Rage-junkies and holy martyrdom
Email I just sent to the editor of a great Internet daily:
Dear editor,
One of the things that strikes me about the terrorism we see all around us in the world now is how much those who believe in it and practice it resemble violent men (and, in some rare cases, violent women) of the sort that a number of well-done neuropsychological studies made in prisons and hospitals for the criminally insane have examined. Such people, whom some have referred to as "rage junkies," seem to feel much better all the way around when their systems are loaded with adrenaline, cortisone, and testosterone or its analogs, all of which are made in quantity by the adrenal cortex and are normally released into the bloodstream when the individual concerned perceives a dangerous threat in his or her environment, is injured (think of "football injuries," which the victim doesn't even perceive until the play in which he received his is over), or is severely stressed. Among those who are chronically stressed, that loading of the system with such adrenal-made steroids becomes a condition normal to them, and they don't feel good unless their bloodstream is rich in the stuff. In the case of dangerously violent people, they seem not to feel truly alive unless their bodies are loaded with those hormones and they are enjoying a "rage high" as a result. In other words, they become addicted to such steroid hormones. The fact that the hormones are produced naturally, inside the body, rather than from outside it, makes no difference. They are as much addicts to those hormones as crack or crank addicts are to their own poison-of-choice, and like substance abusers, they will seek out any excuse and any means for indulging their jones for the chemicals they prefer. Such excuses evolve into denial, making it far harder for them to see that they are addicts and that giving up those addictions might be the better course.
Similar studies of paranoid schizophrenics show much the same thing: addiction to self-generated highs provided by the chemistry of the bodies of such individuals -- highs of compounded, artificially produced, strong emotions that are equal parts rage, terror, suspicion, and anxiety. The point is that all such people are addicted to internal states normally associated with rage, terror, and other negative emotions which are responses to external threats and outrageous situations -- but which, in such "rage & terror junkies," are the artificial results of willfully self-generated internal processes, directed at fantasies entertainted by those individuals and projected by them onto other people and the environment in general. Religious, sexual, and political fantasies are among the favorite means of generating such an internal state by such individuals.
Sound familiar? Think of the idea of jihad as just such a fantasies, of Islamism as a coordinated set of such fantasies, of the idea of 72 nubile virgins waiting in Paradise for "holy martyrs of Islam" as another type of fantasy, of "a land of their own for the Palestinians" as still another such fantasy. I think what we got here are lots and lots of rage-junkies who get their jollies on rage rather thank crack or heroin -- that's Islamism, and that's the history of jihad all over the world, regardless of what it is called or the culture in which it arises.
Islamism isn't glamorous, it isn't about supreme self-sacrifice, it isn't noble, it isn't righteous and holy or any of the rest of that jazz. It's just another addiction, one that is just as disgusting and sad as alcoholism, any other form of substance-abuse, sex-addiction, or any other addiction. Though while he enjoys his drug of choice the substance-abuser -- including the adrenaline addict -- may think he's so cool, to those around him who aren't in the same state, he looks like a jerk, a sad travesty of what a human being can and should be. The culture of Islamism is one of abusers of adrenaline/cortisone/testosterone and enabling of such abusers. Many Muslims do not buy into that culture, and never will, so this is no slam at Islam or Muslims -- but it is a very accurate portrayal of Islamism and Islamists.
Why don't we start calling a junkie a junkie? Arafat and Saddam Hussein and those like them are no better than drug pushers. The fact that the drug in question is adrenaline makes no difference. To further their own monstrously narcissistic ends, they have encouraged the growth and development of a culture that is just as ugly as that of committed barflies or heroin or crack addicts. Obviously they see their own people not as people, but rather as political cows to be milked dry, then cast aside, the way drug dealers see their customers. They are no better than the tobacco companies who slant their advertising to appeal to youth -- worse, because it s utterly certain that what they are pushing kills their people's children, that is their intention, whereas the tobacco industry has no real desire to kill off its own customers, though they put profits above the well-being of those same customers. Callousness is bad enough -- deliberate murder-for-profit, especially through raping the souls of the children of one's people via getting them hooked on rage highs, is several orders of magnitude worse. Not to mention sleazy, banal, and as low as you can go.
It's time for the media to stop glamorizing this culture of addiction to hate and rage and fear and despair, and recognize it for what it is: a junky's culture, nothing else.
Dear editor,
One of the things that strikes me about the terrorism we see all around us in the world now is how much those who believe in it and practice it resemble violent men (and, in some rare cases, violent women) of the sort that a number of well-done neuropsychological studies made in prisons and hospitals for the criminally insane have examined. Such people, whom some have referred to as "rage junkies," seem to feel much better all the way around when their systems are loaded with adrenaline, cortisone, and testosterone or its analogs, all of which are made in quantity by the adrenal cortex and are normally released into the bloodstream when the individual concerned perceives a dangerous threat in his or her environment, is injured (think of "football injuries," which the victim doesn't even perceive until the play in which he received his is over), or is severely stressed. Among those who are chronically stressed, that loading of the system with such adrenal-made steroids becomes a condition normal to them, and they don't feel good unless their bloodstream is rich in the stuff. In the case of dangerously violent people, they seem not to feel truly alive unless their bodies are loaded with those hormones and they are enjoying a "rage high" as a result. In other words, they become addicted to such steroid hormones. The fact that the hormones are produced naturally, inside the body, rather than from outside it, makes no difference. They are as much addicts to those hormones as crack or crank addicts are to their own poison-of-choice, and like substance abusers, they will seek out any excuse and any means for indulging their jones for the chemicals they prefer. Such excuses evolve into denial, making it far harder for them to see that they are addicts and that giving up those addictions might be the better course.
Similar studies of paranoid schizophrenics show much the same thing: addiction to self-generated highs provided by the chemistry of the bodies of such individuals -- highs of compounded, artificially produced, strong emotions that are equal parts rage, terror, suspicion, and anxiety. The point is that all such people are addicted to internal states normally associated with rage, terror, and other negative emotions which are responses to external threats and outrageous situations -- but which, in such "rage & terror junkies," are the artificial results of willfully self-generated internal processes, directed at fantasies entertainted by those individuals and projected by them onto other people and the environment in general. Religious, sexual, and political fantasies are among the favorite means of generating such an internal state by such individuals.
Sound familiar? Think of the idea of jihad as just such a fantasies, of Islamism as a coordinated set of such fantasies, of the idea of 72 nubile virgins waiting in Paradise for "holy martyrs of Islam" as another type of fantasy, of "a land of their own for the Palestinians" as still another such fantasy. I think what we got here are lots and lots of rage-junkies who get their jollies on rage rather thank crack or heroin -- that's Islamism, and that's the history of jihad all over the world, regardless of what it is called or the culture in which it arises.
Islamism isn't glamorous, it isn't about supreme self-sacrifice, it isn't noble, it isn't righteous and holy or any of the rest of that jazz. It's just another addiction, one that is just as disgusting and sad as alcoholism, any other form of substance-abuse, sex-addiction, or any other addiction. Though while he enjoys his drug of choice the substance-abuser -- including the adrenaline addict -- may think he's so cool, to those around him who aren't in the same state, he looks like a jerk, a sad travesty of what a human being can and should be. The culture of Islamism is one of abusers of adrenaline/cortisone/testosterone and enabling of such abusers. Many Muslims do not buy into that culture, and never will, so this is no slam at Islam or Muslims -- but it is a very accurate portrayal of Islamism and Islamists.
Why don't we start calling a junkie a junkie? Arafat and Saddam Hussein and those like them are no better than drug pushers. The fact that the drug in question is adrenaline makes no difference. To further their own monstrously narcissistic ends, they have encouraged the growth and development of a culture that is just as ugly as that of committed barflies or heroin or crack addicts. Obviously they see their own people not as people, but rather as political cows to be milked dry, then cast aside, the way drug dealers see their customers. They are no better than the tobacco companies who slant their advertising to appeal to youth -- worse, because it s utterly certain that what they are pushing kills their people's children, that is their intention, whereas the tobacco industry has no real desire to kill off its own customers, though they put profits above the well-being of those same customers. Callousness is bad enough -- deliberate murder-for-profit, especially through raping the souls of the children of one's people via getting them hooked on rage highs, is several orders of magnitude worse. Not to mention sleazy, banal, and as low as you can go.
It's time for the media to stop glamorizing this culture of addiction to hate and rage and fear and despair, and recognize it for what it is: a junky's culture, nothing else.