The price of arrogance
There are no two peoples more unlike each other than the Japanese and the Arabs. The Japanese are well organized, very technical and highly motivated, while the Arabs are disorganized, technically incompetent and violent. So what do these two peoples have in common? They have both attacked the US and caused significant casualties. Both attacks were seemingly unprovoked, although they were both justified by the attackers as "getting even" for perceived mistreatment. I am talking of course about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 12/7/1941, that brought the US into WWII, and the attack on the Twin Towers in NYC on 9/11/2001. So what was similar about these attacks?
One important common feature is that each of these peoples/nations felt that they had been badly treated by the US. The Japanese were smarting under the imposition of naval and oil restrictions imposed on them by the US and its European allies during the lead up to WWII. The Arabs felt that the US was taking over and controlling them, by running their oil facilities and having essentially an army of occupation in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Now some might say that it was not "all" Arabs that felt this way. True, but neither was it all Japanese that felt this way, but we don't distinguish for the purposes of history between those who disagreed with their nation's policies and those who supported them. The Arabs and other Muslims were and are predominantly anti-American and most celebrated the attack on 9/11. The fact is that certain actions were taken leading to war in both cases.
So what was the common denominator? A psychological resentment that the nation of the attacker was not receiving its due position in the world, its appropriate "share of the pie." After all, the imperial powers had sliced up the world into their own empires, making colonies of "lesser" men, such as Africans and some Asians. There were certain nations, such as the Germans, Russians, Japanese and Arabs, who felt that they should be leaders of this game, instead of being second tier. They all felt that the white Anglo-Saxon English-speaking world had taken over, had too much power, and was not letting them have their due share. So the Germans developed a racial theory and started WWII, the Russians developed communism and started the Cold War. But it was the Japanese and the Arabs who saw the power of the USA as the premier blockage to their own development of power, and so they attacked.
The Japanese Empire under Emperor Hirohito and PM General Tojo attacked Pearl Harbor and destroyed most of the US Pacific fleet and expected the US to be cowed into submission. Osama bin Laden on behalf of al Qaeda and Islam resented the presence of US armed forces in the holy peninsula of Arabia, and declared war on the US. Having defeated the USSR in Afghanistan it was not a big stretch to believe that they could do the same to the US. Both opted to attack the US in its homeland. You could say that both of these attackers were motivated by a fatal flaw, an ingrained arrogance, that led them to over-estimate their capability. They failed to recognize that the US was the world's most powerful country by right, having developed over time the industry, affluence and capability that made it the world's greatest power, while they were only pretenders to the throne, motivated by resentment and jealousy. So they attacked, both in cowardly ways, and were defeated. The Japanese were utterly defeated and reduced to ruin and death. The Arab-Muslim cause has been dealt a severe blow in Afghanistan, Iraq and now with the death of Osama bin Laden, they see the consequences of directly challenging the US.
The Japanese arrogance came from believing that they were superior by virtue of their culture. The Arab arrogance came from believing that they were superior by virtue of their belief in Islam, a religion that preaches the superiority of Muslims over all others and had in the past reduced all others to lower (dhimmi) status. It is the realization that this world-view of their own superiority was flawed that led the Japanese to completely reverse their culture after WWII, to become pacificists, westernized and modernized. Perhaps we can see the perception of the wrongness of this arrogance by the Muslims in the current uprisings in the Arab world. After all, the ordinary Arab is not stupid, he sees the progress and superiority of the American way of liberal democracy thru the technical media revolution compared to the backwardness and stagnation in the Arab world, and now knows that attacking and trying to defeat the US is not the way to go. So he and his fellows turn on their own dictators and try to change their own system. The repercussions of this internal upheaval is unknown, particularly in view of resistance such as that of Gaddafi in Libya and Assad in Syria. But, the consequences of arrogance and direct attacks are clear for all to see. Osama bin Laden is as dead as General Tojo.
One important common feature is that each of these peoples/nations felt that they had been badly treated by the US. The Japanese were smarting under the imposition of naval and oil restrictions imposed on them by the US and its European allies during the lead up to WWII. The Arabs felt that the US was taking over and controlling them, by running their oil facilities and having essentially an army of occupation in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Now some might say that it was not "all" Arabs that felt this way. True, but neither was it all Japanese that felt this way, but we don't distinguish for the purposes of history between those who disagreed with their nation's policies and those who supported them. The Arabs and other Muslims were and are predominantly anti-American and most celebrated the attack on 9/11. The fact is that certain actions were taken leading to war in both cases.
So what was the common denominator? A psychological resentment that the nation of the attacker was not receiving its due position in the world, its appropriate "share of the pie." After all, the imperial powers had sliced up the world into their own empires, making colonies of "lesser" men, such as Africans and some Asians. There were certain nations, such as the Germans, Russians, Japanese and Arabs, who felt that they should be leaders of this game, instead of being second tier. They all felt that the white Anglo-Saxon English-speaking world had taken over, had too much power, and was not letting them have their due share. So the Germans developed a racial theory and started WWII, the Russians developed communism and started the Cold War. But it was the Japanese and the Arabs who saw the power of the USA as the premier blockage to their own development of power, and so they attacked.
The Japanese Empire under Emperor Hirohito and PM General Tojo attacked Pearl Harbor and destroyed most of the US Pacific fleet and expected the US to be cowed into submission. Osama bin Laden on behalf of al Qaeda and Islam resented the presence of US armed forces in the holy peninsula of Arabia, and declared war on the US. Having defeated the USSR in Afghanistan it was not a big stretch to believe that they could do the same to the US. Both opted to attack the US in its homeland. You could say that both of these attackers were motivated by a fatal flaw, an ingrained arrogance, that led them to over-estimate their capability. They failed to recognize that the US was the world's most powerful country by right, having developed over time the industry, affluence and capability that made it the world's greatest power, while they were only pretenders to the throne, motivated by resentment and jealousy. So they attacked, both in cowardly ways, and were defeated. The Japanese were utterly defeated and reduced to ruin and death. The Arab-Muslim cause has been dealt a severe blow in Afghanistan, Iraq and now with the death of Osama bin Laden, they see the consequences of directly challenging the US.
The Japanese arrogance came from believing that they were superior by virtue of their culture. The Arab arrogance came from believing that they were superior by virtue of their belief in Islam, a religion that preaches the superiority of Muslims over all others and had in the past reduced all others to lower (dhimmi) status. It is the realization that this world-view of their own superiority was flawed that led the Japanese to completely reverse their culture after WWII, to become pacificists, westernized and modernized. Perhaps we can see the perception of the wrongness of this arrogance by the Muslims in the current uprisings in the Arab world. After all, the ordinary Arab is not stupid, he sees the progress and superiority of the American way of liberal democracy thru the technical media revolution compared to the backwardness and stagnation in the Arab world, and now knows that attacking and trying to defeat the US is not the way to go. So he and his fellows turn on their own dictators and try to change their own system. The repercussions of this internal upheaval is unknown, particularly in view of resistance such as that of Gaddafi in Libya and Assad in Syria. But, the consequences of arrogance and direct attacks are clear for all to see. Osama bin Laden is as dead as General Tojo.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:21 AM
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