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How to breed a terrorist, an extremist, a radicalist or an anarchist without really trying. – The horrific Mumbai terror attacks have been gripping the headlines and dominating CNN and BBC news programs during the last few days that it’s hard to think or talk about anything else. Nowadays, especially since the Desert Storm and the War in Afghanistan, the brutal confrontations of war have become the stuff of reality TV shows, brought to our bedrooms in living color – as they unfold and happen. Indeed, the TV news reporters “embedded” in the so-called “flashpoints” or “ground zero” proudly proclaim that the situations they are describing are still “fluid,” i.e., they are still developing and unfolding even as they speak. The irony of course is that it is not the war participants or terrorists themselves who become the heroes, villains and celebrities but rather the daring TV crew who will risk life and limb just to get an “exclusive” coverage or some spectacular film clip which the other networks failed to catch.
It is hard to put into words the world-wide, catastrophic horror, the terror, the devastation, misery, carnage, chaos, havoc and confusion wreaked by this type of warfare. However, when such war is deliberately taken into the heart of some great city like South Mumbai, with a population of approximately 19 million, the financial and tourist district of India, when opulent and luxurious 5-star hotels become the battlegrounds and helpless, unarmed, sleeping civilians are made the pawns and victims of such terror attacks, it becomes 9/11 once again re-enacted. It’s nightmare of the worst kind.
Of course, the terrorists (as they are now conveniently referred to, for lack of a better term) are the first to realize that this is now the ticket to “modern warfare.” Forget about running to the hills and hiding in the jungles or holing up in some lice-filled bunkers and dirty ditches and exchanging firepower with an unseen enemy. Where is the glamour, publicity, and excitement in all of that. Now it’s got to be done at the most prominent, famous, opulent and luxurious landmarks in the world, or nothing. It’s got to be no less than the Twin Towers of Manhattan, the Tube in London, the commuter trains in Madrid, the popular resort town of Bali; and it’s got to be a random, unpredictable if arbitrary choice. The more senseless, the better. And, preferably using weapons of mass destruction.
For at least two days, the terrorists managed to hold the entire city of Mumbai hostage, all businesses, traffic and all forms of human activity ground to a halt, the streets were completely empty; terror gripped the citizenry who were told to stay home. And had they been given the opportunity, these terrorists could have grabbed mike and camera to broadcast their message and the world would have had to listen. I guess the terrorists must have been satisfied that they had succeeded in sending their message across or accomplished their purpose. Who knows? It was clear however that Mumbai was literally down on its knees.
The siege of Mumbai, just like 9/11, will be talked about for the next several weeks. There will be recriminations, finger-pointing, retaliations, etc. New remedial legislations will be passed. Other countries will follow suit, imposing all sorts of purported counter-measures which only serve to harass, molest, and inconvenience innocent, law-abiding civilians at airports, malls, train stations, and other public places.
Who are these people anyway? What do they want? What do they really hope to accomplish? Are the suicide bombers that used to plague Iraq almost daily the same group operating in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India or Gaza? How are they recruited? How much are they paid?
Don’t they have anything worth living for? Is it because these terrorists have found something worth dying for? Are their families promised some kind of reward or social security? Is it because of an unfaithful or termagant wife or a meddlesome mother-in-law?
It’s hard enough for me to gather a handful of friends to join me for a cup of coffee or a few bottles of beer, whether it be to solve the problems of the world, or some particular agenda, or just simply to hang out. So, how come these people get talked into blowing themselves up and not even care if their names get published in the local newspapers?
Is it their religion? Are they like the martyrs who used to be fed to the lions or waged holy wars to proselytize the pagans and to kill those who refused to embrace the cross?
Or is it the fact that ever since Cain killed Abel, man has found it necessary to kill his fellowman, with or without some noble purpose? We are told, for instance, that some early Christians were regularly fed to the lions to entertain the Romans. The Crusaders must have invented genocide except that they did it as some form of a religious exercise. Pagans in turn must have found some ingenious ways to retaliate and kill their Christian tormentors. Moors killed the Christians all over Europe and vice versa. Catholics and Protestants in Ireland disliked each other enough to kill one another on a regular basis. The Jews have always had a problem with their Arab neighbors – and vice versa. Africans must have killed more fellow-Africans than all the wild beasts in that continent. And why do you think China found it necessary to build its Great Wall?
It is also a mistake to refer to these mass murderers, kidnappers, hostage-takers or trouble-makers simply as rebels or insurgents or even revolutionaries. Now it seems the more glamorous term is“terrorists.” In fairness to them, many of yesterday’s rebels or insurgents are today’s heroes and political leaders. Foremost among these, as far as the Philippines is concerned, may be mentioned Dr. Jose Rizal, Emilio Aguinaldo, Mabini, Juan Luna, Gregorio del Pilar, etc., and such contemporary figures as Luis Taruc, Satur Ocampo, Greg Honasan, etc. Just a few months ago, a Col. AntonioTrillanes IV, after leading a few failed coup attempts for which he landed in jail, got elected as a Senator of the Philippines.
Going back to Dr. Jose Rizal, as far as some historians are concerned, he is described merely as just another rebel during the Spanish regime in the country. In short, sometimes it’s not so much a question of nomenclature or name-calling but a matter of point of view. Fidel Castro and Che Guevarra were mere ragtag guerillas until they succeeded in taking over Cuba. Emilio Aguinaldo was just another native rebel as far as the Spanish colonizers were concerned, until he was declared the President of the Republic of the Phil. Hence, we can’t be seen to be too hard on these terrorists either. Who knows, some of them might just suddenly succeed in taking over the world. Former President Musharraf would have landed in jail had he failed in his military takeover of Pakistan sometime ago.
After having lived as an adult in this troublesome world for more than half a century, I now believe that most of the troubles of the of world which end up in world wars, civil wars, rebellion, genocide, murders, suicide bombings, etc. are not so much due to some distorted religious beliefs or sense of national pride or patriotism or self-defense, self-preservation. Every now and then, this world somehow manages to breed an individual with an ego as big as the world, which ego must feed on an insatiable greed and an uncontrollable urge for power, to rule the world, to own the world. For lack of a better term, let’s call such an individual amegalomaniac, someone who believes that this world must turn only at his say-so.
Now, mind you, the whole point of this exercise is to suggest that a megalomaniac is not born. He is bred and nurtured – by his parents and by society as a whole.
He starts off as a cute, plump, lovable, well-fed healthy baby. He is so cute and lovable in fact that his mom will give him anything he wants, will overfeed him even to the point of starving other children.
Then he becomes plump and grossly overweight. Then he becomes big and selfish. He can’t stand to see other people eating and having fun. He wants bigger and better toys. His parent’s world revolves around him and he has them twirling around his big fat fingers. He grows up thinking the world owes him a favor and demands that it had better satisfy his every whim and desire.
He becomes a bully in school, a toughie in the neighborhood, someone to reckon with everywhere he goes. His parents appear satisfied that they seem to have managed to raise a child of unbelievable star qualities. Mostly just to humor him and to avoid any hassles, most people will also eventually kowtow to this bully’s importunings. So then he grows up thinking he is special, a cut above the rest, a born-leader who can make everybody else do his bidding.
Oh, my God, we have managed to raise a sociopath, or worse, a psychopath!
There’s no stopping this megalomaniac after that. First, he will take over the family finances, then some business, legal or illegal, by hook or by crook; then a whole town, a province … you get the drift. The guy wants all the money and resources, then all the power and fame. It used to be that his type went for all the gold in the kingdom, then all the diamonds. Now it’s all the oil resources. Marcos, for instance, did not just want to stay in power indefinitely, he emptied the treasury and cornered all the businesses and industries of any consequence in the country. Not satisfied with that, he invested quite a bit of time and resources going after the so-called “Yamashita Treasures” which were rumored to have been buried in various sites all over the archipelago.
It’s not any different with some misguided, fanatical, fundamentalist religious leader. A natural-born rabble-rouser, pretty soon he has hundreds of thousands of gullible, adoring fans/followers. Then he begins to believe that he can fool all of the people all of the time. Then he begins to think about playing god or being one.
If you think I’m kidding, think of Gaius Octavius, grand nephew of Julius Caesar. About 50 years before the coming of Jesus, he crowned himself the first emperor of the then Roman Empire and re-named himself C. Julius Caesar Octavianus. Later he referred to himself as the “Divine Augustus.” He is also reported as the first in history to claim the title “Son of God,” a few years ahead of Jesus Christ.
I had a sainted uncle who died a few years ago who seemed to have found the secret formula on how not to raise a sociopath. He had only one advice to his children which they remembered the rest of their lives. He told them: “eco sa manabala careng aliwang tau.” (Pls., try not to trouble other people.). My cousins all grew up to become upright, decent, responsible, caring individuals.
I believe Thomas Jefferson had a point when he preambled that “all men are created equal.” It seems God started us all off as “common men,” i.e., with lots of common sense. Then we began to believe that some are more or less “common,” some more or less “equal” than others. Before long, we started putting up some people on a pedestal, allowing them to rule over us, have power of life and death over us, paying more tribute to them and even adoring them like some god. We do it with our TV and movie stars, rock stars, and other glamorous celebrities, wealthy industrialists and businessmen, and powerful political lords. They have become our modern-day gods. And it somehow has a way of getting into their head. Then, wouldn’t you know it, they turn into little Lucifers.
So, why do you think God Almighty’s first commandment is: “I am the Lord, thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me?” – JAMES L.
butchcelestial wrote on Dec 2, '08
. . . they are all around us in a gigantic masquerade . . . it will take a lifetime to name all but if I have to start, I start with 'myself'. We have become a world of 'ego' and selfishness. Time for us to believe we can change (Obama-ish) and should change from the inside out. |
avilacharles wrote on Dec 3, '08
Kuya, your questions lead me back decades in time and I must for now give a rain-cheque in response with a wish and a prayer that some of us may be gathered together before too long...to talk and share. Mabuhay ka!
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avilacharles said
 a wish and a prayer that some of us may be gathered together before too long...to talk and share 
Kuya CHARLIE, i hope you're not saying my musings are as outdated as the author. Pls. let me know when you're available and I will try to get some pipol to listen to you. I hope abt 12 will be sufficient? That was the magic no. for Bro. JESS.
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The creation of good (positive existence) and the fall of man (negation and the problem of evil). And what you ask was the beginning of it all?
And it is this: Existence that multiplied itself for sheer delight of being, so that it might find itself innumerable...for good or for evil. At the interaction of two traditionally dueling fields - the dialectics of good and evil, the Divine Proportion (PHI) connects patterns of growth and development. James, thanks for being so graphic and down to earth. Let's rise beyond the confines of this world to view these mundane events in their proper perspective. If one perceives these merely on a human level, it certainly is beyond comprehension...leading to helplessness and despair. View it from the divine perspective, will undoubtedly guide us to our final destiny. That's what DBR YHWH came for. The very raison d'etre for the Logos made flesh - Em Manu El! |
avilacharles wrote on Dec 3, '08
Kuya Jeems, kaw talaga, no, never outdated - precisely - it's just na mahabang kwentohan magandang walang e-record- d ba? ty Yes, 12 or less, let's not even try to improve on superkuya...i'm sure he's amused.
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avilacharles wrote on Dec 3, '08
Did you see this nga pa la? --------------
Barack Obama could have unwittingly caused the Mumbai attacks AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo Extremists could be reacting to Barack Obama’s gestures towards Muslims. This was not the conjecture of a wild imagination but the gist of the statement made by one of the world’s most renowned thinkers — Dr. Deepak Chopra. Who is Dr. Deepak Chopra? TIME Magazine said that Dr. Deepak Chopra is one of the 100 heroes and icons of the century. Entertainment Weekly hailed him as “Hollywood’s man of the moment, one of publishing’s best-selling and most prolific self-help authors.” He wrote more than 49 books with over a dozen of his books having landed on the New York Times Best-seller list. He is recognized by Toastmaster International as one of the top five outstanding speakers in the world. CNN’s Larry King saw it fit to interview New Delhi-born Dr. Deepak Chopra regarding the Mumbai terror attacks. Here are excerpts of that interview. Deepak Chopra: The situation is complex, Larry, because it could inflame to proportions that we cannot even imagine. It has to be contained. We now recognize that this is a global problem, with only a global effort can solve this. And you know, one of the things that I think is happening is that these militant terrorist groups are actually terrified that (President-elect Barack) Obama’s gestures to the rest of the Muslim world may actually overturn the tables on them by alienating them from the rest of the Muslim world, so they’re reacting to this. You know, this is Obama’s opportunity to actually harness the help of the Muslims. You know, there are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world. That’s 25 percent of the population of the world. It’s the fastest-growing religion in the world. We cannot, if we do not appease and actually recruit the help of this Muslim world, we’re going to have a problem on our hands. And we cannot go after the wrong people, as we did after 9/11, because then the whole collateral damage that occurs actually aggravates the situation. In India, this is particularly inflammatory, because there’s a rise of Hindu fundamentalism. We saw what that did in Gujarat, where, you know, Muslims were scorched and they were killed, and there was almost a genocide of the Muslims. India has 150 million Muslims. That’s more Muslims in India than in Pakistan. So this is an opportunity right now for India and Pakistan to recognize this is their common problem. It’s not a Muslim problem right now; it’s a global problem. Larry King: Do you think that this is just the beginning, that there’s a potential impact, or more? Chopra: There is a potential impact of a lot more carnage. But it can be contained. And right now, one of the questions, you know, after I heard Barbara Starr talking about how coordinated this is, that there are militant groups that cross international boundaries, is who is financing this? Where is the money coming from? We have to ask very serious, honest questions. What role do we have in this? Are our petrodollars funding both sides of this war on terrorism? Why are we not asking the Saudis where that money is going that we give them? Is it going through this supply chain to Pakistan? It’s not enough for Pakistan to condemn it. Pakistan should cooperate with India in uprooting this. They should be part of the surgery that is going to happen. It’s not enough for Indians to blame Pakistanis. Indians should actually ask the Pakistanis to help them. And it’s not enough for us to worry about Westerners being killed and Americans being killed. Every life is precious over there. We have got to get rid of this idea that this is an American problem or a Western problem. It’s a global problem, and we need a global solution, and we need the help of all the Muslims, 25 percent of the world’s population, to help us uproot this problem. King: What does India immediately do? Chopra: India at this moment has to contain any reactive violence from the fundamentalist Hindus, which is very likely and possible. So India has to condemn that by not blaming local Muslims. They have to identify the exact groups. And the world has to be very careful that they don’t go after the wrong people. Because if you go after the wrong people, you convert moderates into extremists. It happens every time, and retribution against innocent people just because they have the same religion actually aggravates and perpetuates the problem. King: Are you pessimistic? Chopra: I think Mr. Obama has a real opportunity here, but a challenging opportunity, a creative opportunity. Get rid of the phrase “war on terrorism.” Ask for a creative solution in which we all participate. King: Is it because the war on terrorism really can never be won? Chopra: Because it’s an oxymoron. It’s an oxymoron, Larry, a war on war, a war on terrorism. You know, terrorists call mechanized death from 35,000 feet above sea level with a press of a button also terror. We don’t call it that, because our soldiers are wearing uniforms. They don’t see what is happening, and innocent people are being killed. So, you know, terror is a term that you apply to the other. (End of interview excerpts) Dr. Chopra provides invaluable insights to the problem of terrorism which we must all hope the new US leaders will learn from. Like most conflicts, victory is best won by winning hearts and minds. |
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