Know Thy Enemy

I had never been to a political website until after the Iraq war started. When I did, I was met with an unprovoked hostility and everything I said was met with derision and ridicule. It is disgraceful; all the things you have heard about a polarized society come through loud and clear on the Internet.

In all the time I spent, I only made acquaintance with a handful of people on the most offensive website I found, which was townhall.com, who would actually give me a chance and listen to what I had to say. As in recent difficulties I have experienced in real life, the only way to get these people's attention is to throw a big fit in the most outrageous way you know how. But, after ten years or so, some people start to listen. Do we have ten years?

You are supposed to know your enemy or you cannot know what kind of damage your enemy is capable of. Unfortunately, although I have gotten to know my “enemy” quite well, I don't think Americans have a very good understanding of the so-called "Islamo-fascist." Many are of the belief that they hate us because of our success, because of the air they breathe, or because they are locked into some sick kind of "death cult."

I do not believe that they are motivated entirely by a desire for religious purification. I believe they are reacting to a long and convoluted history, much of which has been unconsciously ignored by Americans due to patriotic or nationalistic indoctrination. An ancient history that cannot be sorted out, you can only take responsibility for your own history, and make amends for your own modern-day actions.

Where I come from, the heartland, there are many Christians who are good people, but maybe suffer from certain prejudices and stereotypes that were prevalent during their upbringing of which they are not entirely conscious. They are not so sophisticated; they don't even know this seething network of political/religious right-wing extremists on the Internet even exists.

No, they think the Republican Party, including Bush, is the down-to-earth, well-meaning, God-fearing, everyday common people like them. They go to work, they go to church, they try to take care of their families and deal with life’s ups and downs and they do not spend hours and hours and hours typing up compulsive, repetitive and utterly useless “debates” with themselves on the Web.

I believe the terrorism we have experienced is a culture clash and one that I don't see how or why could have made it to our shores without our interference. I think we went knocking on the door to an ancient culture where we are not wanted and where we never had any business.