Source: Leslie Stahl, 60 Minutes segment, July 25, 2010 (repeat).
By invading Iraq, the West demonstrated that it is in fact in an undeclared War Against Islam, according to The Narrative now being used by the rulers with the resources to distort Religious commitments and hatreds.
The Stahl investigation ventilated the story of a great hero, Majid Nawaz. He has survived torture, listening to torture of others, prison, radicalization, mis-education, and religion itself. In prison, he discovered other "radicals" who had in fact discovered the layered hypocrisy of religious extremists. He has discovered the key factor for peace -- countering the Narrative. The would-be caliph of the world, Osama bin Laden, teaches that Believers must be taught that the West is making War against Islam.
The Narrative is built upon fiction, not facts. But truth is not the test of efficacy for an ideology to function as an incentive to die. The Nazis used a remarkably similar Narrative -- scapegoating unarmed and vulnerable groups to justify attacking them. The Narrative has already been shown to be effective. The fact that it is not supported by facts -- by the archeology, the things, the money, the stuff behind the torrent of words -- is its soft underbelly.
Often people cling to ignorance, shutting down facts. Yet, we remain so open and welcoming to the aspirations of Hate which are for the most part always built upon some great lie, a fiction parading as "history". How can people be ignorant of facts they witnessed? We SAW Saudi Islamicists attack defenseless people! Forgetting history, the Arabs are now attacking Jews and the West, and will be torn apart in turn by Turks and Persians, their historical rivals. All over the world, kind-hearted people are perceived as weak by the bombers and pillagers, the jihadists and investment bankers, and others who prey upon the righteous. The predator-hatemongers count on us to be the idiots they believe us to be. What are we doing to attack the soft underbelly of extremism? What are we doing to prove TO THEM, to those who want us dead, that their efforts are a futile vanity?
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