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Islamic Fundamentalism versus the West: The Battle of Weaknesses
GrassTopsUSA Exclusive Commentary
By Gennady Stolyarov II
10-09-07 

Gone are the days of massive conflicts where each side’s strengths were the decisive factors. In today’s major cultural clash -- that between the West and the Islamic fundamentalists -- each side’s primary assets are the weaknesses of the other side. The only reason why Western civilization still stands is the extensive array of crucial weaknesses exhibited by the terrorists and the states that support them. The only way in which the Islamists can defeat the West is by exploiting a series of weaknesses in contemporary Western society.

Indeed, the Islamists are far from unstoppable. Compared to the size of any Western army, their numbers are pathetically few. Their technology is obsolete and unreliable, and they lack the economic infrastructure and the scientific tradition necessary to make substantial progress in this field. Western military tactics and strategy -- aided by some of the world’s most brilliant minds and best equipment -- has the potential to decisively crush the terrorists in any encounter if properly applied. Most of the Islamists remain mired in a 7th-century worldview that is scarcely suited for understanding the dynamics of the modern world; many of them are barely literate and acquainted with little, other than the Koran -- maybe -- and their plans of destruction mainly succeeds only where Westerners neglect to monitor and preempt them. Indeed, recent successful actions against Islamists -- including the foiling of the Fort Dix bombing plot in New Jersey -- demonstrate how easy it is to defeat a terrorist cell just by mildly infiltrating it with informants.

The tactics used by the Islamic fundamentalists demonstrate their desperation rather than their resolve. Incessant suicide attacks are a sign that the Islamists have no real weapons left besides the actual human beings enlisted in their cause -- and even this supply is dwindling. The terrorists today are in a similar position to Imperial Japan during the last days of World War II -- and they use last-ditch measures akin to the kamikaze bombers that crashed into U. S. aircraft carriers.

Why, then, has the terrorist threat not yet been eliminated? The West, too, is plagued by an array of critical weaknesses which are more destructive than any damage that the Islamists can directly inflict. The complex of weaknesses imperiling the West can be concisely identified as the Left.

The Left is a network of intellectuals, politicians, activists, “mainstream media” journalists, and well-funded special interest groups that share a deep hatred of the capitalist system and the decentralized, autonomous individual decision-making that characterizes a free economy. The Left favors centralized direction not only of economic life, but of all social life -- from the cradle to the grave -- and seeks to obtain such control by means of indoctrination in public schools, nationalization of health care, government control over people’s retirement, draconian environmental laws, severe regulations of consumer products, and -- most importantly -- restriction of the technological progress crucial for liberating the majority of people from the drudgery that characterized life in most times and places in history.

The Left is essentially a reaction against the Industrial Revolution and the ideas of liberty and individual rights -- uniquely Western concepts that emerged during the 18th and 19th centuries. By disparaging these Western accomplishments, the leftists seek to turn back the clock to a time they view as an idyllic rustic paradise -- a time when humans were “one with nature” and did not “despoil the Earth.” The ideal of the Left is Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “noble savage” writ large. But such a time never existed. Before the Industrial Revolution, there was only mass death and universal plunder, oppression, and stagnation. This is still the case in much of the Islamic world today.

It would be obvious that such ideologues would oppose any suggestion that Western civilization might have in some ways outperformed all other cultures in terms of the quality of life, scientific discovery, technological progress, esthetic innovation, and social and political institutions. None of these are merits in the eyes of the leftists. The Left directly opposes decisive Western actions against external elements that threaten the survival of Western institutions -- hence the vehement denunciation by leftists today of the Iraq War in particular and of military action against terrorists in general. Many leftists seek to convince Americans that somehow they, not the terrorists, bear the blame for the September 11th attacks and other atrocities.

But the decisive blow that the Left can deal to Western civilization does not come in the form of direct opposition to anti-terrorist measures. Indeed, the environmentalists and the government healthcare advocates aid the Islamists to a far greater extent than a mere antiwar activist can. By crippling the economic infrastructure of the West, by continually restricting the scope of individual liberty and initiative, the leftists use their vast resources to effectively and systematically accomplish precisely what the Islamists want but do not have the means to bring about.

The September 11th attack, however tragic, shocking, and destructive, did not make a dent in the United States’ economic growth and prosperity. The kinds of regulations and restrictions advocated by the Left, however, have the power to bring entire societies to a grinding halt -- as evidenced by the virtually non-existent growth in many of the more heavily “socialized” European countries where the Left has a much firmer foothold than in the U. S. An economically vibrant and free society can easily recover from terrorist attacks and has the wherewithal to fight back. If the terrorists attack a stagnant society, however, the damage is likely to persist.

So who is weaker -- the West or the Islamists? Only time can tell. Will the Islamists run out of their paltry stock of men and resources before the leftists manage to cripple the West? Or will an incessant barrage of centralization and government control in the West eradicate all of its military and economic advantages over the Islamists and enable a few weak, desperate fanatics to bring down the most prosperous and civilized society the world has ever seen?

 

Gennady Stolyarov II is Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles or Reason, Rights, and Progress. His works have been published by Le Quebecois Libre, Enter Stage Right Magazine, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Rebirth of Reason, and other organizations. Mr. Stolyarov can be contacted at gennadystolyarovii@yahoo.com.

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