Radical Islam vs. Radical Westernism

All of a sudden, in historical terms, the West became amazingly wealthy and powerful and then used its wealth and power to largely subjugate the rest of the World.  Some non-Western Nations were able to reach quickly, notably Japan, and assemble their own defenses against the aggression of the West, but unfortunately this required them to, well, Westernize, that is, to do to themselves what the West would have done to them…  to do a kind of, ‘if we cannot beat them, then we will join them’ kind of thing.  But most non-Western countries were quite overwhelmed, and were colonized to at least some significant extent or another.

Of course in many cases to be colonized by the West was not the worst of all possible things that might have happened to some of these cultures.  Where Societies had already effectively collapsed into a kind of malignant stagnation due to the ascendency of barbarian influences, where extremely small minorities of Clan or Tribe or Class had concentrated all the Wealth to themselves and allowed the remaining People to wallow in an inescapable poverty surrounded by a neglected and shattered social and economic infrastructure, then Westernism would have appeared to come as something of a Liberating Revolution, breaking the Concentration of Wealth at least for a generation or two, until the Western Grip of effective Barbarism would fully have time to ruin everything all over again.  But for a while there would be a much appreciated respite.

So many Peoples and Societies were at first quite mesmerized by the apparent optimism that came from the liberation from their old Ruling Classes and the subsequent freeing up of Wealth and Resources.   They looked to their new Western Masters as somehow shining examples for a New Way of Life.  And what was this new way of Life?  Well, I think it can be summed up as something of a Western Trident, that is a 3-pronged spear of attack or influence – Secularism, Industrialization, and Democracy.   Secularism would destroy or at least mitigate the moral concerns from Religion that would impede the Usury inherent in the Capitalism that would fund Industrialism.  Also, Seculariism, with its abandonment of Religious Principles, would also brush aside the moral reluctance to allow a few Owners in the Society to exploit for their own ends the lives of everybody else, that is, to condone entire societies being subjected to something that would become in time a merciless Wage Slavery.   The Next Influence, Industrialization would expand not only because of the drive of Greed inherent in Capitalism, but also because of the Necessities brought on by War, that is, all of the Wars that would almost be expected to arise between Nations that had abandoned Religious Principles in order to become so necessarily Secular, and in consequence taken on the Cold Reptilian Strategizing for Advantage that does not shun a War that they think can be easily enough Won.  And so every Secular Industrialized Nation became a military threat.   And so it was soon learned that more thoroughly industrialized Nations can make more cannons more quickly than lesser industrialized societies, and the least Industrialized Societies being the most vulnerable of all.    About Industrialization, there no longer seemed to be a Choice.   Then there is the Influence of Democracy.  Well, the propaganda about Democracy is convincing but only insomuch as it is misleading.  Democracy claims to Represent the People; however, when you really think about it, Democracy only represents the Winners, and of the Winners, it only really represents the very few people who picked, funded and supported the winning candidates, while everybody else is, well, in as much of a Dictatorship as they ever were.   Simply look at the West where Democracy has been established the longest.  Voter apathy is rampant, that is, many of the people subjected to democracy recognize that it is effectively useless to vote.  Of course there are exceptions, but only in elections were the Ruling Classes pay heavily to put out the most stirring and provocative campaigns of emotion-driven propaganda, and where nearly all of the Educated People within the Society conclude that the subsequent Large Voter Turnouts bring a far worse result then if people would have sensibly stayed home.   It has gotten so dysfunctional in the West that now all of the Conservative Parties actively restrict access to Higher Education and do everything in their power to sabotage Public Education at the lower and medium stages, even allowing the children to ‘drop out’ of school when it is almost a guaranteed certainty that they will thus come to no good, and all because  ‘Think Tank’ Consultants hired on by the Ruling Classes have pointed out time and time again that Educated People recognize and reject their Propaganda and so tend to vote against them, and that if they want to win Elections, then it is best to cultivate as much Idiocy and stupidity in their Societies as is in their power.   Of course this can’t be good for anybody but themselves, but, luckily for them, that is all they care about.

But, while the Western Trident of influences – Secularism, Industrialization, and Democracy, had their inherent dangers, still, there appeared a kind of glitter and utility about it all in these previously Collapsed and Stagnant Colonized Cultures,  and so in a large degree those Recovering Societies  began to enthusiastically push for the adoption of Western Ways and Western Institutions.

Remember, that much of the Progress these Colonized Societies had at first seen sourced not so much from the Virtues and Powers of Westernism, but simply as an effect of having been liberated from their Old Masters before their New Masters could have sufficient time to sufficiently consolidate their own solid and total Grip.    But time moved inexorably forward and now the Grip has tightened, and this brings us the topic of Radical Islam.

Yes, many of the Islamic Societies had become convinced believers in Westernism.  Their Societies were pulled into the Western Banking Systems, and their Markets had been opened up to cheap Western Goods.  So their own Banks dwindled and their own sources and means of production dried on the vine.  Even their own farmers ended up bankrupt while trying to compete against wheat and corn grown in Kansas, by subsidized corporate Farmers a half a world away.   The Grip had grown solid.  The New Masters, off in the West, are in place and the new strangle hold is much more firm than it ever had been  before.   And now that the Western Trident of Influences no longer Glitters for them, we can understand that there is bound to be a Reaction, a Resistance, an Opposition.  If it is no longer Good for them, then we must expect sensible people to do what sensible people do when they want to get rid of what seems Bad.   But not everybody is sensible.  In fact most people aren’t sensible in any significant scholarly degree at all, and this is what gives way to Radicalism, that is, people taking extremely simplistic approaches to achieve extreme Ends, even when their initial motivations and rationales had been to a large part understandable and sympathetic.   

Unemployment for those under 30 years of age in the Islamic World stands at about 70%.  Now, what are that many young men to do?  Well, in many parts of Islam, money flows from the Wealthiest Oil Soaked Nations to the poorer areas in the form of Scholarships to Religious Schools, and what is offered is Food and Religious Education.  Families are motivated to accept these Scholarships for their young men simply to relieve them from the load of another mouth to feed, and besides,  the Religious Education certainly won’t hurt, or this is what is assumed.   Oh, this is only in Regions still at peace.  Where Wars or Conflicts have broken out, then the Young Men are given Food if they agree to Fight.   Well, of course any young man would agree to Fight.  To turn down an invitation to Fight would be Cowardice, and not just in Their Culture, but in nearly every Culture on Earth a Young Man can hardly, not with any shred of Honor or Dignity left intact, turn down a good bloody Fight.   

You know, the same thing happens in the West.  Unemployment goes up, and more Young Men go into the Military.  And the ones that can’t get into the Military, because the Political Parties had been too successful in denying them an adequate Education, well they join the Criminal Gangs and fight for Territory where they can traffic drugs, control Prostitution and steal cars without bumping into each other and meeting with undue price competition.   Of course, in the West you have nearly nobody going off to Religious Schools.   The West thinks it less dangerous to foster a Criminal Society then Religiously Radicalized Society.  Well, we shouldn’t have to choose between two Evils, but I find it oddly paradoxical  when people think that Religion must necessarily be an ‘Evil’ influence.     

Islam is using the Religious Schools to resist Western Secularism.  Why?  Well, it is much harder for Capitalist Usury and Industrial Exploitation to take firm hold in a very morally conscious Religious Society.  And so Religious Education is pushed…. Well, for everybody but the girls.  In the West it is objected strenuously that girls are restricted from Education, and the Westerners are left to believe that these restrictions are in place out of motives of simple meanness.   Well, what Westerners fail to consider is that in a Society where unemployment among Males is already hovering at about 50%, and much higher for Young Men, that Educated Females would only be one more added factor in keeping the employment figures low and in depressing wages for those who do have jobs.   After all, although they shouldn’t have to, it is well known that women are willing to work for less.   While they complain of low wages, it never seems to make them quit.   Also, Islam isn’t blind and has seen what Female Education and Employment has done in the West.   A century ago, all throughout the Western World, in most families and even in most poor families, the Wages of the Man were sufficient for the entire upkeep of the Household.  But now Husband and Wife both need to work, and for what?  The same thing that the Man could do before now has to be done by Man and Woman both.  Where is the Advantage?   From One Wage Slave, Society now demands Two Wage Slaves.  Is that Progress?  It seems like a more complete Subjugation.   The West has grown blind to the problem, but it is understandable that the Islamic World should be terrified of the same consequences, and not be soothed by the comforting notion that they too will grow used to their yokes and shackles, seeing them instead as the necklaces and bracelets of a High Standard of Living.  

The West claims that educating and employing women liberates them and empowers them.  And this is true to the extent that they now have enough personal resources to be able to readily abandon their families, but we can understand that not everybody thinks this a good thing.   Oh, and is it really liberating to have young women leave their children and families at home in order to work long weeks for minimal wages.   We can say they have a Choice, but do they?  After Female Employment hits a certain level, Inflation takes hold and adjusts prices so that Families absolutely need to send the Women off to Work, when just the Man working is no longer enough.  This is what Islam is trying to preserve itself from – the Necessity of having to force all of their Women into Wage Slavery.

Some well-meaning Westerners, even Al Gore who is ordinarily liberal and thoughtful about things, advocates Education for Women because it lowers the Birth Rate.   He says it is because ‘empowered’ women just so happen to want to have less children.   Well, yes!  But why?   Might the reason be that their employment would be adversely effected by having babies?   Could it be that Employment leaves them too run down and fatigued to have any energy left for babies or child bearing?  Or the answer simply might be that with both Husband and Wife working, there is a friction created so that the couple no longer gets along well enough to be in the position, so to speak, to have babies.  You know, even in the West there was a relatively long period also where Men were objecting to the Wife going out to work.  They saw it in rather practical terms where once the Wife was at Work, then her Boss becomes her New effective ‘Husband’.    Indeed, if the Boss asks the Wife for anything, yes, anything, how was the Wife really able to refuse?   Isn’t the Boss the Boss?   Work was like another home, and there the Boss was, well, the Boss, and the Husband, off at home or another job,  was rendered insignificant and meaningless.   And were these concerns simple paranoia, or have there not been Millions of instances where wives have had affairs with their Bosses and Supervisors, thus being one of the leading causes for Marital Instability in the West.   Now, why would Islam intentionally take on the same hideous issues for itself?   And, yes, why was Al Gore too stupid to see it at these angles?  Oh, well, he and others may well be plotting for the eventual dissolution of the Institution of Marriage altogether, which might not be such a bad idea, but let’s leave that intriguing question for another paper, and remember that Islam may still be holding out hope for the Institution of Marriage, especially that part where Husbands can collect as many wives as they think they can afford.

So, we are at the point now where we should understand that Islam, while no longer seeing any advantages to Westernization, now wishes to resist its Influences.   And yes, sometimes the resistance is extreme and crazy, and, yes, provocative.   But a detached and objective comprehension of the problem might suggest that if we left Them alone, then they would leave us alone.   But this is where Western Radicalism comes into play.  Globalized Capitalism cannot spare any Resource, and sees the Territories of Islam in terms of the Material Resources that could be extracted.  Particularly Oil.  The thought that Islam would ever simply refuse to Sell, well, that is incomprehensible, and would certainly re-trigger the old Colonization response.  If they will not Sell it, then we will Take it.

Also, a very important point to remember is that Islam is obviously split.  Many Regimes are emphatically Secular and sympathetic to Westernization, or at least amenable to being subsidized by Western Dollars.  At least they were.  You know, it is rather confusing that the West is now abandoning the Secular Regimes that had previously been the most sympathetic to Western Influence.  The West is now promoting Democratic Takeovers, by mostly Sectarian and Tribal Political Factions that are almost guaranteed to be at each other’s throats.  Societies that had been held together by Religiously Impartial Secular Authoritarian Regimes will now descend into Civil War or at least the kind of Civil Unrest provoked by 51% Majorities tyrannizing over 49% Minorities.   But the Western withdraw of support for Authoritarian Secularism may have other, and even more severe consequences.

What if the only Way the quarrelling Sects and Tribes can stop their bickering is by focusing on a Common Enemy, and what if this Common Enemy becomes the West?  You know, Islam, if it were ever able to gather Focus and Consensus, could  destroy the West in less than a Business Week.  They would only have to announce the end of Foreign Sales of Petroleum.  Yes, they would lose all that income, but all that Income had only been leading the Way into Westernization.  If they decided to go back to Riding Camels, Herding Sheep, and Weaving Carpets, then they could simply wash their hands of all that Oil Money and not be any of the Worst off for it.   And the Western Economies, with their severe need for Oil, and with their Currencies being evaluated so much in relation to the Price of Oil, well, the Deprivation in Energy Resources and the Confusion done to the Currencies would be overwhelming.

Yes, the Western Militaries, particularly the United States would find excuse to Invade, but it would all need to take too long and the actual economies would be in too severe a state of collapse to recover even if the Oil Fields were reopened inside of a couple of years.  We saw how long it took the United States to reopen the Iraqi Oil fields, and that was with no really serious opposition.  If the United States were to provoke some serious native hostility, then the Oil Fields would never reopen, well, not unless the Unites States resorted to Genocide and repopulated Islam with Oil Workers from Texas.  Hmmm, I shouldn’t even think such a thing, because, well, it IS possible.  As I said before, Secularism has no moral inhibitions, and we have already seen that the United States is willing to justify Murder just for political expediency.  Not from Necessity or Survival, but just for Convenience.    From killing one person to eradicating entire populations is just a matter of degree.    The Willingness has already been demonstrated.

But maybe Islam only needs to be patient and wait (besides, everybody knows the Oil Fields in the East are almost Empty anyway).  Maybe the Collapse in the West has already begun and needs no further push from Islam.  The Real Level of Unemployment in the West is at about 20%.  In the United States they mask this by keeping a huge portion of the Population in Prison, and in Military Uniform.  But, still, a great many people are effectively ‘working’ outside of the System, mostly in Criminal Enterprises.  Where in Islam the Unemployed go off for Religious Schooling, in the West they become Mobsters and Smugglers, Prostitutes, Pimps or Car Thieves.    If there were to be a significant  Economic Crisis in the West, and with every passing day the News Reports make that seem more and more likely, well, it is very likely that the Strongest Elements remaining  in Society would be the Criminal Enterprises, and once they took over Control, it would be extremely difficult for the Legitimate Authorities and Owners to ever get it back again.

Of course it would be Bad everywhere.  The Population Centers of Islam depend on Commercial Food Deliveries just as much as any City in the West, perhaps more.   And all of that would grind to a halt.  Billions of people, everywhere, would die.     

But what would be left of Islam could go back to its Camels, and perhaps with that strong backbone of Religion, with any Religion being significantly better than no Religion at all, well, they could re-achieve something of a New Civilization, perhaps a re-flowering, after a couple hundred years, of the Golden Age of Islam that we had seen in the 11^th Century.  But for the West I would guess a New Dark Ages would emerge.  The Rugged Individualism that has been fostered in the West, in the place of Religion, would translate into the most aggressive Barbarism.  The Self Made Men of our so-called Civilization, with its collapse, would simply turn into the biggest self-justifying Thieves and Bandits.  Everybody would be each other’s Worst Enemies.  Men, seeing each other as Rivals, would kill each other on sight.   If History is able to survive, then it will record that the Fall of the West was even more spectacular than its Rise,  and probably of far far greater duration.