Theos-Talk Archives (September 2004 Message tt00289)

leonmaurer@a... wrote:
> "Terrorism," as it appears today, is a political and social problem that 
> theosophy, which doesn't interfere in social or political action, can have no 
> practical solution... 
The Theosophical Society should not get active in politics, except as a 
conduit for increasing understanding between opposing forces. That does 
not mean that individual Theosophists do not, or even should not, become 
active in making this a better world in which to live. There are three 
levels of terrorists; the leadership, the "middle management" and the 
foot soldiers. The leadership has a hunger for power, often to the level 
of fanaticism. The middle management is recruited from the weak who try 
to make themselves strong by weakening others rather than working on 
themselves. Finally, the foot soldiers come from those who have lost 
hope, and believe that, by destroying themselves, at least they can help 
those whom they have let down. The most extreme cases of this is the 
suicide bombers; the ranks are from people with no future and families 
to support, people under death sentence who are given a choice of a 
shameful death or a heroic one, or people without status in the society 
who can at least give status to their family.

Eliminate any one of the groups, and the other two become ineffective. 
The leadership and middle management levels can only be eliminated by 
separating them from their resources, either by imprisonment or death. 
But the foot soldiers can be eliminated if one can give them hope. There 
are too many people out there who find it easier to bring others down to 
their level than it is to make themselves stronger to eliminate the 
middle management; remove one, and there are two aching to take that 
one's place. This leaves the leadership and the foot soldiers. The more 
fanatics in the leadership, the harder they are to eliminate; those who 
have a hunger for power set things up so that they are very difficult to 
replace if eliminated. This leaves the foot soldiers. Eliminating them 
is difficult and undesirable; preferable is removing their motivation, 
and this can only be done by giving them hope. This cannot be done by 
simple giving of material things; that can have the opposite effect, by 
creating resentment, dependence, and an even greater sense of 
hopelessness. The ability for self-sufficiency is the only thing that 
can work, and is difficult to give.

Bart