Regarding Ian Welsh; Bin Laden’s Insights And The Egyptian Coup
The points made in this excellent article stand on their own (please read it) but I would like to make one more. I don’t know if Bin Laden wanted to be listened to, but as a writer and thinker he did have something to say. The problem is that we are so busy hating him for his violent acts that we cannot listen to him. Bin Laden BAD!!! GRRR!!!
This is also true of the Unibomber, who wrote a manifesto that made several good points worth considering. Have you read it? Probably not, because Ted Kaczynski sent bombs through the mail, maiming and killing people. Violence utterly obscured his message.
The United States carries a message about freedom, about the common good, and about a better world not based on group hatred. But at the same time we’ve projected power violently in both overt and covert ways. You think the victims of a US-backed oppressive regime care what we have to say about anything? How about the parents of a child killed in a drone strike?
To the rest of the world, we are Bin Laden. We are Ted Kaczynski. They can’t hear us over the screams of torture chambers, or the ringing in their ears from explosions. When our medium is violence, what is our message?
If we want to be heard, we need to figure out how to wage peace.
Reposted from G+. h/t Mike The Mad Biologist for the link.
georgewiman 