The Wrong Side of History: A Short Ramble on ISIS
I find the recent events involving ISIS quite troubling.
They represent a kind of marriage of ignorance and hate that is so antiquated that modern diplomacy has not sway, no meaning.
It forces us to respond in ways which only seek to aid ISIS in achieving their goals. And I find this deeply disturbing.
I understand they are a group of highly ignorant, highly brainwashed, zealots who believe they are on a mission to rid the world of impurity, and that one of the only reasons they inflict violence is because they simply don't know that violence isn't a sustainable lifestyle choice.
In fact, I can guarantee you that not a single member of ISIS has ever read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. They should.
ISIS fights a gorilla style campaign, but this will not last. Eventually they will run out of resources or else people to kill. But they will never achieve victory because they will never be able to wipe out all the impurity in the world without first killing themselves for being the most impure thing.
Every murderer, no matter how uneducated, no matter how brainwashed, can never wash their hands of the blood they have spilled. They will be forever impure, and so they have failed to achieve their goals before they even began.
The best thing all the members of ISIS could do is kill themselves.
But zealotry leads them to believe their cause is worthy, but more importantly, immediately achievable.
At the end of the day they really do think violence will allow them to achieve all their goals.
And it may. For a time.
People will die.
People will suffer.
And this is the price we all pay for for not learning from the past. For being on the wrong side of history. For choosing to let others remain ignorant in light of a better understanding because it is their "religious right."
And still...
People die.
People suffer.
All because another group of people pay homage to their great Lord, not God mind you, but the Lord of Ignorance.
But ISIS isn't the only one who needs a lesson from Sun Tzu.
We all could use the lesson.
Indirect methods.
They represent a kind of marriage of ignorance and hate that is so antiquated that modern diplomacy has not sway, no meaning.
It forces us to respond in ways which only seek to aid ISIS in achieving their goals. And I find this deeply disturbing.
I understand they are a group of highly ignorant, highly brainwashed, zealots who believe they are on a mission to rid the world of impurity, and that one of the only reasons they inflict violence is because they simply don't know that violence isn't a sustainable lifestyle choice.
In fact, I can guarantee you that not a single member of ISIS has ever read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. They should.
"There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare."
ISIS fights a gorilla style campaign, but this will not last. Eventually they will run out of resources or else people to kill. But they will never achieve victory because they will never be able to wipe out all the impurity in the world without first killing themselves for being the most impure thing.
Every murderer, no matter how uneducated, no matter how brainwashed, can never wash their hands of the blood they have spilled. They will be forever impure, and so they have failed to achieve their goals before they even began.
The best thing all the members of ISIS could do is kill themselves.
But zealotry leads them to believe their cause is worthy, but more importantly, immediately achievable.
At the end of the day they really do think violence will allow them to achieve all their goals.
And it may. For a time.
People will die.
People will suffer.
And this is the price we all pay for for not learning from the past. For being on the wrong side of history. For choosing to let others remain ignorant in light of a better understanding because it is their "religious right."
And still...
People die.
People suffer.
All because another group of people pay homage to their great Lord, not God mind you, but the Lord of Ignorance.
But ISIS isn't the only one who needs a lesson from Sun Tzu.
We all could use the lesson.
"In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory"
Indirect methods.
So far, ISIS has been fighting using direct, albeit barbaric and antiquated, methods. And to my dismay we have either been answering in kind or not at all.
I am not a soldier. Nor am I a trained tactician. But I do play a mean game of RISK.
The answer to defeat ISIS may be something simple, it may be something unusual that some think-tank thinks up. It may simply be supplying the Kurdish resistance better so that they can wipe out ISIS for us.
But throwing stones at each other, or bullets for that matter, simply doesn't seem to be working.
We need to find a new way.
A better way of dealing with violent, ignorant, thugs who worship Ignorance and idolize Death.
That's all I have to say on the subject of ISIS.
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