The Flawed Psyche of Arabs

One looks to Iraq, Israel & to a lesser extent other countires & sees the car bombings, suicide attacks, beheadings, the bullets to the head - all on innocent citizens - & one wonders what the hell is wrong with the Arab/Muslim psyche?

What the hell is wrong in the mind of a suicide bomber, knowing he is not only going to kill himself, but men, women & children? What the hell is wrong in the mind of the car bomber? What the hell is wrong in the mind of a sword wielding killer who is in the process of committing the gruesome beheading of an innocent captive? What the hell is wrong in the mind of the person who sends a child out with a bomb to kill & be killed or to dupe a Downs Syndrome person to drive a bomb-laden car into a crowd? Americans are not their only target, but their own citizens or fellow Muslims as well.

No where on the face of the planet is the collection of brutal, ruthless killers of innocents so concentrated as it currently is in the Arab/Muslim lands. Though we understand that the vast majority of Arabs & Muslims are not of this ilk, it still stands that far too many are committing atrocities for it to be anything other than a psychological flaw, a character flaw or cultural flaw within them. If we take into account the supporters & cheerleaders of these killers, then we see a significant jump in the number of Arabs & Muslims who are flawed in their psyche.

So what is the reason behind this personality flaw or character flaw or call it what you will? The absolute fanaticism, savagery & the hatred are derived from somewhere. The natural will of self-preservation is subjugated to something else. The natural inclination to be sickened by slaughter is assuaged because of something else. Is it genetic? Are all Arabs & Muslims born with a "killer" or "fanaticism" gene? We think not.

We believe humans world-wide are born equally capable of good or evil. We believe it has more to do with conditioning than anything inherent in genes. So what type of conditioning?

Three things come to mind; tribal mentality, hundreds of years of repressive governing & the Islamic religion. Tribal conflict & tribal warfare are long held givens in Arab culture, especially when there were no central or established governments to rein them in. Bloody feuds lead to bloody mindsets. Fierce tribalism has grown into fierce nationalism among many Arabs.

Repressive governing authority is a staple in Arab lands & always has been. There is no democracy, no free thinking. You do not see great Arab thinkers of the likes of Thomas Jefferson or John Adams espousing the ideals of liberty & human rights. Instead, brutal suppression & punishment have been the mainstay of Arab governments. Many Arab governments are anti-Western & fan the flames of hatred amongst its citizens.

The Islamic religion, however, has been the main driving force behind the fanaticism & brutality. The Koran has a dichotomy about it that can bring one down the road to peace or the road to brutality. It is wide open to interpretation as to which road one can travel. Islam is sufficiently lacking in moral absolutes that the more extreme & fanatical of believers pick & parse those parts of it that justify their extremism & brutality. But why Islam can breed so many slavishly devoted extremist followers in the first place is better answered elsewhere in some Doctoral thesis or study.

We think Arabs also are of a mindset that precludes true introspection. It is the infidel or the foreigner that has been demonized by them & that is the focus of their rage. In the Arab's case, the fault lies not within themselves, but in the stars.

In a poor analogy of the collective conditioning of the Arab mind, if you were raised from birth to always carry an open umbrella & all your family & friends did it & the whole of society did it, then it is the norm. In fact, you don't give it a second thought. The person seen with a closed umbrella or none at all is the infidel, the heretic, the outsider. They are to be given scorn, rehabilitation or retribution. There is little room for tolerance.

Tribalism, nationalism, repressive anti-Western government & Islam have combined to bring out the worse in many Arabs. It harkens back to the Middle Ages & Christiandom & the brutality of those times. Western civilization has since "gentrified". Maybe the only thing that will change the mindset of many Arabs is a slow process of gentrification. It took Western civilization centuries. However, in the Arab case, they & the world cannot wait centuries.

An Iraqi blogger has a great post on Iraqis: A Nut House Called Iraq