Monday, March 03, 2008

MAYBE IN THE FUTURE THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT?

Andrew McCarthy writes on the cognitive dissonance that exists in dealing with terrorism and terrorists:
After nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered in the atrocities of September 11, 2001, President Bush boldly announced that the United States would not distinguish between terror networks and the regimes that support them. They would all be regarded as hostile and dealt with accordingly.

What a sad commentary it is that, less than seven years later, we are left to wonder whether our State Department will stand with the American victims of terror or join forces with the other side: a regime with a long, remorseless record of practicing terrorism, preaching terrorism, and murdering Americans.


McCarthy is, of course, talking about that jolly murdering band of terrorists we have come to know and love as Fatah--one of two terrorist camps competing with each other for dominance over Palestinian heart and minds. The State Department of the Bush Administration seems to think that Fatah is a 'better peace partner' than Hamas:
Despite the relentless practice of Palestinian terror, and despite the president’s post-9/11 admonition, the Bush administration has foolishly supported Fatah with millions of dollars in financial assistance and weaponry. Indeed, when Hamas captured Gaza, it reportedly seized a trove of American assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers, ammunition and armored personnel carriers from Fatah compounds.

The State Department, which champions lavish U.S. support for Abbas, rationalizes that Fatah is a force for “moderation.” Yet, at a 2007 celebration to honor Arafat’s memory, Abbas urged a throng of 50,000 Palestinians to re-aim their guns at the “occupation” (i.e., Israel) instead of turning them on each other: “Fatah,” he promised, “will not give up our principles and we have said that rifles should be directed against the occupation.... We have a legitimate right to direct our guns against Israeli occupation....”

And just last week, Abbas revealed that his current feint at negotiations with Israel is — like his mentor Arafat’s similar tactics — a strategic pause at best. He explained to a Jordanian newspaper that he was not pursuing “the armed struggle” at “this present juncture” only “because we can’t succeed in it.” He was quick to add, though, that “maybe in the future things will be different.”


Uh huh. Right.

The Paleostinians repeatedly attack Israeli civilians then get the international community all worked up when Israel retaliates. Their cowardly 'militants' hide among women and children, then get the international community all worked up when women and children are killed when the Israelis attack them.

But, as Siggy notes, there is no such thing as a disproportionate response when the Palestinians call is--and always has been- for genocide against the Jews. Calls to genocide; calls to "slaughter the Jews" are already disproportionate and require a proportionate response.

The World Bank has accused Israel of destroying the Palestinian economy. You will have to read the article to believe it. Of particular note is the World Bank's acting Director's comments:
“The pillars of Gaza’s economy have weakened over the years. Now, with a sustained closure on this current scale, they would be at risk of virtually irreversible collapse,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, the acting director for the World Bank in the Palestinian Authority territories.

Hadad-Zervos told participants at a closed-door meeting of private-sector organizations and aid groups that “A solution must be reached very soon, if not immediately…Otherwise, Gaza’s dependence on humanitarian assistance could become a long-term and comprehensive situation.” (emphasis mine)

Too late, I'm afraid. It has already lasted for half a century, and it couldn't get more culturally and societally "comprehensive" than it already is. The Palestinian "economy" has been based for decades on the creation and export of two fundamental products: (1) terrorism and (2) victimhood. Far from "creating the conditions for an 'irreversible' economic collapse in Hamas-controlled Gaza, the Israelis have made a herculean effort to assist the Palestinians over the years, particularly to support the development of a Palestinian middle-class.

Sadly, they have been thwarted in those efforts by the two precious Palestinian commodities that have been marketed for decades by the dysfunctional Palestinian leaders.

These leaders manipulate Palestinian "victimhood at the hands of Israeli oppression" so convincingly and with such great gusto, that they have conned the international community into believing that Palestinians have absolutely no responsibility whatsoever for the garbage dump their society has evolved into. The poor, oppressed suicide bombers of Palestine have become the "opiate" of the leftist masses.

In a series of posts about Palestinian psychopathology, Siggy has this to say:

The Palestinians, as a group and as a society, have failed. Unlike other Arabs in the region, they live in close proximity to a vibrant and free society. They know and see the benefits of what living in a free society means. They also know to acknowledge Israel’s successes, they have to acknowledge their own failures. Culturally, that is too high a price to pay.

The cycle of violence is not simply destined to perpetuate itself- the cycle of violence is reinforced and ever escalating. Dysfunctional behaviors that were unknown or unheard before have become commonplace.The self destructive behavior of the Palestinians comes about as the result of the integration of exaggerated love and exaggerated hate into a fused single exaggerated emotion. What distinguishes the two becomes no more than a blurred idea. Thus, violence directed at each other is a appropriate as violence directed at the Israelis.

This kind diseased thinking is not just about violence. Even the wildest conspiracy theories, widely welcomed and accepted, become a reflection of a dysfunctional defense mechanism and absurdity. As Arab religious and political leaders whip crowds into a wild frenzy, warning of ‘Jewish plots’ to control the world, these same religious and political leaders have no trouble promising that ‘Muslims all over the world will work together to control the world’ and that the ‘flag of Islam will fly over the White House’ and the British Parliament. Those who resist will be destroyed.

These kinds of projections are used by religious and political leaders to control and feed the fantasy with the intoxication of absolute power....

There is a difference between backward societies and failed ones. Backward societies are unaware of the possibilities in front of them. Failed societies have squandered the opportunities that have been afforded them.

In the escalating and seemingly endless psychopathology of the Palestinians you can begin to see and understand the core premises and abnormal psychology that fuels the terrorist/jihadist vision, which is based on a hatred so consuming, it has not only destoyed the very soul of the Palestinian people, but it threatens to envelop the entire world with its madness.

For every professional victim, there are hordes of victimhood pimps urging them on to even greater heights of victimhood in order for the pimps to bask in a glow of moral righteousness and virtue. You can see this in the adoption of the Palestinians as "global chic" by the morally bankrupt and mindless intellectual elite of the left, as they glorify and worship Palestinian dysfunction and pathology.

The reason why the critics of Israel always seem to ignore Palestinian atrocities and give them a free pass on having any responsibility for the lack of any progress or civilized behavior in their present-day culture is clear. I wrote in that earlier piece:


The West for the most part has the attitude that somehow, allowing the Palestinians to suffer the consequences of their choices and behavior would be "punishing them". A typical proponent of this attitude, for example, is former President Carter, who has consistently and regularly advocates that Israel's actions should be punished, but that the Palestinians must be given a free pass by civilization.

Carter blithely discusses the "devastating consequences" of Israel or American actions, but I have yet to see him--or any others who put forth the same compassionate view-- grapple with the "devastating consequences" of the Hamas charter. Or of suicide bombers. Or of the intent, stated repeatedly by the leaders of the Palestinians and sanctioned by the Palestinian people who voted to elect Hamas, to destroy Israel.

Carter and the other terrorist enablers of the West ignore Palestinian behavior with the cultivated cognitive dissonance of today's postmodern left. The obsession of the West with the eternal victimhood cult of the Palestininas has been the single biggest psychological impediment toward peace in that region.

Why should the Palestinians' behavior ever change? What could possibly motivate them to be civilized? Or deal honestly with Israel? They have every reason to believe that the Carters of the world will always let them off the hook--and bail them out--no matter what they do or how badly they behave.

When it comes to seeking peace; or establishing a civil and productive society the Palestinians have shown themselves to be completely hopeless and only focused on war.

In fact, they are so committed to war; so determined to continue on their path homicidal violence for violence' sake, that they are indoctrinating the next generation into the cult of death (and they don't even need Mickey Mouse to do it).

Western leaders are amazingly slow learners. They have been excusing the Palestinians and vilifying Israel for decades now, and yet they wonder why peace is so elusive in that part of the world.

The Palestinian Con is one of the greatest deceptions in the history of the world.

And the Western world, which is the actual victim of the con seems bent on never calling these flim-flam artist to account for undermining every peace process; breaking every truce; squandering every chance; and worshipping death. It is truly amazing how the West, instead of understanding the con, are willing accessories to it and instead view the con artist as the victim and constantly act to protect and defend him. What would you say to a victimized senior citizen who delusionally protects the perpetrators of a scam who have robbed him of all his savings? You would rightfully think he is out of his mind and feel pity at how the ravages of age have compromised his cognitive functioning.

So, why is the international community always sucked into this dysfunctional psychodrama?


If you have any doubts about the power and sanctity that can be yours if victimhood status can be officially confered upon you; or of the endless moral benefits of being "oppressed"; just consider the central Palestinian role in the quasi-religious cult of victimhood that is part of today's pervasive leftist dogma.

In the holy book of leftist belief, "victimhood" is the most celebrated quality deserving of attention and pity. This is in part because many on the political left have a pathologically narcissistic need to see themselves as "champions of the oppressed", hence the constant need to find and maintain an oppressed class of people to champion. The Palestinians fit the bill for the left.


But their con job is not as effective as it once was. It has been observed and well-documented (and here)that whenever the flow of international aid is halted to these barbarians, the terror magically stops. Give them money for food and infrastructure, and instead they buy guns and bombs.

With every invitation to rejoin the civilized world that has been offered up to them; with every sign of compassion and caring from the international community, the Palestinians instead chose cultural suicide and prefer death and destruction. They would much rather kill Jews than work to create a life for their children.

In fact, they'd rather their children kill Jews, too.

Palestinian pretensions to virtue and culture have been fully exposed as a fraud. Even their most famous con has been exposed for the shameless lie that it is. The death-worshipping cult of hatred they "elected" to govern themselves only pulls them deeper into the gutter of pathos and decay, and the "moderate" Abbas is only marginally different.

Living in a fantasy world where everything is the fault of the Jews, they have hopelessly degenerated into self-delusion, denial and paranoia and have chosen to embrace hate and violence rather than making a better life either for themselves or their children. They are more concerned with avoiding shame rather than behaving honorably.

One of the most important expressions of a shame culture (as well as shame-avoidant and grandiose persons in general) is the rampant psychological projection and refusal to accept responsibility for any inappropriate behavior--up to and including the most disgusting of atrocities. It is always someone else's fault (for the Palestinians, it is always the Israelis/Jews).

In this way the shame-avoidant culture of the Palestinians continues to act irresponsibly and even flaunts its grandiose entitlement. They perceive nothing wrong with their barbaric and malignant behavior and are encouraged in their delusional beliefs by their fellow Arabs and Muslims and the intellectual elites of the left.

Unable to create the institutions necessary for a civilized society--despite the billions of dollars in aid from the rest of the world-- they are simply too preoccupied with their unbridled envy and loathing of their more successful cousins, the Jews to be able to move forward. In their perverted world, it is shameful if you do not desire to murder Jews and do not want your children to blow themselves up; but not at all shameful to be a member of an ignorant, medieval death-cult.

Just as alcoholics are addicted to ethanol, the Palestinians are addicted to their Jew-hatred and will not miss any opportunity to overindulge. Their intoxication has been continuous for over half a century now. If they did abstain--even for a moment--delirium engulfs them and they focus their obsessive lethal destructiveness on each other.

The psychologically inebriated members of Hamas actually believe that they can continue to mouth the same old pathetic and stale shibboleths that have sunk the region into a bottomless quagmire of sadistic violence and death.

“We will never recognize Israel. There is nothing called Israel, neither in reality nor in the imagination.”

And then, with a practiced histrionic flair, they extend their hands demanding more money for their obsession; more encouragement, and more admiration from that the rest of the world; sure in their limitless narcissism that they will be treated kindly and with all the due deference they feel they deserve.

But the West has had enough. Some nations are finally waking up to the fact that unless something different is done on the international level, we will simply have another half century of Palestinian dysfunction.

Unless we demand that THEY change their behavior, the future will not be any different than the past 50 years have been. "Maybe in the future things will be different"? Don't count on it.



UPDATE: And, if it is cognitive dissonance to give either camp of these thugs money with which they can buy (and do)weapons; it is absolute madness to give them guns.

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