It was a usual September evening; hot and humid. My mother and sisters were getting ready to visit a book-fair, and I was going with them. Around 0530pm, I saw the ad of the New York Stock Exchange,and thought life never stops there. Rain or shine, the city of New York just continues. I wondered if I would ever see it in my lifetime unless something awful happens there like an airplane crash.
Minutes later, the BBC interupted its regular programming for a developing story. The news anchor said that an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center. My mother sat down with me to watch the news. And, our trip to the book-fair was called off. My mother did not have the heart to go. The event that unfolded before our eyes was simply dreadful.
Ten years forward, I work for a company associated with that book-fair. A lot has changed, but yet a lot is not fixed.
The attack on American soil was termed as "war," and named like Taliban and al-Qaeda became household names. Conspiracy theorists went haywire with their logic, and they were counterattacked. But, no one really noticed the reason behind such aggression.
For a minute, lets take the actual story for a run. Muslim extremist groups hit America because they feel that their people are being attacked by an alliance of Jews and Christians. The unsolved problem of Palestine was the cause of the formation of these groups. The superpower with its superego retaliated by attacking first Afghanistan and then Iraq. The war did not quell the extremist groups as it was planned. Instead, it increased polarity among the religions of the world, but it also in some cases helped the groups to recruit newer members.
It is not these extremists were correct in their approach but the reaction was equally worse. Even, after fighting a war for decades, America cannot claim that it has made the world safer. The reason of which is that the superpower attacked the problem in one-dimensional ways. Soon, the American troops will pack their belonging and would leave; thinking that their job was well-done. However, the children of Palestine would sleep in an oppressed state, fearing that the Israeli troops might raid their homes only on suspicion. They would fear for their lives and in that fear, they will start hating. Had it not been better if the Americans would have taken a better approach about this matter? They could have used their resources to fight the war but at the same time, they could have used their influence to fix the problem of Palestine.
In the last ten years, Americans, rather than making sense of the problem, made enemies and emptied its resources. One does not like to hit the other unless wronged in some sense. Blazing guns can only kill, but what about the mindset? The Americans might have killed their opposition, but what they do not know that they did not fight the war on the cognitive levels—the level where it matters the most.
Minutes later, the BBC interupted its regular programming for a developing story. The news anchor said that an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center. My mother sat down with me to watch the news. And, our trip to the book-fair was called off. My mother did not have the heart to go. The event that unfolded before our eyes was simply dreadful.
Ten years forward, I work for a company associated with that book-fair. A lot has changed, but yet a lot is not fixed.
The attack on American soil was termed as "war," and named like Taliban and al-Qaeda became household names. Conspiracy theorists went haywire with their logic, and they were counterattacked. But, no one really noticed the reason behind such aggression.
For a minute, lets take the actual story for a run. Muslim extremist groups hit America because they feel that their people are being attacked by an alliance of Jews and Christians. The unsolved problem of Palestine was the cause of the formation of these groups. The superpower with its superego retaliated by attacking first Afghanistan and then Iraq. The war did not quell the extremist groups as it was planned. Instead, it increased polarity among the religions of the world, but it also in some cases helped the groups to recruit newer members.
It is not these extremists were correct in their approach but the reaction was equally worse. Even, after fighting a war for decades, America cannot claim that it has made the world safer. The reason of which is that the superpower attacked the problem in one-dimensional ways. Soon, the American troops will pack their belonging and would leave; thinking that their job was well-done. However, the children of Palestine would sleep in an oppressed state, fearing that the Israeli troops might raid their homes only on suspicion. They would fear for their lives and in that fear, they will start hating. Had it not been better if the Americans would have taken a better approach about this matter? They could have used their resources to fight the war but at the same time, they could have used their influence to fix the problem of Palestine.
In the last ten years, Americans, rather than making sense of the problem, made enemies and emptied its resources. One does not like to hit the other unless wronged in some sense. Blazing guns can only kill, but what about the mindset? The Americans might have killed their opposition, but what they do not know that they did not fight the war on the cognitive levels—the level where it matters the most.
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