Marion Kind

The West and America in particular has come to believe that it’s history forms the narrative of the whole world. It does not. And so there is a lot of talk these days amongst the westerners and the westernized about how the Muslim World needs to undergo its “Reformation”. It will be bloody, goes the reasoning, but the forces of Progress (with our help, guidance and persistence), will win in the end. This is utterly, tragically and fantastically wrong. It makes no attempt at getting inside of the enemies mind. Osama bin Laden thinks that he is a figure like Abraham or Moses. Arrogant? Presumptuous? Perhaps, but a lot of Muslims believe him, and millions more are reserving judgement. Bin Ladenists believe that, like in the times of Noah, the world has become permeated with evil that can only be overcome with selfless sacrifice and a simple faith in the One True God. What about us? We are Pagan Egypt and our president is the decadent, obstinent Pharoah. It doesn’t matter if that Pharoah is named Bush, Clinton, Obama or Thompson. Pharoah is Pharoah. We are peripheral to history, nothing more than a Great Test designed to separate the faithful from the wicked. Pharoah will be tricked and outmaneuvered and stricken until he relinquishes his grip on The People. (although in Iraq, as a subplot, there is the matter of dealing a blow to the "Persian Shia heresy"). What to do? Any solution with the slightest western fingerprints might as well be stamped “From Pharoah”. Our Super-jets and laser guided munitions, far from instilling “shock and awe”, are nothing but the feeble magic tricks of President. 9-11, from the Bin Ladenist perspective, was a “Biblical” (or Koranic) type event, for Muslim consumption. We are nothing but cardboard “bad guys”. Killing us is indeed nothing personal, because we are not even people. But our “servants”, the westernized Muslims are another matter. To the Bin Ladenist they are a disgusting abomination and the notion of Muslim secular nationalism is as silly and profane as putting full page fashion ads in the Bible. As an atheist I don’t know, but I suspect (or at least strenuously hope) that most Muslims are aware of the preceding. However, one thing should be crystal clear: this is ultimately a matter between Muslims, and what America thinks about it doesn’t matter a whit. “Islamo-Fascism”? Bin Ladenism has as much in common with preening, racist, uber-scientific Nazi-ism as Moses has with Jim Jones. It is America that needs a second “Reformation”. We must present secular democracy as something better than the shallow, Machiavellian, robber-baron imperialist mess it has become over the last 25 years. After all, we have our own theocracy proponents to deal with, and for some of the same reasons.