Theos-Talk Archives (October 2002 Message tt00149)

--- In theos-talk@y..., Mic Forster <micforster@y...> wrote:
> But if Australia is going to solve the root cause of
> this problem it has to address the root cause of the
> problem. And the root cause is this: Australia is
> supporting a murderous, hypercritic, unjust regime
> that is George Bush and the United States government.

Well, I do not have any admiration for the Dense Prince but it has 
not yet been established that this attack had anything to do with 
Australians, except incidentally. I suspect the targets were 
tourists who just happened to be Australians. Had they been Japanese 
the terrorists would probably have targeted them anyway for being 
tourists, in other words.

The site bombed was a nightclub in a Muslim country. My 
understanding is, in Muslim countries many people find it offensive 
to have night life, movie theatres, dancing, and especially alcohol 
consumption. It is also not OK to be an infidel in their midst, 
although if you are a few thousand miles away they probably would not 
take note of you. Had they bombed a bus or a hotel the significance 
might have been different. The fact that they chose a night club 
seems to be the key here.

If you want to visit Indonesia, it might make sense to make yourself 
look something like the locals (i.e., blend in), and avoid behaviors 
which the locals will consider offensive, such as eating pig, 
drinking alcohol, having a good time, and consorting with women. In 
this case, to paraphrase Shakespeare, the fault is probably not in 
our Bush but in ourselves. Get right in people's faces and offend 
them long enough and something like this might happen. The most 
practical solution to the problem from the point of view of 
Indonesia's rulers may be to restructure the economy of Bali so that 
it is not so heavily dependent on tourism. Then they can 
chant "Australians go home!" and not regret the consequences if they 
do just that. With 72% of the people there working in the tourist 
industry there is likely to be real suffering on the island if 
Australians selfishly avoid the place merely to keep from being blown 
to bits or gunned down with automatic weapons fire. With a 
reorientation of the Balinese economy this would not happen in future.

I suspect that is the real root cause. You simply cannot go into a 
foreign country year after year and offend the locals the way 
Australians have innocently but nonetheless thoughtlessly done in 
Indonesia and expect that there will be no retaliation ever. Since 
it was done out of ignorance and not malice it should be simple 
enough to correct. Just take a vacation somewhere else where you 
will be welcome. In any event I was confused by your statement that 
Bush is a murderer. (The statement that he is an idiot does not 
confuse me at all.) I assume you mean someone is murdering the 
Australian aborigines again and that Bush is responsible. I am a 
fanatic about the rights of aborigines and kangaroos and share your 
outrage if they are being killed yet again, but I had not read that 
Bush was involved with that. Has that been reported in the papers? 
Could you provide a link?