Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Why do they hate us?
As I've said many times before (but not lately!), this is a bad question, a weakening question.
In all periods of human history, half the tribes and nations hate the other half. If hate were the relevant variable, all nations would be at war all the time. In fact war is relatively rare and isolated, so hate is simply not the relevant variable when your goal is to maintain peace.
War starts when Nation A decides that Nation B is weak or distracted, and when Nation A can gain something - land, resources, power, macho mojo - from the attack. This can happen with or without hatred.
Nevertheless, sometimes the question just can't be avoided.
I've mashed together two pictures here: the Korean mission school in Afghanistan, and a Mohammedan mission school (madrassa) in Tanzania.
See the difference? All the kids have head coverings, but the kids being taught by Christians have something else as well.
Joy.
This also explains why Western Leftists are Allah's best allies. Both of their gods (Gaia and Allah) are strictly concrete gods, who reside in specific places. Gaia lives in the entire earth, and Allah lives in Mecca. Concrete gods order their believers to worship in concrete ways: avoid certain substances and sacrifice real innocent human beings.
For Gaia, the substances to avoid are tobacco, carbon dioxide and meat. For Allah, it's pork and alcohol. For Gaia, the sacrifice is abortion, euthanasia, and ultimately the entire human species. Allah's sacrifice is less universal but more dramatic: Jihad. Both gods hate capitalism, banking and Jews. And above all else, both gods hate Joy. ¶ 7:46 AM
In all periods of human history, half the tribes and nations hate the other half. If hate were the relevant variable, all nations would be at war all the time. In fact war is relatively rare and isolated, so hate is simply not the relevant variable when your goal is to maintain peace.
War starts when Nation A decides that Nation B is weak or distracted, and when Nation A can gain something - land, resources, power, macho mojo - from the attack. This can happen with or without hatred.
Nevertheless, sometimes the question just can't be avoided.
I've mashed together two pictures here: the Korean mission school in Afghanistan, and a Mohammedan mission school (madrassa) in Tanzania.
See the difference? All the kids have head coverings, but the kids being taught by Christians have something else as well.
Joy.
This also explains why Western Leftists are Allah's best allies. Both of their gods (Gaia and Allah) are strictly concrete gods, who reside in specific places. Gaia lives in the entire earth, and Allah lives in Mecca. Concrete gods order their believers to worship in concrete ways: avoid certain substances and sacrifice real innocent human beings.
For Gaia, the substances to avoid are tobacco, carbon dioxide and meat. For Allah, it's pork and alcohol. For Gaia, the sacrifice is abortion, euthanasia, and ultimately the entire human species. Allah's sacrifice is less universal but more dramatic: Jihad. Both gods hate capitalism, banking and Jews. And above all else, both gods hate Joy. ¶ 7:46 AM
