Nigerian Bomber Is Innocent!
Posted: Saturday, January 09, 2010
by Gregory Lewis
PopGnosis
This is my counterpoint address to one of my peers, who wrote an article concerning the subject of the 23-year old London educated Nigerian Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab. This began as a simple reply, but because it's generally applicable to every circumstance of terrorism and war, I thought I should reframe it as a more general commentary. I am fully aware that my point of view is not a popular one, but conscience and popularity do not serve the same master.
propagandaposters.us (he bad; we good)
During World War I, the U.S. and Allies printed posters depicting Germans as vicious monsters. The U.S. Government did the same thing with the Japanese during WWII, and of course the fascist Nazis did the same thing with the Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies and other ethnic groups to grease their own genocidal campaigns. Rumsfeld, Bush and Cheney did the same thing in order to make it easy for us to go to war against other human beings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remember "Axis of Evil"? You really can't call your neighbor a cobra or a monster, or murder your foreign brother in a "justified" war without first demonizing him (and his wife and children) as sub-human monsters. Once you have mastered the psychological trickery required to pretend your adversary has no soul and no conscience, only then you can rip him to shreds with your machine gun.
CIA Bomber on right (BBC News). Note guy on left, sitting quietly as his younger brother offers himself up for sacrifice. Meanwhile, the righteous mullah with the tan cape probably has many days of falafel and goat cheese ahead of him. Disgusting.Consider who the typical suicide bomber is: young, idealistic men. Meanwhile, the real monsters, the older planners and manipulators hide safely behind the scenes, out of personal danger. The young men fight and die for the sins of their fathers. It works exactly the same for young Nigerian men as it does for young American men. They are all equally easily influenced by propaganda and rhetoric, and quite honestly, not entirely to blame.
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)You have made your point well, Gregory, in responding to my article with this one of your own. Farouk and I being from Africa has little to do with this matter. True, the big planners of terrorism are the ones who brainwash and send the gullible to kill and die for the cause. But once an adult male like Farouk, an educated guy, weighs the arguments for himself and makes up his own mind to blow a plane up (if indeed that's what he intended to do), then he is no longer the innocent victim duped by some guys in Yemen or wherever. By his choice as an educated adult, Farouk has become a responsible, accountable partner in planning to bring untimely deaths to hundreds of airline passengers. Thus he remains innocent only in a legal sense, as in "innocent until proven guilty", but not innocent in that he did not understand what he signed up to do. Still I must admit you have argued your point strongly, and I respect that. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.You are right Mogama. Even though he will probably be found guilty of the crime, my charge is more against the big fish upstream, where poisoning the minds of the little players starts. Farouk is guilty, but he's not so very different from other young people who join their own military groups for the sake of ideology. That ideology usually comes from the mouth of some middle aged man sitting safely at home with his wife and kids.Please log in to respond to this comment.Unfortunately, it rains on the just and the unjust alike. You see this in every area of life."Don't shoot the messenger," was something thought up in an attempt to protect the seemingly innocent carrier of the message, from the retribution, which should, by all rights, be directed toward the author of said message; who is , of course, hiding, as all cowards do.But if the messenger lends himself to usage by these predators, whether because of ignorance, gullibility or stupidity,he must needs pay the consequences for these faults. This world is a dangereous place- " It's survival of the fittest, as we live from day- to- day."The only way we can give quarter to these luckless dupes, is if we understand that their motive was fear of death for themselves and/or their families. Human beings will go to any lengths to protect themselves and the people they love.You, Gregory, are a champion for the underdog- and the world needs heros like you.Always- EllaPlease log in to respond to this comment.Thanks Ella. I'm really not arguing that this person did not almost murder hundreds of innocent people. The problem is that he and all other young and easily influenced people, our sons and daughters, are at risk of indoctrination. I don't hate this young man. Looking at his face, I don't think he was born to hate. Call me a bleeding heart liberal, I don't care. It's stupid to keep blaming the driftwood when the tide keeps bringing more of it.Please log in to respond to this comment.In a perfect world maybe Mogama, but too often people pride themselves about how educated and responsible they are, yet they too are only human and guilty of the same behaviors.I have no interest in hurting or killing others for personal gain or to prove the intensity of my beliefs, yet I will proudly vote for men to take office, who, once they get in, do everything against what I believe. Therefore I am as guilty of being duped by them as Farouk was by his counterparts. It's easy to point fingers when pride tells us that "I'm better them he/she because I would never let anyone coerce me to such madness." Each one of us is a product of daily propaganda. It's in our media, history books, movies, political agendas, and the like, and for any of us to think we are free from such mind-altering intercourse is laughable.The truth is we are ALL a part of the madness, and the insanity comes from man's beliefs!! We believe in the superiority of race, religion, political systems, fame, fortune, looks, intellectual studies, Gods, etc., and our pride tells us that whatever race we are, or whatever religion, riches, or political ideals we believe in and possess, make us the deserving righteous masters to rule others.I was once at an art gallery (Rhode Island School of Design) viewing an artist work in which the woman painted a frightened mother ape embracing her young, while in the background men equipt with tanks, guns, bombs, and war planes were destroying everything in their sight. In other words, the ape had more sense to protect that which is sacred - LIFE - than we foolish humans do. We'll kill for money, land, oil, and worst of all BELIEFS! Anytime we put beliefs and ideals before life we are indeed the sickest of all animals, whether it be one man trying to bomb hundreds of innocents on a plane, or for the rest of us who go to the ballot box and vote for an as*hole like Bush. We are all murders when we believe in such ideals or leaders. The only difference is in how we go about it.
As long as humans possess PRIDE and BELIEFS, we will always be guilty of the desensitization of ourselves and others, and that to me adds up to murder.Please log in to respond to this comment.
spiritually sound and technically highly skilled submission.I can only bow in awe in the face of you Ferrari like intellect; I hope you are leaving your brain to medical science.Please log in to respond to this comment.Thanks Carol, flattery will get you everywhere. My friend talked me into donating my organs should I die in a car crash. I'm not sure where my brain will go. Mine is the voice of opposition. I feel strongly that opposition is needed in today's increasingly homogeneous Zeitgeist.Please log in to respond to this comment.Carol- have you read Gregs other work? If not, then by all means, do so. He is nothing short of amazing!Also, he knows how to take constructive criticism if any is offered. That's because he has developed the thick skin a professional writer needs to survive in this business.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Great article! In a way, many of the suicide bombers, though their actions are clearly despicable, are victims too. They are victims of exploitation and manipulation by those who "radicalise" them - people who coerce others into suicide to further their own political or religious goals, without risking death or harm themselves.Please log in to respond to this comment.You got my point. They were vulnerable and impressionable before they were brainwashed into doing a despicable deed. Syriana.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Excellent article, and very well stated. I do agree with buying in of the rhetoric and propoganda of suicide bombers, and I also agree they are victims of their own innocence (not the right word, but you know what I mean).Having said that, though, he will have to pay for his forced-idealism, just as others in his line of work pay for theirs. In his case, though, he will not have to explain his misdeeds to Allah (as all suicide bombers have to), he will just rot in a cell.Again, well done sir!Please log in to respond to this comment.Thanks for reading, Michael. If the guy doesn't pay for attempting mass murder, then something is wrong. With that said, the trick is in its prevention, somehow getting the emotionally vulnerable young men to not fall victim to violent ideology.Please log in to respond to this comment.
I liked your message Greg! You think with an open heart and mind.Please log in to respond to this comment.Kenny, did you delete your earlier reply to Mogama?- GPlease log in to respond to this comment.
Hello GregoryGreat article, well-written. I totally agree with you.Many BlessingsPlease log in to respond to this comment.
You know I had forgotten that I had already read this article Gregory until I saw my comment. Short comment though it was (you guys have gotten me to loosen up a lot since then). So now I would like to say that I am duly impressed with your take on things, it mirrors my own. Well said.BlessingsPlease log in to respond to this comment.What would be funny is if you had written a second comment to contradict your first. I've written second comments myself, but somehow I stay consistent. Wheww.Thanks Goshwin.Please log in to respond to this comment.LOL Gregory. Nope my first opinion same as second.BlessingsPlease log in to respond to this comment.
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