KEEP IT IN PERSPECTIVE

Probably at the top of the list of what is currently disturbing has to be the hideous actions of what we call ISIS.  I must say that I never thought I would live to see the day that beheadings and putting people to death by dousing them with gasoline and lighting them up would be out there for me to see.  I have not seen the videos of these acts, but I believe the media when they tell me they are readily available for anyone to see.  How should we approach this topic in the classroom?  Do we bring it up and condemn it or do we avoid mentioning it?  Do we show the videos and run the risk that besides causing some nightmares, they might be alluring to some?  I haven’t heard one way or the other, but I suppose school districts are thinking about whether they should have some sort of policy to police this; if not, they should be.

But beyond these more potentially troubling concerns, how should we discuss ISIS, assuming a teacher is willing to take on the subject?  I think the first thing is to get some perspective.  Because something is outrageous, it does not mean that it threatens our existence or that it is beyond our ability to fix it.  ISIS is an entity that numbers fewer than 100,000 armed insurgents, localized in parts of Iraq.  Apparently, according to some accounts, the departed tyrant Saddam Hussein’s officers are higher ups in this force.  They are a group with big plans, setting up a caliphate and all; they have access to oil reserves and they are in the abduction business, raking in thousands of dollars in ransoms they are able to extract from the victims’ families.  Oh, they access to the Internet and social media that serves to broadcast their propaganda to a worldwide audience.  But all of that does not make them a potent force that can threaten the states around them, much less the US or European nations.  Yes, they apparently can spur some individuals to conduct ghastly attacks such as the one on the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris.  But this does not rise to a national crisis; it is a crime and developed countries have the wherewithal to address it.  ISIS has no air force, no navy, no allies.  As a matter of fact, if they continue on the same course, they will antagonize enough leaders and regular folks that the victims’ anger will lead to action – as it has already done in terms of Jordan’s response – and cause the eventual demise of ISIS.  I do not see a healthy future for ISIS.

And this leads me to think of the work of a scholar I have written about in this blog:  Francis Fukuyama.  He, back in 1989, proposed that we have witnessed the “end of history.”  The fall of Communism occasioned his pronouncement.  And what he was specifically saying was that with the fall of Communism, liberal-capitalism survived as the default ideology.  Let me quote the April 18, 2014, posting, Grading the End:  “… his claim was based on a Hegelian notion of history marching by the drum of ideological conflicts (thesis vs. antithesis:  old organizing idea vs. new organizing idea).  He saw that, with the fall of communism, our collective experience on the planet was at the point that such an advancement had come to an end.”  The argument is involved and a bit complicated, but for our purposes here it is sufficient to say that because of this development, there is a lack of competing ideas that serve to inspire war between nations.  And sure enough, since the fall of Communism there has been a steep decline in the number of armed conflicts between nations, particularly developed nations.  What we have had are civil disturbances and insurgencies motivated by religious ideologies.  But even here, we are talking about limited numbers, even in the case of ISIS.  Actually, Fukuyama’s argument is holding up quite well.  My only concern today in terms of this argument is our current conflict with Putin over Ukrainian separatists.  But even there, sanctions might do the trick; we will see.  So, if I were teaching about terrorism and ISIS and all those violent images our media is full of – and rightly so – I think I would be well advised to keep all of it in perspective.  ISIS is not a mortal danger to the US and my biggest concern is that any of my students be attracted to the romantic notions of an ideology that glorifies martyrdom.