quite the reverse of the soul of a Hitler: power-mad, ready for murder as a direct aggrandizement of the self. In the terrorist, the greatest good and the greatest evil of which people are capable live in proximity and almost merge.
Terrorism results from the application of moral heroism to a situation in which constructive action seems impossible or real targets inaccessible. But it's still wrong. Distinctions do remain. The Israeli military and political machine - the direct instruments of oppression, the people bulldozing your homes and schools - are vulnerable, and there is all the difference in the world between attacking it and attacking people on a bus or at a party.
But one has to understand how the terrorist arrives at the place where suicide bombing becomes possible. There is a reason terrorists are thought of as martyrs and heroes.
The terrorist, like Hitler, shows how horrendously wrong people can be. But the terrorist also shows how extraordinary people can be. In both directions, she shows that we mediocre people do not really know our own limits and don't know what we're capable of. The suicide bomber is a monstrous saint.
Crispin Sartwell (c.sartwell@verizon. net) is author of "Extreme Virtue: Truth and Leadership in Five Great American Lives."
Crispin Sartwell!
First, you ought to apologize for the poor Kurds suffering from Arab racism (Syria, Iraq, etc.), the basic problem absent entirely from your article.
Second, you ought to apologize for the Basque rebels that want a separate state, whereas "Palestinian" Arabs want 'ALL JEWS OUT OF EVERYWHERE,' Ethnic Cleansing Got it?
Third, You ought to apologize for the victims of "Palestinian" butchery that were/are cut into pieces, ("fascinated" you said?) Use their kids as pawns, use their youth as human bombs, teach that the; Non Arab Muslim' is a pig. ("fascinated" you said?
Fourth, You ought to apologize for the victims of all Jihadi crimes worldwide, Well, Where do we start, Start by the 2,000,000 Sudanese Christian Slaughtered, and many more millions maimed, amputated, tortured, by the lowlife thugs, the ONLY ENSLAVERS TODAY! ("fascinated" You said?)
Fifth, You ought to apologize for the "nation". YOU national Columnist glorifying the mass murderers? You are giving the bloody butchers reason to continue?
You?
You are a 'national columnist' ?
Not only you are not any normal person of THIS nation's, but you are not even rational.
A generation or two ago, a hard and fascinating question for historians and biographers was this: What were things like in the soul of Adolf Hitler? They were asking after the source and nature of profound evil in human personality.
For us, the hard and fascinating question is, what is it like in the soul of a terrorist?
PURE EVIL!
And here's an answer you might not like: The soul of the terrorist is the soul of a saint.
BULLSHIT!
A suicide bomber is an idealist, a holy person with an absolute commitment to God, a moralist with an absolute courage of conviction. In short, the suicide bomber is a most extraordinary person.
A SUICIDE BOMBER IS A BRAINWASHED PIECE OF SHIT WHO IS THE VICTIM OF HIS HANDLERS, WHO SEND OTHER PEOPLE TO MURDER AND DIE FOR A CAUSE THEY THEMSELVES ARE NOT WILLING TO DIE FOR.
In any era, and particularly in ours, truly selfless action is rare, and many thinkers (for example, Adam Smith and Ayn Rand, in the spirit of capitalism) have denied that it is possible at all. But in every era, people - especially the young - yearn for selflessness, yearn to transcend or overcome the self and merge into something greater. They yearn to show by a heroic act that they are not merely self-interested and that they are dedicated in the most serious way to helping their people, all people, or the world.
It is a romantic yearning, and though selflessness is at its heart, it also acts as a claim to be recognized as extraordinary.
I YEARN FOR YOU TO STOP INHALING WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS YOU'RE INHALING!
No more convincing proof of that sort of moral heroism is possible than being willing to die for one's fellows, one's values and the God in whom one believes. Many of the early Christian saints were willing martyrs, and many secular heroes possess a mystique in virtue of the same qualities: the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., for example, or Abraham Lincoln.
When I was a young man, I wanted to regard myself in this way, and I was willing to commit acts of violence to show the seriousness of my beliefs. In fact, I did blow up some things (but no persons). And even if what I did was wrong, I did it to witness my moral commitment.
Now that I'm a middle-aged, middle-class teacher and daddy, I am a better person - less violent and dangerous. I'm also cowardly, more mediocre, a person who's made a thousand safe, self-serving compromises.
BUT YOU STILL DON'T GET IT!
Some of the causes championed by terrorists - for example, the preservation of a culture or of a religious tradition or the autonomy of a people (Kurds, Basques, Palestinians) - are causes that demand and justify selfless action.
THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE BRAINWASHED. AND PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS AREN"T FIGHTING TO FREE A PEOPLE; THEY'RE FIGHTING TO ERADICATE A PEOPLE. THEY DO THIS FOR ONE REASON ONLY - BECAUSE THEY ARE JEWS!
But blowing up people not directly involved in the conflict is still utterly wrong.
GEE, QUITE AN ADMISSION FOR SOMEONE WHO SYMPATHIZES WITH THE LOWEST SCUM OF THE EARTH.
But I believe that the impulse of the suicide bomber is fundamentally heroic, though its results are monstrous. In many ways, it is quite the reverse of the soul of a Hitler: power-mad, ready for murder as a direct aggrandizement of the self. In the terrorist, the greatest good and the greatest evil of which people are capable live in proximity and almost merge.
Terrorism results from the application of moral heroism to a situation in which constructive action seems impossible or real targets inaccessible. But it's still wrong. Distinctions do remain. The Israeli military and political machine - the direct instruments of oppression, the people bulldozing your homes and schools - are vulnerable, and there is all the difference in the world between attacking it and attacking people on a bus or at a party.
COME AGAIN? WHAT "ISRAELI MILITARY AND POLITICAL MACHINE"? THE "INSTRUMENTS" THAT HAVE OPPRESSED THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AND LEFT THEM TO ROT IN SEWAGE-STREWN CAMPS ARE THEIR OWN ARAB BROTHERS, WHO WOULD RATHER THEY SUFFER AS POLITICAL FOLLY RATHER THAN ACCEPT THAT ISRAEL IS AN ESTABLISHED FACT. EVERYTHING ISRAEL HAS DONE IS THE "RESULT" OF ARAB LAUNCHED WAR AND TERROR, NOT THE "CAUSE" OF IT. YOU ARE A FINE ADVOCATE FOR THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE, SLAVERING AWAY IN WHATEVER FETID HOTHOUSE OF THE IMAGINATION YOU LIVE IN.
But one has to understand how the terrorist arrives at the place where suicide bombing becomes possible. There is a reason terrorists are thought of as martyrs and heroes.
THEY ARRIVE THERE BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN BORN INTO A CULTURE THAT WORSHIPS MURDER AND DEATH. AND THAT CULTURE IS CALLED FANATICAL OR RADICAL ISLAM. AND TERRORISM IS THE METHOD THEY BELIEVE WILL ADVANCE THEIR CAUSE OF WORLD DOMINATION. AND AFTER THEY MURDER ALL THE JEWS YOU'RE NEXT ON THEIR LIST! FORTUNATELY FOR YOU ISRAEL STANDS ON THE FRONT LINE AGAINST THESE MURDEROUS BASTARDS. BUT THANKS FOR WRITING THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE. I NEEDED SOMETHING TO LINE MY BIRDCAGE WITH.
I won’t even try to rationalize with you with a long drawn out point by point rebuttal – a waste of my time writing and you reading.
Terrorists have arrived at that point (Palestinians) by a culture that is focused keenly on the destruction of Israel. That is the thesis. Everything else – all other supporting “arguments” are distortions of truths and outright lies in order to keep the rabid fervor at such a high pitch.
I am truly disappointed in your logic
Furthermore a book you should read is Time Immemorial by Joan Peters (?).My guess is – based upon your loosely drawn thinking skills – that your history is askew as well …
Don’t be afraid to open your eyes and learn about what you would rather not know or hear.
Besides the excellent column from JWR above, there was this letter to the Inquirer editor:
They are not saints
Re: "Terrorism: A monstrous sainthood," Commentary Page, March 31:
Crispin Sartwell reveals an astounding lack of knowledge of the sophisticated and cruel techniques used by Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in recruiting homicide bombers.
Today's Arab terrorist is a coward, sending naive children, and never their own, to die for a cause the children have never been allowed to fully understand. The children are psychologically abused and brainwashed into believing that murdering Israeli children is a noble act sanctioned by Allah.
The terrorist organizers themselves are not willing to die for their cause. Rather, when threatened by retaliation, they hide their activities in the midst of schools and hospitals to cowardly avoid the threat of punishment. None has ever voluntarily carried out a mission from which he or she did not expect to return alive.
To call any of these murderers holy people is to show an appalling lack of understanding of the facts. To call it romantic, selfless, and extraordinary defies comprehension. To liken them to Christian saints, who were indeed willing to die, but never murder, for their cause, is insulting and contemptuous.