What Caused the 9/11 Massacre?

[Wotan]

What caused The 9/11 Massacre -- at least in simple terms?

God, Islam, and ideology. And the West and the world loves these three to this day(!). Or at least we dare not condemn them. We dare not openly hate them.

"God" is a belief in someone or something which isn't actually there. Those who believe in "god" don't believe in them self, their sacred life, this earth, reality, truth, or human happiness. "God" repudiates all these. "God" destroys all these.

"Islam" means "submission" or "slavery." Islam also means "peace" -- but it's the peace of submitting yourself to enslavement to god. Osama said exactly this on September 28th, 2001. Islam generates the "peace" of the grave -- of non-existence and pure emptiness. Muslims, including our buddy Osama, frequently brag that they love death more than decent and good folks love life. What could be more sick and slimey?

Ideology is a kind of false or perverted or demented philosophy. It's a pseudo-philosophy you shove down peoples' throats. It isn't a belief-system for your own happiness, as is proper. It's a necessarily coercive belief-system leading to a necessarily false utopia. Ideology is less than 200 years old (believe it or not) and has two ultra-common forms today: socialism and (updated) religion.

God, Islam, and ideology are truly terrible evils. Truly terrible destroyers. We Westerners should hate them. Especially on this day. But we don't. We mostly love them. And we dare not reject and revile them, as would be wise and moral. As would be personally satisfying and emotionally exhilarating!

God, Islam, ideology -- the West embraces all three. Because of this -- there's more 9/11s to come!

Edited September 11, 2007 by Wotan

[RicDiS2]

Good points, but please don't use the word Ideology to mean something false, or else I'll be down another word to use in argument. (My philosophy professor refuses to allow me to use the word selfish, and I must always use the term "self-interested." So I'm kind of afraid of losing more words... what a sad fear to have!). Ideology means the basis of a political or social system. The concept of rational self-interest is an ideology, and one that I support fervently.

Other than that, thanks for the refreshment. Reading the words of a rational thinker feels like a refreshing rain falling on a dusty earth.

[dan_edge]

I blogged about my reflections on 9/11 here.

--Dan Edge

[Wotan]

I blogged about my reflections on 9/11 here.

Hey, Dan -- You have my condolences! I can't think of a worse place to be than a video store on 9/11. You wrote on your blog:

"StereoVideo is a high-end electronics store specializing in large, high-definition televisions and powerful audio systems. When we turned on the store, hundreds of thousands of dollars in audio-visual equipment brought the height of consumer technology to bear – to show us a scene of terror. The World Trade Center was on fire. The Sony high-def rear-projector shot rays of light on the wall, displaying a plume of smoke 10 feet tall. The $10k Infinity floor standing speakers boomed its built-in subwoofers as the second plane exploded on impact. It was a terrible spectacle of light and sound."

I can only imagine.

[Wotan]

My thanks, RicDis2! But as for

...please don't use the word Ideology to mean something false, or else I'll be down another word to use in argument. (My philosophy professor refuses to allow me to use the word selfish, and I must always use the term "self-interested." So I'm kind of afraid of losing more words... what a sad fear to have!).

I'm of two minds on that one. On the one hand, this term seems to come from a bad place and time -- it's evidently a descriptive philosophical term for the worst elements of the French Revolution. Many figures historically have condemned the term and its representative concept per se. On the other hand, I don't necessarily have a good alternative word, and I often use the term non-pejoratively and as you evidently do: in a neutral or positive light!