The Mind of Jihad

This is a kind of rambling post…stream of consciousness with punctuation.

Obviously, I don’t think like a terrorist.  The idea that I’m willing to kill myself to punish people who don’t think like me seems somewhere on the other side of insanity.  But even when we set aside the religious fanaticism; I’m still baffled.

Why do they continue to try and blow up airplanes?

It seems to me that there are so many targets that would be significantly “softer” than international fights.  A mall at Christmas.  A St. Patrick’s Day parade.  A high school football game.  Granted, a terrorist still has to get into the country and build his explosive device, but if you want to instill terror in the greater population imagine what would happen if five or ten grocery stores blew up simultaneously.

And that brings me to my point.  You can’t fight a “war on terror” any more than you can fight a war on bullets.  Terror is a weapon not an enemy.  The real enemy is a culture of Islamic intolerance at war with the modern world and modern values.  We, in the West, are not the true targets of this war.  The true targets are the reform minded men and women in the Islamic world and the people they persuade.

I do believe military power needs to be a part of this conflict.  The Islamic fanatics will continue to prove their strength by causing pain to the modern world.  However, there needs to be pressure put on the “moderate” Muslim to condemn the fanatics.  There are more than 1.5 billion adherents to Islam.  Surely there are strong, charismatic members of the faith that can stand up against the idea of jihad.

As an atheist, there is a part of me that says, “See, this is what worshiping imaginary people gets you.”  But that isn’t very constructive.  Islam is at war with itself.  The 21st century versus the 10th.

America and the West need to stop thinking that we are the focus of this battle.  The Cobra Commander types of attacks against us are designed to inspire and recruit more fundamentalists, not destroy our way of life.  We need to be an ally to the modern Muslim world, such that it exists.

So after writing all that maybe I do think a little like a terrorist and I’m not so baffled by the continued attempts to hit the hard targets.

-Jay

Ummm, okay.

I’m not really sure what to say about this, but I’ll add two links.

Here is the Whole Comic (PDF)

Here's What Happens When Government Officials Have the Time to Write Comic Books

-Jay

New Year’s Resolutions

I’ll admit, I haven’t felt like blogging much the last few months.  September was a bad month for me professionally.  The company for whom I worked for 13 years was forced to close it’s doors and the search for a new career is not exactly bearing a lot of fruit.  But the New Year has given me an opportunity and the motivation develop positive habits.

Here is the list of resolutions in no particular order of importance:

• Be more healthy.
  Of course part of that is the very cliché desire to lose some extra weight (my sedentary lifestyle has become much more so since I’ve not been working), but I also want to eat better, exercise more and drink less for it’s own sake.
• Have more adventures with the family.
  My kids are 9 and 7.  They are old enough to participate in activities that will create life long memories.  So part of being more active means I want to be more active with the kids and my wife.  I’m thinking some hiking, canoeing and camping are on tap for this spring.  There aren’t many places here in south Alabama to hike (except tromping around in the woods), but the northern part of the state has some gorgeous mountains, canyons and falls.
• Read more books.
  This is simply a habit I’ve neglected.  I love to read and used to devour books.  I’m out of the loop when it comes to authors worth knowing so if you have any suggestions (fantasy, horror or political non-fiction) I’d love to hear them.
• Blog regularly.
  I think twice a week qualifies as regularly.  There are a couple of reasons I want to get back into this habit.  It forces me to stay engaged in the wider world and it sharpens my thinking about issues I care about.  It is so easy to become insulated when you are out of work.
  And speaking of work…
• Get a job!
  Okay, this isn’t exactly a New Year’s resolution but it is important.

I’ll revisit this post in a few months and write an update about how I’m doing.

-Jay