The Big One?

Beginning with the Crusades a thousand years ago, the incursion of the West into other civilizations鈥攖he Americas, Africa, the Muslim world, China, and yes, even Hawaii鈥攈as had catastrophic results for indigenous peoples: the decimation of native American peoples by the White Man鈥檚 microbes; the enslavement of millions of Africans on the cane and cotton plantations of the Americas; the humiliation of China and Islam. With all that, is the West now poised to reap the consequences of what historians call 鈥渂lowback鈥? Does the wholesale loss of American jobs represent the beginning of the painful adjustment that the West must make to the global economy? With two out of three people in the world living on less than a dollar a day鈥攁nd given that violence is the last resort of the helpless--will the War on Terror widen into a war between the Haves and the Have-Nots? Do the events of 9-11 mark the Great Divide between all that came before in the past thousand years, and all that is to come?

I think the Blow back you're referring to has already happened to a certain extent. Not militarily, but economically. Many of these regions that were afflicted with western attentions have since become economic powers. The issues that are causing the problems now are far deeper than simply the past actions of western Culture. Religious intolerance is triggering many of these issues. I've never been able to understand the justification of a war in the name of a fundamentally peaceful religion.

And before you site the Crusades as the start of the "incursion of the West" think about what the crusades were trying to do. They were trying to reclaim the holy land from the muslims. Reclaim. The Jihad had conquered the holy land, as well as south eastern europe and most of north africa. The Muslims were the invaders. Or, you could go further back and blame Alexander, though his empire didn't last long enough to have much of a lasting influence in the middle east.

Even in the Age of Expansion the European nations didn't generate this kind of hatred. All of the former posessions of the European empires have gained their independence.

The war between the Haves and Have-nots is a fiction. The Have-nots aren't going to wage war to get what they want, they can't afford it. Instead, they will try to find ways to join the Haves.

The War on Terror may indeed widen. But the enemy will not be based on economic values. The unfortunate truth is that most of these terror organizations targeting the west are religious in nature, or at least claim to be. If the Muslim world were to have one leader, one focus for their anger that they were all willing to follow, then the war would widen quite quickly. The west, and especially the US has been blamed for everything that is wrong in the middle east. There is some blame to be placed, but hardly all.

The first problem is intolerance. Neither side is willing to see the other's point of view. This is especially true of the Muslim world. Since they have made this a religious confrontation, they see the other side as infidels. In the west, we're not really willing to admit that not everyone embraces free enterprise and complete freedom the way we have.

the second problem is ignorance. Neither side understands the other. In the west, we just don't understand the lack of freedom these people have and don't grasp the effect a state controled media and education system can have. In the Muslim world, they simply don't understand that the action of an individual, or even an organization is outside the control of the government. The perfect example of this is the anger over those Muhamed cartoons. They weren't simply mad at the cartoonists, they wanted to Danish government to punish these people. They didn't understand that in Denmark, and everywhere else in the west, it was not illegal to do this. It may have been tactless, but it was not malicious, and it was not sanctioned.

But I digress. I agree that the West is heading for some tough times. However I don't think the economic blow back is related to the War on Terror and all the issues that go with it.

Hope I didn't bore you to death, and good luck.

It sounds like you're trying to get us to answer a question from a college assignment!
No
now thats a gd question, it may be true, violence is an act of desperation and their is a lot of desperation around.
A Man may kill to feed his family but he will feel less guilty becuase he had good intentuions but it does not make it right to do.

For example the riots in paris recently about loans and redundancy. these could have been spurred out of desperation.
ladies and gentelman, lesson 1 from conspiracy class 101
never trust the government.
The War on Terror is not a battle between the Haves and the Have-Nots. People like Osama Bin Laden are the Haves(money, power) while the poor farmer in Asia or in Africa are the Have-nots. The have-nots have nothing to do with promoting terrorism since they are mainly concerned with getting two meals a day. The war on terror is not a great divide, because everyday people all over the world, from different cultures and backgrounds are collaborating in a global economy. The loss of jobs in America is not very surprising since developing nations have a large pool of cheap unskilled labour as well skilled and educated workers who are graduating in millions from universities and willing to work for less than their Western counterparts.
Modified 1 year ago