Last week, Grandmasta at Arabic Media Shack discussed the Saudi Militant Amnesty Programs which are designed to rehabilitate Saudis who have become involved in Islamist terror. The basic premise is that those who become involved in terrorism have been misled by poorly educated Imams and if they can be reeducated, they will return to the path of peace:
Many Westerners are extremely suspicious of these types of programs. Surely these guys are just saying these things so they can get out of jail? But, Grandmasta believes they are approprirate for the local socio-cultural-religous context.
There is a sense in the Middle East that support for Al-Qaeda type ideology, not cheering when the US gets attacked, but actively buying into their religous philosophy, is a product of poor Islamic education upbringing. Watch these comments (specifically last 2 minutes) by the Mufti of Egypt, Ali Guma, for a good explanation of this point. According to Guma, noone who has ever gone through “proper” Islamic schooling, ie Al-Azhar, has ever commited an act of terrorism. So since the problem is bad schooling, the solution is easy- educate them of the right path.
Some in the US may doubt the validity of such “reformation.” But it shouldn’t matter what Americans think. What matters is what Muslims, on the ground, in the Middle East think. And clearly the overwhelming belief, both at the popular and scholarly level, is that adherence to Al-Qaeda’s religous ideology is a result of a faulty understanding of religion, which can be corrected. They know their society better than Americans, and wouldn’t risk its upheaval by putting ex-militants back on the street if they weren’t convinced of the genuiness of the transformation. And until any of these amnestied Saudi militants reverts to his old ways, which as far as Grandmasta knows has not happened yet, then these kinds of programs should be encouraged.
The BBC article that Grandmasta links to, Perks of penance for Saudi jihadis, makes two important points that are germane to this discussion:
"As a [Western] person you might question this - but when I put on my Saudi hat, I think, it was the right decision" says Khalid al-Maeena, editor of the English-language Arab News.
"We are a patriarchal society. These people are sons of the soil. When a son makes a mistake, the father forgives him and the King has pardoned them."
The centre has only been open for 18 months and most of those currently passing through it are al-Qaeda's foot soldiers, not its ideologues.
The Saudi society is more than merely patriarchal, it is also tribal. Further, Saudi culture tends to raise young people with high levels of narcissistic pathology. The hallmark of narcissism is the sensitivity of an individual to the approval or disapproval of the external, idealized world of significant people. In a Patriachal and tribal society, the approval of the community is primary. To become a source of shame is life threatening. In my series on Narcissism, Malignant Narcissism, and Paranoia, I described how the healthy developmental line of narcissism can be skewed by disturbed mother-child relationships, over- and under-indulgence of the child's infantile needs, physical and sexual abuse, and a host of other "failures of empathy" between the parents and child. Such a child is left with fragile self-esteem and more than the usual need for approval. (From Part III.)
When a child grows up with a mother who is poorly able to offer her child unconditional love and an adequate, empathic mirror (which a the child needs in order to make sense of his own inchoate affective states and experiences and develop a stable image of himself) it makes it extremely difficult for him to develop an image of himself as a person who has anything of value within himself.
A depressed mother, a deprived mother, an immature mother, a drug addicted mother, or a narcissistic mother, (not an exhaustive list) typically has a limited ability to respond to the needs of her child because her needs remain primary. (I do not mean to imply that any child born to a depressed mother, or a substance abusing mother, is doomed. The complex interplay between the child’s inherent disposition and constitution and the quality of his nurturing, from parents, siblings, and other significant people, will ultimately determine his psychological status; to paraphrase Richard Feynman in another context, character development is non-computational.)
The damaged child must find ways to compensate or he will be unable to thrive. He may develop a narcissistic or sociopathic self representation. In our current cultural condition, this can be seen in the aggrandizement of the "gangsta". Rap music uses this image, of the tough thug who no one can touch, as a way to use the external world to support a self image that protects them from the weakness, humiliations, and depression that would affect anyone who feels of little worth; their bravado suggests to some that they have high self-esteem (in fact, many felons have high levels of self esteem as measured by superficial questionnaires) but their language and behavior reveals their sense of themselves as having less intrinsic value. Anyone who needs to demand respect, rather than earn respect, has some fundamental doubts about whether he deserves respect. As an aside, while I do not especially like Rap music, I do not think it is dangerous for the majority of children who grow up in secure, loving environments; for them, being a “gangsta” is a pose, often a provocative one, and usually an ironic one, but it doesn't keep them from doing their work, behaving well toward others, etc. In a more damaged child in a dysfunctional family and environment, the "gangsta", (along with the pimps, hos, and bitches glorified in the music) is more likely to become part of their self representation and ego ideal (who they are and who they want to be), making it much harder to manage their self esteem and function in society. If the community glorifies Rappers who project these self images, it leaves such children with very little to balance against it. This problem has long been ignored but recently people like Bill Cosby has begun to speak out on the subject which is an optimistic sign.
In addition, while we are most familiar with the narcissistic pathology of the self-aggrandizing egotist, that is not the only form that narcissistic pathology takes. Dr. Sanity has described the need for the developing child to synthesize and integrate the Grandiose Self (only concerned with self gratification) and the Idealized Object (only concerned with pleasing the important other.):
MALIGNANT NARCISSISM - Sociopathic Selfishness and Sociopathic Selflessness
It is my contention that the adoption of either of the extreme ethical systems derived from the developing self will inevitably leads to disastrous consequences for both for the individual and for society, and is the cause of most human suffering. Both extremes represent a form of malignant narcissism with which our world is plagued.
The unopposed Grandiose Self gives rise to tyrants big and small; to megalomaniacal dictators and dictator wannabees; to unbelievable corporate greed and plundering; and to the typical criminal sociopath in all his/her glory. The damage that such individuals do in individual relationships, in business, in politics and in all spheres of human behavior, is well documented and appreciated in the world. Most children are abjured repeatedly never, never to be "selfish". To always consider others. Laws are set up to protect people from victimization at the hands of these unrestrained grandiose monsters, unable to see other people as distinct individuals separate from their own self. These "others" exist only as the means to achieving their own desires.
But far more menacing to humanity is the unrestrained IO [Idealized Object], which has unlimited potential to cause human misery and death; and whose destructiveness we have seen dominate the 20th century. The countless dead bodies that are the direct result of this form of malignant narcissism are quickly forgotten because they died as some nations, religions, ideologies attempted to implement their IDEAL in the real world.
This second type of evil is more subtle, and it derives from the ethics of the IO side of the self. The IO also does not see other people as distinct individuals with needs and desires of their own, but only as fodder for the expression of an IDEAL; or as pawns for the wishes of a deified GS. People with this narcissistic defect completely reject the needs of the individual and enslave him or her to the service of their IDEAL. Eventually, the enslavement--whether religious or secular--snuffs out human ambition, confidence, energy, self-esteem, and life. These mindlessly malignant "do-gooders" -- like our Nobel Laureate mentioned at the start of this article-- do far more harm than good and their ideologies can lead to genocidal practices and unbelievable atrocities on a grand scale, all in the name of an IDEAL or GOD.
The malignant and sociopathic potential of both the GS and IO are inherent in the human species. They are flip sides of the same human coin, you see. One side cannot exist without the other. Either a way is found to synthesize the two, or an individual will forever flip-flop between them--coldly and viciously tyrannical toward all humans in pursuit of his own desires on the one hand; and on the other, coldly and viciously determined no matter what the cost in human lives and suffereing to implement his IDEAL in all human society.
Dr. Sanity was expressly concerned here with the sociopathic potential of the collectivist ideal. It may be evident that the Umma, as promulgated by the Islamists represents a collective and that devotion to the IO of the Umma can be problematic when the IO is understood as desirous of evil.
Another way of describing this is to point out that self-esteem relies on the closeness of the match with one's ego ideal and the ego ideal is greatly influenced by one's culture. In a sub-culture that idealizes gangstas, the budding narcissist strives to be a gangsta. In a culture that idealizes murderers and suicide bombers, the budding narcissist strives to become a murderer or suicide bomber. Anyone who doubts that the ego ideal in Palestinian and Arab culture has been perverted in dangerous ways need only attend to the celebration of the release of Samir Kuntar, a child murderer of the most vile kind.
One implication of this discussion is that a culture can have a powerful impact on the narcissistically vulnerable. If a culture's ego ideals change, the Selfless Idealist will alter his ego ideal. If our culture and sub-culture were to shame absent fathers and unmarried mothers and return to an idealization of the nuclear family, the more vulnerable would be more likely to work harder to achieve that ideal. If we could, in the inner cities, devalue the gangsta and more highly value those who become productive citizens, it would have an impact on the most vulnerable.
In a similar vein, if the Saudis can shame and devalue the terrorists who kill in the name of Islam and show the misguided young people that the true path of Islam is peace (with a bonus being that joining Jihad in Iraq is not going to bring glorious martyrdom but rather result in being labeled as a dupe or apostate), the allure of Islamist Jihad would fade.
Only time will tell if the Saudis are serious about these efforts or if it is merely a version of Hudna and Taqqiya but there are good reasons to believe that if they are serious this can be an effective tool for fighting terror.
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