Response to Asymmetry

Submitted by Gene (United States), Jan 7, 2003 at 13:22

Daniel Pipes wrote: "violent jihad will probably continue until it is crushed by a superior military force (Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, please take note)"

Paul Hilder's response: "Unfortunately, the idea exists and cannot be crushed. It has been defeated militarily before, only to resurface elsewhere. To believe that such a messianic ideology can be crushed militarily is to make a category error. You can't destroy an idea with a gun... the most you can do is send it underground. More important is to undermine its premises, or remove its motivations. Of course, guns can be helpful in this. But guns kill people, and ideas live on."

Saying the above is the same as admitting that whatever it takes to sweep the floor will be to to avail because the dust will always be there. Yes it will. So what - just keep sweeping, maintain your house. So is with jihad: simply keep fighting it, militarily if necessary. You fight ideas with ideas, but force with force. Yes, guns kill people. Guns can also diminish the harm that "evil" ideas inflict, because it's people who keep ideas alive. A cult is dead without those willing to follow it. Yes, the idea always exists in the abstract. You don't fight the abstract, you're simply aware of it. But you fight its physical manifestation and its real disseminators when it becomes sufficiently threatening.

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