Essays From The Master

Sensei T. Broussard on the current global war
 

Some years ago now those in the United States of America were attacked by terrorists whose stated rational or rather pretense for the attack whose a mixture of ideology, geo-politics and the crimes they imagined done to them by the West and Israel. Whatever there rational was or is it would seem that for this and many other groups the need for an enemy to fight is an important motivating element in there existence, much as it was for the Nazis who actually went to a great deal of trouble to foster Islamic hatred of the Jews and the West. An element of this need for an enemy that neither the Nazis nor the fascists we currently face seem to get is that they are seeking foes as a scapegoat for there own unhappiness of what they have made of there lives much like members of the Ku Klux Klan or any other openly antagonistic group. Fascism by its very nature is desperately reactionary and speaks of a fear that one is indeed not the “chosen” or the righteous because if one were there would be no need to prove it, history would bare that out. There would be no cause to fight or kill for because if one were ‘the elect’ nothing could prevent one from attaining whatever one’s goal is and so if one were the Chosen the best option would be to live in such a way that would be an example for all and let the unrighteous be done in by there own vices.

 

The thing about being the Chosen is that the world does not always see any person or group as they see themselves. This world is always tearing down would be messiahs and prophets. The various paradigms of the world are always vying for adherents and usually the adherents are fighting over whose vision of the paradigm is the true one. The world has always turned on the axis of conflict in one form or another because that is how those in power remain in power. Islamic holy men blame the poverty of there people on Israel and the West to have someone other than themselves to blame which sets there people against the west and diverts them from seeing that perhaps there own ideology is holding them back. This is no different than the KKK member blaming black people for the members own lack of a job when in fact it is the Klansman’s lack of education, which is purely his own doing, and other linked details that are the cause. The Klansman’s ego can not accept that his circumstance is his fault so he rationalizes that it must be “those blacks backed by people from up north that did this”, if the Klansman had simply done what he could to make the most of himself what others may have done or not would not have mattered. Another form of this same complex is that which states that because of past hardship or grievance by one group of people, the victimized group can never succeed. This is only true during the actual acts by the people who suppressed the victimized party.

 

Should the Islamic-fascists win and defeat the west the issues that hinder them as a people will remain and its likely that the various factions of Islam will turn on each other. This can now be seen in Iraq, for as soon as the evil of Saddam was removed various factions turned on each other and the US who is there trying to help them when the most tactical thing to do would have been to wipe out the people, set up a base and continue the war on other fronts. The US did not attack any Islamic culture to mandate a response from the “defenders of Islam,” 911 occurred because elements of Islam view USA culture as evil and because we won’t let them wipe out Israel. A great deal of Islamic rage stems from the fact that those in power in Islam keep the wounds of the Crusades open in the minds of the people. While some Christian armies did some horrid things to Muslims and Jews as well as many pagans and sub-sects of Christians the Islamic forces did the same to all non-Muslims and in some cases continue to do so, again feeling justified by some real or imagined past harm done to Muslims by non-Muslims. The Crusades are long over and the Church has actually apologized for its part in them, the governments behind the Crusades no longer exist.

 

The Middle Ages are long over so why do those in some forms of Islam keep such old wounds green and festering in spite of the fact that it keeps there own culture from progressing and the world from seeing the beauty of that culture? The answer is simply this: control! Anger and fear cloud the mind and make people easier to manipulate allowing the manipulators to remain in power unopposed. Saddam was no great believer in Islam and often likened himself to the main character in Scar Face though there are those labeling him a martyr. Does not a martyr have to die for his cause? Saddam did not; he was legally executed by the legal government of Iraq. Before his death Saddam often backed Islamic groups and that is why Saddam had to fall as part of the “war on terror”, that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction was only the one factor that the media built up in the mind of the masses. There is evidence to suggest that what weapons Saddam had were moved prior to the war in Iraq and that Saddam himself was lied to about the numbers of weapons he had by his own people. Many in our own country claim that Bush lied about WMDs and that Saddam had no links to 911 that is a case of stating opinion as fact. Other cases can be made saying the opposite and a very good case can be made that many who use the “Bush lied” stance are doing so in order to promote there socio-political agenda without awareness of the threat our enemies pose to our way of life.

 

The world is always at war on some level, various parties insure that the state of unrest is never at an end to keep them in power. If Islam just sought to be a religion and be a way for its people, and I know many Muslims who do feel that way, there would be no need to kill non-believers. Muslims must ask why our attention always is being focused away from our selves and our circumstances. Americans must ask why we are constantly being asked to understand and accept our enemy while they are trying to kill us. Given the choice most reasonable people would choose to live in peace. It is the meaning of peace that stops us from achieving it; we can not decide what peace means. To some it means that all conform and the world is one. To others peace means that you live your way and I live mine. So long as the people of this world continue to allow others to divide them and set them against each other we will have war. We can choose to submit, I for one am against this idea in any form, or we can give those who seek war so much of it that they choke on the very concept. If we take the second option we must be willing to be ruthless so that the side that started the war will choose to end it. Once the war is over can we allow ourselves to show mercy because during the war our enemy is not, due to this fact we can not afford to.

 

As a follower of the Silent Way, I abhor violence for its own sake and would much rather live in peace living my life as I choose. I hold Muslims no ill will and in fact respect much of Arabic culture. I am not a Muslim, Jew or Christian in the orthodox sense. My faith is not one that is known on any large scale and I feel no need to convince others of the reality of my faith. I am a proud American and a believer in those traditions upon which the USA was founded, one of which allows me to pursue my faith without interference and the ACLU to bog down the courts in meaningless protests against Christmas. As a martial artist I pursue my path as a means to better my self, as a logical being I know that my path is not the path for all who train in the martial sciences. As open as I am to all points of view I will deal with attacks as they come and so must my country. Just because all people do not agree with me I am not somehow entitled to harm those who disagree with me nor are those who disagree with me empowered to harm me. I never seek conflict though I must eliminate it when it arises to hinder the course of my life. 

 

I often tell my students that life is war, a war within one’s self between the base and the better elements of the self. It is through that inner struggle that we evolve from what we are based on what came before us to what we choose to be through the application of our will and the willful adherence to our chosen path. The media says that America is tired of the war, as an American I abhor war but I offer no quarter to any who would appose my right to live as I will or would take what is mine. The world is at war and that war is a reflection of the war that goes on within each individual, do not project your war onto me and we have no conflict. The word tolerance is often used a lot by those who decry the USA defending its self. To tolerate simply means to allow to exist, it does not mean to accept or validate which is what those who invoke tolerance seem to mean. For me tolerance has always meant to live and let live. It does not mean that all have to like, understand or accept each other at all. Hate me and America all you like, the moment you attack me or mine because of that hatred when nothing was done to you we have problem. If people can not see that there is so much more progress that could be had if we would simply be tolerant in the true sense of the word then we will always be at war and those behind the conflicts that plague the world will remain in power.

 

As I grow older I begin to see how very cyclical history is and how much of that is the choice of humanity. As I grow older however it’s also clear that peace such as I would have is not attainable by passive means. We must be active in our pursuit and preservation of peace through ruthless skill in war. We can not afford the luxury of guilt as to the tactics we use if a threat exists we must see that it ceases to be a threat by the most efficient means we have. Only when the world has had its fill of war will the people realize that other ways exist. We who see those other options already can only set the best example we can and so what we must to insure that conflicts when they arise are dealt with as quickly as possible and definitively so. I am not so foolish to hope that the world will change, if I want peace I must make it for my self and so must all who want peace in the form of live and let live. If we do that the world must and will change because it is we the people who define the world. Let those who wish to live free and at peace join me and do so and thus act by act change the world. I am a warrior who has fought enough to know how futile that act is, the world could be so much more than a killing field. We can not give peace a chance we must make it a reality.