Really, they don’t.
But wouldn’t it be cool if they did?
Sigh.
Honestly, if there’s one giant fib about this whole damned War on Terror, it’s got to be “The terrorists hate us for our freedoms.”
They don’t.
They hate us for a hell of a lot of reasons, but our so-called freedom isn’t one of them.
They hate us because we support Israel. They hate us because we invaded their country (which country are we talking about? Pick one, there’s a dozen or so). They hate us because we gave aid and comfort to their recently deposed dictator (which one? Pick one, there’s a dozen or so). They hate us because we’re pals with their erstwhile colonial masters (which one? Pick one, there’s a dozen or so). They hate us because they see us as arrogant sons of bitches who meddle in their affairs. They hate us because we blew up their wedding. They hate us because we blew up the funeral that followed the wedding that got blowed up. They hate us because we killed their sister or their brother or their cousin or their folks or their goat. They hate us because we prop up the government that they hate. They hate us because they think we raped their natural resources and gave them a handful of shiny beads in exchange. They hate us because they want to impose some totalitarian dictatorship over some piece of desiccated sand and we won’t let them. They hate us because we tortured people, or disappeared them, or rendered them. They hate us because of some ancient blood vendetta that nobody remembers or cares about anymore, except them. They hate us because they want to make drugs and sell them to others and we won’t let them. They hate us because their parents hated us. They hate us because the Iman told them to hate us. They hate us because the King or the Shah or the Grand Pananjurum told them to.
They hate us for a whole bunch of reasons, but they don’t hate us for our freedoms.
But wouldn’t it be cool it they did?
Wouldn’t it be cool if George W. Bush was right way back when this shit started, and they really did hate us for our freedoms? Wouldn’t it be neat if it was really just that simple? If the talking heads and the Tea Party patriots and the right-wing pundits and political hacks were right? That the terrorists really did hate us just because of our freedoms?
Think about it.
No, really think about it.
They hate us for our freedoms.
That would be awesome.
Because, see, then the single biggest “up yer asses!” you could send to the terrorists, the thing that would just plain chap their ass above all else, the thing that would get their goat (so to speak), would be to grant everybody those freedoms.
If the terrorists really did hate us for our freedoms, they’d sure be pissed if we let Muslims build an interfaith center a couple blocks from Ground Zero without acting like total dicks.
Just saying.
I think you understated the historical aspect of their hatred. Most of that part of the world is illiterate so their traditions are all oral. When that happens significant events, say the crusades 700-900 years ago don’t happen so far in the past, they happen recently, just out of peoples direct memory, say, your grand dad was involved. So when Shrub speaks up about our crusade against terrorism they all get a twitch.
ReplyDeletewell said Jim. Too bad NYC has started to get past 9/11 while the "real americans" keep dragging it back. Perhaps the gov't is really trying to get rid of freedom (and civil rights) so enemies have nothing to envy and they'll just go away:P They just forgot to tell most Americans.
ReplyDeleteScreeching stupidity should be illegal, and punishable by being forced to listen to Culture Club 14 hours a day every day while imprisoned.
ReplyDeleteBut, but, but, if they hate us for our freedoms we can adjust that by denying the enemy a target. The other heinous fuckery in their home countries, well, that's a horse of a different color then, isn't it.
ReplyDelete... and let gays marry. That'd piss 'em off too.
ReplyDeleteJim:
ReplyDeleteRead Sayyid Qutb.
He is the "spiritual godfather" of the radical Saudi-sponsored Salafists who created al Qaeda and have been responsible for most of the terrorist attacks against us in the last few years, and he _did_ hate us for our freedoms, and taught his followers to hate us for our freedoms too. His book "Milestones" spells out his hate for western civilization and our freedoms in miserably exhausting detail.
That isn't to say they don't also hate us for all the other reasons you listed - they do. But it is incorrect to say that al Qaeda and the Salafist movement do not hate us for our freedoms.