http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=61734&d=7&m=4&y=2005
Thursday, 7, April, 2005 (27, Safar, 1426)
The Danger of Being Half-Educated
Dr. Mohammed T. Al-Rasheed, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
THERE are many studies being done in the West to profile your average
Al-Qaeda member. The reasonably scientific ones come to the same conclusions:
Your friendly jihadist is of a middle class provenance, is well off
financially, and probably educated in the West. In general terms, these
conclusions are accurate enough. But I thought I might wade into this exercise
with my very unscientific analysis that takes its input from reality seen and
experience lived through.
If the term "educated" means anyone who went to university, language
school, or even managed to get a student visa to study in the West, then we
have no argument. Education, however, means the ability to see, understand, and
discuss. Where do we find that in those skulls hard as coconut shells that seem
to survive even their own bombs? To understand these "educated" lovers of
humanity, you have to call things by their real names without reference to
clichés. They are, for all intents and purposes, elitists, much as Hitler's
youth were.
Like the Nazis, they believe in their own superiority of moral and racial
origins. Whether Islam or Aryan purity is used to canvass this thought is
immaterial since the ensuing behavior is the same. Basically, I am good you are
bad and there is no place for us both on earth, is the governing rule. I don't
know how much education you need to reach this point nor am I aware of any
institution in the West that has this item on its curricula.
As for the middle class part, I beg to differ -again, on definition and
not substance. These people do not belong to middle anything. They are
cultists. Your average middle class youth in Jeddah, for example, is busy
polishing his car and finding accessories for his state of the art bike. On the
other hand, the "educated" youths belong to a group of people who made their
money simply because they belong to this cult and there are jobs open to them
alone. In Biblical terms they resemble the Essenes with a twist. The twist is
an aggressive attitude that takes the shape of a gun and a bomb.
For my Muslim readers I will give an example of such a cult that is
closer to home. The Carmathians of tenth century Arabia were an exact replica
of our "educated" youth of today. They managed to sack Makkah, Karbala, and
reached as far north as Damascus, all in the name of purity and "cleansing" the
earth of the vile "unbelievers." Sure enough, your average Carmathian was more
"educated" than the rest of the population, but more deadly.
There is nothing more dangerous to a nation's health than its
semi-educated youth. Worse, it is those who think they know better, or more
than the experts, who are the real disease. They take short cuts and cannot be
reasoned with. A hallmark of education is patience with those who disagree with
you. The semi-educated turn to the sword and chop off heads to cure a headache.
Another hallmark of real education is a healthy sense of humor. Try
finding that amongst your "educated, middle class" morons.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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