The Root Causes of Terrorism

What are the root causes of evil? In order to understand the root causes of terrorism one needs to ask that question. It appears that Deepak Chopra has sparked this debate again. I think that the root causes of terrorism are things that we should debate and discuss. I also think that we should recognize this debate for what it is, a debate on the root causes of evil. I can tell you what are somethings that are not root causes of terrorism: poverty, U.S. foreign policy, despair, or any outside stimulate. In other words, whatever the root causes they are entirely the product of decisions and behaviors created by the terrorists themselves.

Here is how Chopra characterized it.

What happened in Mumbai, he told the interviewer, was a product of the U.S. war on terrorism, that "our policies, our foreign policies" had alienated the Muslim population, that we had "gone after the wrong people" and inflamed moderates. And "that inflammation then gets organized and appears as this disaster in Bombay." . . .

Now, the idea that someone had a moderate point of view and then saw some geopolitical event and this caused this person to strap a bomb to their persons, find as many innocents as possible, and then blow themselves up is patent nonsense. If someone straps a bomb to their selves in order to kill innocent civilians whatever their reasons, they are nothing more than internal justifications for pure evil.

Whatever the root causes, they are still entirely internal. To me, evil comes from a combination of two things. First, is a massive inflated selfishness where not only does one make decisions in their own best interest but the interests of anyone else aren't ever even contemplated. The second component is a demented sense of right and wrong or even worse a total lack thereof.

To me, the only way to deal with evil is to confront it and eliminate it. Trying to turn an evil person good is a noble endeavor, but it is not one that should have any place in geopolitics. Those in clergy, psychology, and simply does that try and reach out should attempt to turn evil folks into good folks. That is NOT the job of those in geopolitics. Furthermore, no one is turned evil by another's foreign policy. Turning to evil is entirely the product of individual's own decisions. Examining the roots of terrorism is a healthy debate, but let's start at the right place, evil. Evil is the product of decisions made by the individual that is engulfed in it. It is not our fault that there is terrorism, and any suggestion of such entirely misunderstands the evil that is at the root of it.