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Why Arabs Believe In Force Fields (Interesting!)
Strategy Page ^ | December 26, 2008

Posted on 01/02/2009 12:07:35 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Many Pakistanis now believe that the recent Islamic terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, was the work of the Israeli Mossad, or the American CIA. Such fantasies are a common explanation, in Moslem nations, for Islamic terrorist atrocities. Especially when women and children, and Moslems, are among the victims, other Moslems tend to accept fantastic explanations shifting the blame to infidels (non-Moslems).

Conspiracies are not unique to the Moslem world, but they are much more common there. After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, many Moslems again blamed Israel. A favorite variation of this is that, before the attacks on the World Trade Center, a secret message went out to all Jews in the area to stay away. Another variation has it that the 19 attackers (all of them Arab, 15 from Saudi Arabia) were really not Arabs, but falsely identified as part of the Israeli deception. In the United States, some Americans insist that the attack was the work of the U.S. government, complete with the World Trade Center towers being brought down by prepositioned explosive charges. While few Americans accept this, the Moslem fantasies are widely accepted in the Moslem world. Even Western educated Arabs, speaking good English, will casually express, and accept, these tales of the Israeli Mossad staging the attacks, to trick the U.S. into attacking Afghanistan and Iraq. Americans are shocked at this, but the Moslems expressing these beliefs just shrug.

American troops arriving in Iraq go through a real culture shock as they encounter these cultural difference. They also discover that the cause of this, and many other Arab problems, is the concept of "inshallah" ("If God wills it.") This is a basic tenet of Islam, although some scholars believe the attitude preceded that religion. In any event, "inshallah" is deadly when combined with modern technology. For this reason, Arab countries either have poorly maintained infrastructure and equipment (including military stuff), or import a lot of foreigners, possessing the right attitudes, to maintain everything. That minority of Arabs who do have the right attitude towards maintenance and personal responsibility are considered odd, but useful.

The "inshallah" thing is made worse by a stronger belief in the supernatural, and magic in general. This often extends to technology. Thus many Iraqis believe that American troops wear sunglasses that see through clothing, and armor vests that are actually air conditioned. When they first encounter these beliefs, U.S. troops thought the Arabs are putting them on. Then it sinks in that Arabs really believe this stuff. It's a scary moment.

However, many troops learn to live with, and even exploit, these odd beliefs. When troops at one base discovered that they weren't being attacked much, because many of the locals believed that the base was surrounded by a force field, the troops would casually make reference to their force field, when they were outside the wire and among the locals. This reinforced the force field myth, and made the base safer. Other troops would invent new fantasies, like a pretending that a handheld bit of military electronics was actually a mind reading device. That often made interrogations go a lot quicker. Not all Arabs believe in this stuff, and those that didn't and worked for the Americans, often as an interpreter, could only shrug their shoulders when asked about it.

This easy acceptance of fantasies is exploited by leaders throughout the Middle East, and the Moslem world in general. Leaders who know better, build on these fantasies as a way to maintain their control over the population. The problem is a dirty little secret in the Moslem world, that leaders and academics don't even like to discuss it openly, much less with infidels. But it is real, and you can read all about it in the local media, or overhear it in the coffee shops.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: arabs; conspiracies; forcefield; forcefields; india; inshallah; iraq; islam; jihad; mumbai; muslims; pakistan; quran
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Poor, dumb, superstitious, stuck in the 7th Century and in love with your goat is no way to go through life, son!
1 posted on 01/02/2009 12:07:36 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Part of the reason they so easily live under tyrants and dictators.


2 posted on 01/02/2009 12:14:46 AM PST by miliantnutcase
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Certain socio-economic groups in the U.S. believe pretty bizarre things, too.

BTW, all the Arabs have to do is watch American movies to get the idea that the CIA or the U.S. military or someone similar would do something like take down the WTC.


3 posted on 01/02/2009 12:17:16 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. -C.S. Lewis)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Every time you pray to allah it lobotomizes your brain by 1%


4 posted on 01/02/2009 12:20:50 AM PST by dennisw (On the 31st floor a gold plated door won't keep out the Lord's burning rage ---FBB)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Wait till they hear about Karl Rove’s Halliburton weather machine.


5 posted on 01/02/2009 12:23:42 AM PST by TheWasteLand
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It is truly a shame that a civilization that once contributed to mathematics and other academia have been forced to live in the dark ages due to a control of knowledge which truly is a form of mental slavery.


6 posted on 01/02/2009 12:24:30 AM PST by guitarplayer1953 (Psalm 83:1-8 is on the horizon.)
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To: SJackson; Alouette

Of possible interest to your lists.


7 posted on 01/02/2009 12:31:17 AM PST by Slings and Arrows ("Every few generations the really, really bad ideas come back around for another go."--Howard Tayler)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
It is difficult to understand science and technology when your culture is lacking in innovation itself.
Islamic countries are known for their scientific advances in the areas of desalination, falconry and camel reproduction. Unfortunately, that's about it....

As the Nobel prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg said, there has been virtually no development in the area of Islamic science since the death of scholar and mystic, al-Ghazali in 1111.

8 posted on 01/02/2009 12:31:24 AM PST by dianed
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To: dianed

This article is in reference to Islam’s science deficit.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7115/full/444028a.html


9 posted on 01/02/2009 12:34:27 AM PST by dianed
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To: guitarplayer1953
It is truly a shame that a civilization that once contributed to mathematics and other academia have been forced to live in the dark ages due to a control of knowledge which truly is a form of mental slavery.

Only problem is these contributions came from civilized peoples (Hindus Persians) they conquered and either enslaved or forced Islam on them. And if converted to Islam that genius you speak of was soon exterminated

In Islam the highest intellectual endeavor is Koran study and that's what the high IQ people get forced into

10 posted on 01/02/2009 12:35:47 AM PST by dennisw (On the 31st floor a gold plated door won't keep out the Lord's burning rage ---FBB)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

People that believe in magic are succeptible to it.


11 posted on 01/02/2009 12:42:55 AM PST by RC one
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The article's target audience precludes the deeper theological reasons behind this belief. Muslims believe the world is recreated constantly, at infitessimally small increments, like frames in a movie. If you throw a spear, the example goes, that spear is re-created at each position from the moment it leaves your hand until it finds its target. Even some highly credible and respected Protestant theologians like Jonathan Edwards believed in this, or some variant of it.

From a metaphysical/philosophical starting point, this is a rather fascinating area of study, the type of thing men devote entire lives to.

12 posted on 01/02/2009 12:44:18 AM PST by Lexinom
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Didn’t we just see the same phenomenon here in the election with the Kool-Aid drinkers?


13 posted on 01/02/2009 12:44:23 AM PST by Technical Editor
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Self victimization is common. It's a defense mechanism that allows to see oneself in a more positive light.

Self victimization can be seen across lines of wealth, nations, race, sex, diseases, careers......etc. It's the attempt to “rationalize” what one normally would perceive as failure and be able to say that some force beyond ones control is to blame.

“It's not our corrupt government, a culture that has no work ethic, but the evil exploitative Western nations why we are poor in Africa.”

“I'm dying of AIDS because of secret experiments by the US government which created this disease.”

“I'm in prison because of my bad parents, because of XYZ.”

The self victimization game is simply an attempt to muddy the waters and take responsibility off ones own shoulders and project this failure onto others. It's also HIGHLY abused in the political arena. Anyone with even a little sense understands how powerful a tool this is and typically low life politicians exploit this. To the black community which is disproportionately hard hit by AIDS pushing the blame off on the US government, secret CIA conspiracies etc. is a whole lot better than looking into a mirror. Of course a whole slew of demagogue black leaders exploit this, like Hitler exploited the already antisemitic undertones in Europe and blamed everything that was wrong in Germany on the Jews. It simply feels better when someone else is to blame, and self victimization goes hand in hand with blaming others in some shape or form. When people self victimize, they ALWAYS shift the blame to someone or something else.

14 posted on 01/02/2009 12:45:04 AM PST by Red6
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Were it not for the real and endless threat posed by the very existence of mohammedans, one could almost feel pity for these people.

Almost...


15 posted on 01/02/2009 12:52:57 AM PST by Dr.Zoidberg
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

that about covers the material....


16 posted on 01/02/2009 12:56:05 AM PST by ffff (:)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

ping


17 posted on 01/02/2009 12:59:33 AM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (THE SECOND AMENDMENT, A MATTER OF FACT, NOT A MATTER OF OPINION)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Allah House!


18 posted on 01/02/2009 1:08:59 AM PST by ffusco (Maecilius Fuscus,Governor of Longovicium , Manchester, England. 238-244 AD)
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To: TheWasteLand

Wait till they hear about Karl Rove’s Halliburton weather machine.

bwhhahhaaaha yes and i believe calypso louis both cited and boarded a spaceship once upon a time....near chi....

.and another thing... what about the rumor that mother earth has developed a feverish fever here of late....

and what about that car man?...they got a car and it runs on water man...WATER ..but the oil companys killed the inventor see and destroyed the blueprints....

i, for one, am concerned and deeply troubled...


19 posted on 01/02/2009 1:11:05 AM PST by ffff (:)
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To: Lexinom
From a metaphysical/philosophical starting point, this is a rather fascinating area of study, the type of thing men andevote entire lives to.

If they so choose. But not as a raison d'être of an entire culture.

20 posted on 01/02/2009 1:27:13 AM PST by yankeedame ("Oh, I can take it but I'd much rather dish it out.")
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