Being Realistic about Terrorism - Part 2

In my last blog I established what I think is an obvious fact. The problem of terrorism is one that is linked to individuals motivated by Islam. I am not saying that Islam, in and of itself, is the problem but it is the source of legitimization that most of the dangerous terrorists are using to justify their attacks against us. The fact that there are terrorists who are not Muslim does not eliminate the reality that most of the danger of terrorism is our society today is due to Islamic-based terrorism. The propensity for some individuals to ignore this can be attributed to a misplaced sense of political correctness.Now I want to look a little more carefully at this source of terrorism. The way I see it, as it concerns terrorism, there are three types of Muslims. There are Muslims who are dedicated to terrorism and can not be reformed. Come on. Does anybody seriously think that we can convince Osama Bin Laden or Anwar al-Awlaki to renounce violence? They cannot be reformed. They can only be killed or imprisoned. Let’s call them Type A Muslims. Second there are Muslims who will never engage in violence. No matter what happens they are dedicated to peaceful methods of change or do not worry about trying to change society at all. Some of my friends are such Muslims. They may be sympathetic to some of the causes enunciated by Type A Muslims but they would never engage in the violence the Type A Muslims will use. Either their interpretation of Islam emphasis non-violence or they have some other non-violent ideology that keeps them from being a threat. Let’s call them Type B Muslims. Finally, there are Muslims who do not engage in violence but could become violent under the right circumstances. They are sympathetic to the causes that animate Type A Muslims but for some reason are not willing to take the same violent measures that they engage in. But they could be convinced to engage in violence. The United States invasion of a country or a family tragedy that turns them violent but the capacity for violence is there. Let’s call them Type C Muslims.

It is important to recognize these different types because unfortunately we have a tendency to stereotype Muslim as all the same. We know a few Type A or Type B Muslims and we think that all Muslims are like that. But there are different solutions depending on who you are dealing with. We have to stop Type A Muslims with some form of violence be it military or police based action. Type B Muslims are no threat and we can just treat them like everyone else. Type C Muslims must be nurtured so that they do not turn to violence. But too often we attempt to find some overarching solution that is inadequate for the different types of Muslims. A “War on Terrorism” approach can neutralize some of the Type A Muslims but will convince some of the Type C Muslims to turn violent. An attempt to provide economic aid to Islamic countries can prevent many of the Type C Muslims to stay peaceful but the Type A Muslims will continue to wreak havoc on our society. Simple solutions that address only one type of Muslim group will not work.

But there is a possible solution. The group that we are overlooking may be the salvation for those of us who are concerned about terrorism. I believe the key is the Type B Muslims. I will conclude this series with how I think they can be helpful for us to create a useful strategy to use against terrorism.

Sincerely,

Trouble-Maker