Power v. Economics [was: Tangent: Koran Quotes]

From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Oct 16 2002 - 08:48:50 MDT


On Tue, 15 Oct 2002 Dehede011@aol.com wrote:

> [snip] There does seem to be a rather large number of
> radicals out there that don't mean us any good.

Ok, fine. The question then arises as to *why* that is the case?

Is there a fundamental human character trait that makes one wake
up in the morning and go out into the world and promote "hatred"
(as in "prejudiced hostility or animosity" [Merriam-Webster])?

> Nor can I find that the radicals hate us for any wrong we have
> done them. However they do seem to use real or imagined wrongs
> as a means of whipping up the moderates.

Ah-ha (maybe) -- on this basis the "radicals" are promoting "animosity"
to generate a larger power base (presumably). But is the larger power
base organized to preserve a historical world view (i.e. Muslims must
defeat Christians or Jews), or is it organized to uplift an underclass
(i.e. impoverished Arabic individuals)?

It would appear (to me) that there are multiple paths for "uplifting"
(as in improving economic conditions). Why is there a focus by people
(from say the Palestinians to the Tamil [I could add *lots* of other
"tribes" here]) on eliminating the "opposition" instead of finding
those paths?

Does the problem lie in the quest for power by the leaders instead of
the seeking of economic uplifting for the masses?

I'll make a side note that Osama Bin Laden and Al-Queda seem to be
dedicated to tearing things apart. That seems to me to be an
unextropic position unless a greater vision is proposed in place
of what already exists (even then it seems desirable to propose
an extropic means of taking what previously exists apart).
I'm unaware of such a proposal.

The "real" question I may be asking here is whether the so called
"leaders" of disenfranchised groups have a legitimate claim for
improving their situation (i.e. they have a "plan") or whether
they are individuals operating primarily for their own self-advantage?

Robert



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