The thar [Arabic for Dire Revenge 'blood vengeance'] mentality can be said to include these features. They vary in degree from person to person and place to place but if we find all or most of them in a society we can justly apply the label thar.
Extreme importance of personal status and sensitivity to insult
Acceptance of personal revenge including retaliatory killing
Obsessive male dominance
Paranoia over female sexual infidelity
Primacy of family rights over individual rights
Nothing better illustrates the thar mentality better than the fury directed by Islamic militants against Danish and Norwegian cartoons of Mohammed.
Sacrilegious art in other cultures can offend and get people angry but the lunatic response of radical Islamists is in a class by itself. It's the shrieking, out of control petulance of a three-year old throwing a tantrum. People infected with this attitude will be utterly incapable of recognizing wrongdoing by their own society, utterly incapable of taking criticism or recognizing the need for correction.
This is remarkably close to the image of Hell painted by C. S. Lewis in his books Perelandra and The Screwtape Letters: a paralyzing self-absorption that imprisons the individual in hate and impotent rage while simultaneously blinding him to any possibility of escape.
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People infected with this attitude will be utterly incapable of recognizing wrongdoing by their own society, utterly incapable of taking criticism or recognizing the need for correction.
Not good for a long term future is it?
I read Wretchard's 'Fourth Conjecture' yesterday, along with all the comments. Interesting, and chilling. Unless these people get their act together - soon, they are looking at a world of hurt.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
12/29/2007 4:24 Comments ||
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Peters' symptoms of societal weakness carry some warnings for our own future. The rise of restrictive religion in America is sobering
I sigh and shake my head. This was a brilliant and highly informative piece. However this fool [not Peter's but Steven Dutch] failed to realize the role that Christianity has played in diminishing the Thar impulse in those who are not endowed with a sense of entitlement by their family or society. It is Christianity that taught the poor to read and to mute the human impulses that he so carefully categorized.
Restrictive religion is bad, yes. We all know that. Many Christians are flawed individuals. In fact all of them are. That is the absolute basis of the religion: we are, as humans are flawed individuals who need to reach within and restrict the Thar impulses he so carefully outlines.
Clearly, Christianity is not the only means to restrict these impulses and tend towards a better society. He notes other non-Christian societies such as Japan that have done so. But for him not to note the role that Christianity has played makes him look just silly.
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People who think the collapse of technological society would be a good thing because it would bring us closer to the earth and create closer-knit societies are in for a rude shock
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has put on notice the leaders of every European nation.
Your secularism, your democracy will not stand. The growing Muslim populations in your own lands that you have done so much to tolerate, protect and celebrate, will soon rise up against you. Sharia law shall become your law. The Caliph shall rule you.
It remains only for you to choose submission or assassination.
This bullet to the neck of democracy in Pakistan should cause a twinge in the carotid artery of each leader in France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Greece...name them all.
The assassin, strapped with bombs and carrying a firearm, stood amidst a cheering throng and took aim at the only major symbol of liberalism and democratic reform in the Islamic world. As the mortally-wounded woman slumped through the sunroof, the happy hunter detonated himself to send a clear message that no security cordon can protect those who rise to oppose jihad.
Cling, if you will, to your professors who drone on about the legitimate grievances of oppressed peoples who wish only to be left alone. Your cartridge clicks into the chamber.
Sing yourself to sleep each night with an ode to peaceful co-existence. The crosshairs find your throat.
Cup your hands over your ears to muffle the unthinkable warnings. The finger squeezes the trigger.
As you mount the rostrum to decry the slaying and call for calm in Pakistan, do you wonder whether your security detail could stop him?
As you send your condolences to the grieving widower, the shattered supporters and the tottering Pakistani president, himself a target of previous assassination attempts, do you have a strategy for negotiating with those who embrace murderous martyrdom?
Which will you choose -- submission or assassination?
Take your time deciding, but know this: The bullet hurtles onward.
Disclaimer: Scott Ott decided not to add a disclaimer to this column stating that he's an America-loving conservative Christian who deplores the jihad ideology, because he didn't want to soften the impact of these words.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2007 00:00 ||
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OTOH, consider WAFF.com inter-Poster debate point > HOW TO USE AN A380 AIRLINER,etc. TO [Air]DETONATE A NUCLEAR DEVICE OVER AN AMER CITY???
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France willing to aid Egypt nuke program
France would be prepared to help Egypt develop nuclear technology for its energy requirements, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted as saying Saturday.
The French president went on to say that it was "natural" for Egypt to draw up plans for building nuclear power plants due to the country's large energy needs.
#6
Heck, I'd be happy if Sark would help the USA develop our nuclear program!
Have we even graduated a "nuclear engineer" in the last 30 years?
The expertise will have to come from somewhere.
We have been too busy manufacturing "B school graduates" with a knack for developing schemes to lead money to people who can't afford to borrow.
Since 9/11, there has been hardly any jihadi terrorist strike anywhere in the world in which there was no Pakistani connection. Since 2002, there has been hardly any jihadi terrorist strike in Pakistani territory in which there was no connection of the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army. By GHQ, one does not mean the entire army. One means some elements in the GHQ.
The first wake-up call about the possible presence of one or more sleeper cells of Al Qaeda in Rawalpindi came in March, 2003, when Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM), who allegedly orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist strikes in the US, was found living in the house of a woman's wing office-bearer of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Rawalpindi. She had relatives in the army, including an officer of a Signal Regiment.
The second wake-up call came after the two attempts to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi in December,2003.The Pakistani authorities have not so far taken their public into confidence regarding the details of the two plots. All that they admitted was that four junior officers of the Army and six of the Air Force were allegedly involved. One of the army officers named Islamuddin was court-martialed and sentenced to death even before the investigation was complete. Another army officer named Havaldar Younis was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. Much to the discomfiture of the authorities, one of the Air Force officers, a civilian, who was being held in custody in an Air Force station, managed to escape.
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Posted by: john frum ||
12/29/2007 00:00 ||
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Right Under Their Nose B. Raman
Thanks, John I always put extra weight to any topic B. Raman emphasizes, Ima a bit tired and fading noding out... so will come back on this in the morrow....
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You know, it seems that whenever I read an article about Pakistan it makes as much sense as this quote from the article: "one of the Air Force officers, a civilian,"
Now is the problem me? the English as a second language skills of the author? or is that just the way Pakistan is? Inquiring minds want to know...
His lawyer says he is a civilian and should never have been tried in a military court. Pak officials said that he was a "uniformed junior rank officer".
Posted by: john frum ||
12/29/2007 16:45 Comments ||
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#4
Do they have Reserves (Civilian Soldiers) Like we do?
That could account for it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/29/2007 23:11 Comments ||
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