Winning and envy
Reader comment on item: Winning the Propaganda War [versus Radical Islam]

Submitted by James (United States), Dec 28, 2005 at 10:27

Hi Dr. Pipes,

I am always thankful to God when I read your e-mails. I should like to add that if the islamic mind is closed to the outside reporting of facts I would not expect them to be any more open to the reporting of ideas. The only thing that has a chance of breaching the redoubt of their cultural-religious enclave is a dynamic entrepreneurial capitalism.

That economic system flourishes best in a democratic-republic rooted in the rule of law and the sanctity of private property. As a matter of fact, that is our unspoken purpose in Iraq. The opportunity to accumulate wealth is the opportunity to be freed from the tyranny of one's neighbor. The accumulation of that wealth in the modern world depends on access to information and ideas. It is the unleashing of the dynamic of capitalism that will breach the walls of these islamic redoubts, because it will trigger their minds to act competitively in the pursuit of a different kind of happiness, a happiness that can be enjoyed on this earth.

Islam is dependent on a futuristic paradise, a paradise that offers in eternity what can not be hoped for in the present. Well, the West, in fact, offers their Paradise in the present, which is why this is a war of the worlds, a war between one world which requires a static environment devoid of hope for the masses, and one that is dynamic that feeds on hope for the masses who can then aspire beyond their own birth place.

In the Ten Commandments there are two imperatives that deal with envy. One addresses property, and the other addreses one's neighbor's wife. one thing that is clear about the psychology of envy; where it is allowed to flourish unchecked, it results in the destruction of that which cannot be acquired. Envy is the other head of this monster of Islamic terrorism.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

I am sceptical but, from what one can tell, capitalism has reached such places as Dubai, Qatar and even Saudi Arabia, so there will soon enough be a chance to test your hypothesis.