Cause and Effect Essay - The Causes of Terror :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The Causes of Terror    There are (at least) three kinds of causes of radical Islamic terrorism:    i. Worldview: The Religious Rationale ii. Social and Political Conditions: Cultures of Despair iii. Means: The Enabling Conditions    The Bush administration has discussed only the third: The means that enable attacks to be carried out. These include: leadership (e.g., bin Laden), host countries, training facilities and bases, financial backing, cell organization, information networks, and so on. These do not include the first and second on the list.    i. Worldview: Religious Rationale    The question that keeps being asked in the media is, "Why do they hate us so much?" It is important at the outset to separate out moderate to liberal Islam from radical Islamic fundamentalists, who do not represent most Muslims.    Radical Islamic fundamentalists hate our culture. They have a worldview that is incompatible with the way that Americans-and other westerners-live their lives. One part of this world view concerns women, who are to hide their bodies, have no right to property, and so on. Western sexuality, mores, music, and women's equality all violate their values, and the worldwide ubiquity of American cultural products, like movies and music, offends them. A second part concerns theocracy: they believe that governments should be run according to strict Islamic law by clerics. A third concerns holy sites, like those in Jerusalem, which they believe should be under Islamic political and military control. A fourth concerns the commercial and military incursions by Westerners on Islamic soil, which they liken to the invasion of the hated crusaders. The way they see it, our culture spits in the face of theirs. A fifth concerns jihad-a holy war to protect and defend the faith. A sixth is the idea of a m artyr, a man willing to sacrifice himself for the cause. His reward is eternal glory-an eternity in heaven surrounded by willing young virgins. In some cases, there is a promise that his family will be taken care of by the community.    ii. Social and Political Conditions: Cultures of Despair Most Islamic would-be martyrs not only share these beliefs but have also grown up in a culture of despair: they have nothing to lose. Eliminate such poverty and you eliminate the breeding ground for terrorists. When the Bush administration speaks of eliminating terror, it does not appear to be talking about eliminating cultures of despair and the social conditions that lead one to want to give up one's life to martyrdom.