The Genius of ISIS

(NOTE: This piece was originally written three days after the terror attacks in Paris in November, 2015.)

First, let's go back. On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda pulled off the deadliest terror attack in American history, killing nearly 3,000 people, destroying the Twin Towers and severely damaging the Pentagon. I would argue that al-Qaeda's greatest success was not scored on 9/11. Their greatest success came after. You see, we here in the West are very predictable people. When a shock to the system occurs, our brains shut off and we react strictly from the gut. Thinking deeply about things is seen as hesitation, while knee-jerk reactions based on a shallow reading of events is often seen as strength. In the wake or midst of some frightening or terrible event we always overreact, both politically and militarily, and the people cheer as they watch their rights erode in the name of safety.

So no, al-Qaeda's greatest triumph wasn't 9/11 itself; their great victory can be found in our reaction to 9/11. Now we live with the Patriot Act and the NDAA, the NSA bulk collection of our phone calls and snooping of our e-mails (Constitution be damned). Now we must look at our own government through a lens of paranoia and distrust. We fought two wars that cost trillions of dollars and the lives of thousands of American soldiers, as well as over a hundred thousand civilian lives in the countries who were the target of our just crusade. Here at home we saw a predictable rise in Islamophobia. Attacks on mosques (as well as attempts by some politicians and so-called patriot groups to ban the building of mosques altogether), attacks on Muslims (as well as many Sikhs due to the confusion among many dimwitted bigots of the differences between Sikhs and Muslims).

We had people harassing Muslim-Americans from the West Coast (I recall a story about a Muslim-American group that held an anti-domestic violence banquet, and a group of "patriots" were stationed right outside, screaming at men in the company of their wives and children that they were all child molesters) to the East Coast (remember when Republican Peter King wanted to set up HUAC-style hearings to investigate the "loyalty" of Muslim-Americans in government?). Time and again Muslim-Americans were told that they will always be "other", that they will always be suspect, that they will never be "real" Americans. They are told by society at large that they are born guilty, and that no amount of patriotism or loyalty will wash away that guilt.

So now this. The new kid on the block is ISIS. Despite repeated claims by conservatives that ISIS represents a war on Christianity by Muslims, the truth is that the vast majority of ISIS's victims are their fellow Muslims. What many fail to see is ISIS's true aim. George Orwell wrote:

The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power...Power is not a means; it is an end...The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.

Just as Ingsoc dressed its quest for power in revolutionary robes, so ISIS dresses its own quest in religious ones. And of what use is power if there is no one to exert that power over?

Right now tens of thousands of civilians a day are fleeing the power of ISIS, and these people are landing on the shores of Europe. These are people who have left their entire lives behind them to get on a raft with their children and take a trip that they must accept might very likely end with a watery death, all for a chance to live without the threat of death squads and death from the sky. Well, for ISIS this just won't do. How to put a stop to it? That's a simple question when you are dealing with an enemy as predictable as the West. Slip a couple terrorists in among the refugees and viola!, Western governments now have the reason they've been looking for to stop the refugees at the border, to block them out, to send them back. If a violent death awaits them when they are sent back, well, that's between them and their God. We're just protecting ourselves.

But stopping the exodus of potential victims is only one part of the plan. Other parts are playing out just as predictably. The smartest thing about the recent Paris attack (and the Charlie Hebdo attack before it), is that they knew enough to attack white folks. Anyone remember the attack last month in Turkey, where a peace rally was bombed and ninety-seven people died? Remember any "we stand with Turkey" rallies? How about the terrorist bombing in Lebanon just days ago that killed forty civilians? No? Nobody? Precisely. Killing tan-skinned Muslims is good for terrifying the locals, but it gets little play in Western media. From a PR standpoint it's small potatoes. Attacking fair-skinned people where they live? Now that gets attention.

After Charlie Hebdo there were reprisal attacks against Muslim civilians and businesses in France, and I see no reason to think the same won't happen again. French President Hollande wants to have a three month state of emergency, during which civil rights will be cheerfully disregarded, and suspicion will be treated as accomplished fact.

Here in the States someone just tried to burn down a mosque. There may very well be more attacks on Muslim-Americans (and Sikh-Americans...again, the whole thing about xenophobic extremists not being overly smart). Several Governors are threatening to refuse to take Syrian refugees. (How they plan to prevent refugees from being brought to their states, or traveling there freely if they arrive first in another state, none of them have said.) We have contenders for the Presidency of the United States declaring that only Christian refugees should be accepted, and Muslim refugees forbidden. There are increasing calls for an all-out ground war, so another trillion dollars and thousands more American soldiers' lives can be wasted. We have ridiculous threats to "nuke the Middle East" proposed by amateur foreign policy “experts”.

And all the while disaffected Muslims in America, in France and in the rest of Europe are hearing the message loud and clear: You are not one of us. You will never be one of us. You will always be "other".

They are listening. And some of them, regrettably, will come to believe it is true.

And that is the genius if ISIS. In one stroke they have insured that we will help them by: A) Putting a cork in the exodus of their victims from the territories they control (so they can continue exerting power for power's sake), and B) Our predictable knee-jerk position of xenophobia and Islamophobia will be a better recruitment tool than they could ever have dreamed of.

Hats off to you ISIS. Well played. I can only hope that one day we will actually learn enough from our mistakes to keep from repeating them. But I'm not holding my breath.