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Lies of the Mind–Part Two: Beating Enemies into Submission
- January 27th, 2009Lies of the Mind are Universal
Lies of the mind are universal. When a group shares a thinking error it becomes part of the national narrative and is often unchallenged. People who engage in behaviors that support the lie believe they are good, upstanding citizens. Only when the thinking and its behaviors, is repeatedly questioned, does the house of cards collapse.
Heyday of Bombing in WW II
The idea that one could wipe out one’s enemies probably started in World War II with the heavy bombing of German cities and the use of the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The unbelievable destructiveness of this bombing resulted in the unconditional surrender of both Germany and Japan.
Bombing Ineffective in Vietnam
Heavy bombing has been the common part of all wars fought since but it was unsuccessful in Vietnam. There the U.S. met an enemy that could not be beaten into submission. The Viet Cong had the support of the people. This made all the difference and the U.S. was forced to leave in defeat. The Russians had a similar negative experience in Afghanistan.
The persistence of the illusion that enemies can be bombed into submission, is astonishing and it has been used again in the attempt to defeat terrorism by the Bush administration in Iraq and in Afghanistan. It has been copied by the Israelis, with particularly gruesome results, in Lebanon and now in Gaza. I will focus on the Israeli experience as that conflict is so tenacious.
Aggressive Bombing Adopted For Fighting I-P Conflict
The Israeli narrative states that Israel is fighting for its existence and thus any action they need to take to feel safe is valid. The wishes and needs of innocent people killed and maimed while hunting down suspected terrorists are immaterial. They are guilty for simply being nearby; their lives are forfeit. Their lives simply don’t have as much value as the lsraeli lives threatened by the incoming rockets sent by the Hamas or Hezbollah terrorists. It is not hard to miss the underlying racism in this thinking.
While Israel acts like a powerful aggressor, it fails to act like a good neighbor. When you act in terrifying ways that hurt and kill both the innocent and guilty, why would people want to guarantee your right to exist? If you have an old history that has never been resolved of taking their lands, bull-dozing their homes, limiting their freedom, and keeping them in starvation and poverty, they will never love you, no matter how good your reasons. Were the tables turned, you would do the same.
Challenge to Israelis and Palestinians is Not to Be Violent
The real challenge for Israel is psychological-to restrain itself from acts of violence and to offer kindness and compassion when it is overwhelmed with fear. This is a very tall order. Israelis are called to imagine themselves into the experience of those who are their enemies. This is a new skill which few have mastered.
And the Palestinians? They have not been saints in this endless violent saga and have much to atone for. Their job is to end their own violence and build a positive future for themselves. Israel cannot be vanquished through violence-ever. And the Palestinians will never be bombed into submission. The more they are hurt the more they will support Hamas. Above all, both Israelis and Palestinians must learn to listen to each other and to talk, instead of instantly resorting to violence when they are frightened or angry. The rest of the world needs to learn this lesson as well!
Freedom and Joy Will Come When the Lie is Seen
When this lie of the mind is illuminated by people on both sides, the scales will drop from the eyes and there will be dancing in the streets all over Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Tears of joy will flow. All the unnecessary slaughter will end and at long last and peace will come. It cannot come too soon.
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January 27th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Great article! I agree, the problem lies with our blind acceptance of cult-ural ideas. The idea that bombing is inevitable and that it solves problems isn’t productive. I wish our diplomats would focus on showing other countries how we truly love them instead of playing the old disrespectful arm twisting game. The idea that we need to use force is outdated. Ultimately we humans are one family with a shared history. Let’s not expose our children to stories that divide us.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I’m reading How to Break a Terrorist, and it’s a great window into the problems of “fear and control” tactics vs. rapport, sympathy and knowledge of human nature.
What’s sad to me is how often people get into violence, or peripherally violent mindsets (call it the “violence support and justification network”) as a result of emotional trauma, perhaps a part of their mind knowing it’s not going to work, but with no other apparent choices. An example from the book is an imam who got involved with Al Qaeda after a Shiite militia threatened his family and took over his mosque. The interrogator could tell he had doubts, especially when the subject of his children were brought up. He wanted his kids to live in peace, but believed that the only option for survival was to help Al Qaeda trigger a wider civil war so that Sunnis would come together and defend the world that was falling down around him. At one point he said, “I would be proud to see my son die as a martyr” and one of the interrogators called him on it, realizing it was a front. Reading the interrogation transcript, I saw someone whose emotional state had led him to do what felt powerful as an antidote to the most horrific kind of powerlessness, leaving logic and long-term considerations behind. He was tortured by the dichotomy between his previous life as a respected leader of a peaceful community and his current life as part of a murderous organization. He knew he was a good person, deep down. But if what he had done was wrong, then he was an accessory to murder, at the very least. How does anyone reconcile those opposites within himself, in a world that offers no forgiveness for those who fall into such a trap?
It’s very similar to the trap young people fall into when they accept the protection of the gang on their home turf in order to defend against invasion by other gangs. They end up in prison or dead, and the world doesn’t know the anguish they’ve been through, doesn’t want to know, and that impedes learning on their part, and ours.