Hey This Makes Sense, Islam Extremists and Terrorism

So I just finished reading a book called “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. I have had a bookmark in it for two years but have just recently actually been reading it. For those who are not familiar with the book, the claim that the world is flat has little to do with physical shape of the earth, but with how technology and free-trade have enabled various peoples to play on a level playing ground.

Anyways toward of the book the author acknowledging that the world is not totally “flat”. That there are parts of the world that are somewhat disconnected and are “un-flat”. One of these is within the Islamic-Arab nations. I have never understood exactly why there are Muslim terrorists, and I suppose it had always caused some confusion. Why would these people what to cause terror? I had heard that they did not agree with our lifestyle and this was their way to fight against it. At the same time there are a lot of people whom I come in disagreement with their lifestyle, and my last thought would be it causes them to experience terror as an alternative. Why is it that the radical extremists of Islam would actually go against the charitable, loving aspects of their religion to terrorize others?

Thomas Friedman explains that it is because of a “cognitive dissonance” that takes place. I guess a cognitive dissonance is what happens when someone holds to two contradictory views. In my world religions class I was taught that many Muslims believe that Islam is the correct and best way of life and that following it correctly will lead to not only to spiritual well-being but also temporal prosperity. I understand they believe that Islam is the way this should be done and that eventually everyone will follow Islamic principles. The contradiction comes into play when young Muslims visit western culture and see prosperity and contrasts that to the poverty of those whom they just came from.

Mr. Friedman writes of Arab-Muslim young people:

“They have been raised to believe that Islam is the most Perfect and complete expression of God’s Monotheistic message and that the Prophet Muhammad is God’s last and most perfect messenger. This is not a criticism. This is Islam’s self identity. Yet in a flat world, these youth, particularly those living in Europe, can and do look around and see that the Arab-Muslim world, in too many cases, has fallen behind the rest of the planet. It is not living as prosperously or democratically as other civilizations. How can that be? These young Arabs and Muslims must ask themselves. If we have the superior faith, and if our faith is all encompassing of religion, politics, and economics, why are others living so much better”?

He continued: “Indeed, talk to Arabs and Muslims anywhere, and this cognitive dissonance and the word ‘humiliation’ always comes up very quickly in conversation…It has always been my view that terrorism is not spawned by the poverty of money. It is spawned by the poverty of dignity. Humiliation is the most underestimated force in international relations and human relations. It is when people or nations are humiliated that they really lash out and engage in extreme violence. When you take the economic and political backwardness of much of the Arab Muslim world today, add its past grandeur and self-image of religious superiority and combine it with discrimination and alienation these Arab-Muslim males face when they leave home and move to Europe, or when they grow up in Europe, you have one powerful cocktail of rage.”

Obviously nobody knows what exactly makes terrorists do what they do, but this is an explanation that at least made sense to me. Who knows if it is correct.

A Better Way

When I got my personality it included a desire to analyze everything. My mom has told of how when I was younger I would sit and play with a single toy for hours on end. I am sure the time I spent seemed much longer around my older brother who at the time never sat still. This analytical perspective of mine translated in a less pleasant way later in my life. I have often analyzed the imperfect details of someone’s actions or words only to lose sight of the broader picture. This has in past lead to prolonged arguments that did not produce the desired results of any participant.

As time has passed I have found a much more effective way to come to conclusions includes paying attention more to the other persons motives and desires than what they are actually saying. I often see conflicts arise around me where all parties are making arguments that really just distract from the issue. I recently read of one example of this.

With the advent of Napster, and the following of many other file sharing applications, budget conscious music listeners turned to this new alternative to get music. The only problem was that those who where sharing their music had not been given permission to do so by the intellectual property owners. Naturally many of those property owners went to the courts to penalize those sharing the content. This turned into a publicity nightmare for the music industry with stories spreading such as that of a young girl who had made her music available on her computer and was fined millions of dollars. Even with the many legal battles that sought to make example a handful of those sharing their files there was little affect on the illegal distribution of music.

Moving forward a few years we have the New York Times reporting the trend finally reversing and the reason has little to do with legalities:

In June, two British research agencies, MusicAlly and The Leading Question, generated a wave of headlines in the tech press after reporting that the percentage of 14- to 18-year-olds using file-sharing services at least once a month dropped to 26 percent in January 2009 from 42 percent in December 2007.

Similarly, a survey by the NPD Group in the United States this spring found that teenagers aged 13 to 17 illegally downloaded 6 percent fewer tracks in 2008 than in 2007, while more than half said they were now listening to legal online radio services like Pandora, up from 34 percent the year before.

The reason is that now there are alternatives that meet what the consumers wanted in the first place. We now have ad supported online music services like Pandora and slacker radio that let you tell them exactly what you do and do not want to hear. These services often provide what people want better than the download networks and they are legal.

What the music companies were hearing before from downloader’s was “I am taking your music, because I can” but if they would have listened a little more carefully they would have heard “I want to get music quick and free over the internet and I really don’t mind ads on web pages if that is what it takes.” My point here is that the music industry could have simply listened to what the consumers actual desires were and come to a solution in a much less painful way.

This is similar to what I eventually realized as a missionary about what some people were saying to me. We would often me dismissed for reasons that defied all sensible thinking. After some experience I found what they actually were saying was often “I have gone to the same church my entire life, I may not agree with everything that goes on there but all of my family and friends go there and that is all I care about.” This certainly elicited a different response on my behalf.

I want to be a waiter

So I can’t sleep, I need to sleep because I have to wake up in 5.5 hours, but my body just does not seem to get that. As a result I am going to write a blog post instead of lying in bed wishing my roommates would stop singing in the living room (oh yes my roommates do sing, they are actually generally good at it, they just need to do it during the day).

So I think being a waiter would be a blast. Like the type that bring you drinks and food at a restaurant. It would be fun to manage a few tables and make sure everyone is happy. I think I would get very good at reading people for how much I should interact with them. I would love to keep straight all the meals. It would be exciting to deal with the problems that arise from messed up orders. Having a lot of things to coordinate just sounds so fun to me.

Now I am torn because while that sounds so fun to be it does not really fit in with what I want to do with my life. My plans consist of school and internships. I sort of feel like any time not spent doing those things is simply delaying the start of my career, and thus delaying a major increase in earning capacity. For example the only scenario in which I see a chance in me getting to be a waiter is if I were to get an internship where my parents live that only allows me to work 40 hours a week. I could see myself working during the day as an engineering intern and then waiting tables at night. Here's the problems with this plan. Instead of being a waiter I could take online classes and be that much closer to graduating (closer to that whole career thing I was talking about). Also working 60 hours a week would likely negate part of the purpose of getting an internship near home, which would be to spend time with my little brothers (not so little anymore) that I have not seen much in the last few years.

So it just does not seem like being a waiter will ever really fit into my plans. I am just too practical and focused. Maybe the economy will get even worse I won’t be able to get a job as an engineer, a waiter or even the other job that sounds really fun to me, being a salesman at bestbuy . I suppose I should simply be grateful for the opportunities I do receive.

Oh did I mention I think I would be a good waiter?