Unreality squared

When we remember that many supporters of Bush’s war, including Douglas Murray, see themselves as hard realists in a world of fantasists, and when we remember the actual unreality of Bush’s assumptions and goals, as described below, the total unreality of the situation multiplies. A reader writes:

You wrote:

“And I’ve already said it a hundred times. The Iraq war, and the Bush foreign policy generally, is the greatest exercise of unreality in the history of American politics.”

Yes, I completely agree. It does appear that they are living in an alternative reality and seem incapable of seeing the actual reality. In Pakistan President Bush said, “President Musharraf understands that, in the long run, the way to defeat terrorists is to replace an ideology of hatred with an ideology of hope.” In other words terrorism is caused by a lack of hope as well as a lack of freedom. As a psychologist I cringe every time I hear the president or Condoleezza Rice talk about hope, because it shows an inexcusable lack of understanding of psychology. Hopelessness does not lead to violence or terrorism but rather to depression, apathy, and a loss of motivation. Terrorists are extremely motivated and filled with hope of victory over their perceived enemies. They are motivated by a belief system which fosters hatred of the infidel and fills them with tremendous motivation for domination, power, and aggression. I think the Bush administration must have gotten this ridiculous idea of hopelessness by assuming that suicide terrorists must have something in common with individual people who commit suicide, and since suicide is associated with hopelessness so too must be Islamic terrorism. Apparently the fact that individuals who commit suicide don’t murder other people, are not ideologically motivated, are not serving a cause, are not reinforced by their societies for killing themselves, and are not filled with hatred towards other people didn’t occur to them. This shows an utter lack of critical thinking. It seems that at this point they neither think nor analyze but rather have an unquestioned belief in their own untenable assumptions.

To say that terrorism is caused by frustration resulting from hopelessness and a lack of freedom is to say that our enemies are in fact oppressed victims, and we must address the root causes of their victimization. As you have been saying all along this is a classic leftist position taken even further to the left by now inferring that anyone who does not accept this is a bigot. And as you also have been saying, rather than having an understanding based on the particular ideology and goals of these people they substitute the universal idea that everyone is really the same and wants the same things. They can’t see the actual reality which is that what most people in the Middle East really want is not to be free but rather to submit to sharia law and to impose this on the West. It is the particularism that is the core of the problem yet they superimpose non existent universal strivings that actually represent the very opposite of actual reality.

I fear that these untenable assumptions may be unfalsifiable to the Bush administration. No matter how counterproductive their democratization efforts turn out to be they can always say that this is just the beginning, and these people are new at democracy and need more time. After all according to Condoleezza Rice it took America almost 200 years to supposedly attain a true democracy, and we need to give them a few more years or decades.

And perhaps the most incredible thing of all. Bush speaks this dangerous nonsense about reforming ecstatic suicide terrorists by giving them an “ideology of hope,” yet his enemies in the media and on the left, who otherwise never miss a chance to try to destroy him, never attack him for this appalling claptrap. Why? Because Bush’s claptrap is liberal claptrap, but Bush’s left-liberal enemies see him as an extreme right-winger. Therefore they are unable to see his claptrap as liberal, let alone criticize it.

To sum up, Bush’s “hardline, conservative” supporters support him in a policy that is dangerous liberal fantasy, while his passionate leftist enemies ignore his real weaknesses and keep attacking him on fake issues such as Plamegate or Katrina. It’s unreality cubed.

- end of initial entry -

James writes:

The letter from the psychologist is very, very good. In fact it is so good that as I finished it I had a vision of Bush and Rice riding “It’s a Small World” at Disneyworld. The ride is set on continuous cycle and each time they appear they are smiling and waving as if they can’t get enough of it.

Take the legendary boat ride around the globe on this musical tour of nations. Hundreds of international dolls sing and dance to the famous “It’s a Small World” medley. After it’s over, just try to get that tune out of your head.

Round and round they went, smiling and waving, oblivious of everything beyond the borders of fantasyland. “Toy land, toy land, little girl and boy land. Once you leave it’s borders you can never return again.”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 07, 2006 07:54 AM | Send