Here Comes the War on Terror, v 2.0

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Comrade]

[The Dharma Bum]

well then, thats the problem, isn't it?

an inferior form of government is being misrepresented as a superior one to people who don't know any better

and on top of that:

one of the talking points constantly trotted out in support of US aggression is "they won't accept democracy"

small wonder that's not working out

we aren't a democracy at all. The US is a technocracy, run by "experts" because normal people can't be trusted to create conditions conducive for maximum output and profits for the corporate sector.

Same thing China is

[exploited]

I don't think that a lack of "true democracy" can explain this situation.

Take a look at the differences between first and second or third generation Muslim immigrants. The older generations are, by and large, not extremist. They may have conservative religious beliefs, but they have no real interest in establishing a theocratic government, or waging war on the West. Their primary reason for moving here was to provide for their families and gain a bit of safety/security. Having come from nothing, having lived in terrible places where the rule of law is ignored even more than here, they are perfectly content to buy into the primary source of Western unity, consumerism and the institutions that protect it.

Contrast that with their kids, many of whom have radicalized. Their parents were very successful, generally - the work ethic of the third world, placed into a first world environment, tends to result in economic security. These kids were raised with everything, they were fully immersed in the Western world - and they rejected it. They instead revert back to traditional sources of meaning, such as religion and social cohesion.

Why is that? To me, it suggests that the Western world has largely failed to provide a legitimate source of meaning. The only thing that unites us is consumerism, which is a weak source of cohesion when compared to an all-encompassing religious, cultural, social and philosophical ideology such as Islam. We can see this play out on both sides of the argument. Young secular Westerners are supremely disillusioned with their government, concerned for the environment, and desperate to get back to the idea that we can simply consume with no problems whatsoever. But that is no longer possible, and we know it. Climate change, energy geopolitics, resource wars, terrorism, economic instability, all of this stems from our insatiable demand for stuff clashing with the realities of our world.

This is why the Western world seems so tired. We don't have a common purpose beyond the very practices that endanger us. So how we implement changes is a discussion we can't even have yet - you could enable true democracy tomorrow, and the West would still do the same stupid shit, because there is no social cohesion, vision, or clarity.

Personally, I find it ridiculous that we are now technologically and financially capable of creating nearly ideal cities and communities, but we squander the possibility of taking the next big step in human progress. There is no reason why the average Westerner could not live a significantly better lifestyle while also helping, not harming, other people and the planet. Every level of our government, all of our institutions, these are bygones of another era. There needs to be a total paradigm shift in the Western world. We are lazy and complacent, we are taking all the wrong risks, all for something (consumerism) that we know has to be tamed down anyways. It reminds me of a rich addict being driven into rehab, snorting all the coke he can before he gets there.

[The Comrade]

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Comrade]

[The Dharma Bum]