Quote: PenWing said: Some people in Iraq probably do believe that the insurgants are fighting to free them from an invading force.
True. A notion I find idiotic.
Perhaps "conditioning" is a better word than "notion."
Whether it came from years of living under Saddam's heel or listening to religious fanatics, the people who are part of or who support the insurgency feel their hatred of the USA is justified, as is their acts of violence against US troops, because of what they've been told all their lives. Saddam told his people the US was the enemy. In a dictatorship, you hear what the dictator lets you hear. So if Saddam tells his people he's a hero and the USA is evil, how can the people who don't know he's lying find out the truth? And even when they're presented with the truth, why would they accept it as truth if they've been programmed to think it's a lie?
If you've been taught not to trust a certain society for your entire life, would you trust that society if their troops came into your country? Even if the cause is noble and they kept telling you they were here to help you, would you believe them?
Brainwashing and propaganda is a very effective and very old method of achieving victory - it may even be older than me. The insurgents and every other terrorist out there have been brainwashed from an early age, and they continue to do so to others. There's no other prominent voice from within telling them "these insurgents/terrorists are fucking nuts! Don't listen to them!" That's why whenever an insurgent is killed, another one is ready to take his place. Because the myth these psychos create about themselves and other people doesn't die as easily as a person.
And I don't know what the United States has ever really done to counter this brainwashing, if anything. They may not even know how.
Come to think of it, I don't think the US has ever spent much time trying to figure out what makes the Middle East and the many societies within tick. Perhaps if they had...well, who knows what might be different?
But if they find a way, they may be able to break what may become an endless cycle of violence. It might be the only way the US can truly win the war on terror - by preventing the creation of new terrorists. And in order to do that, they need to destroy the lies and break through the propaganda walls.
Last edited by Methos; 2005-08-319:52 PM.
"Just because I don't like to fight doesn't mean that I can't."
