How Will We View Al Qaeda In 100 Years Time? Horrific or Glamorous?

13 posts / 0 new

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Sat, 2010-11-06 10:47

I think the 21st Century, so far, has been pretty boring. If I had to describe, to a future time traveler, what made it exciting and different to other centuries then two things would spring to mind, 1. "Everyone uses a thing called the Internet and there are internet Hackers, Viruses etc" and 2. "There are Islamic Terrorists that blow themselves up and crash planes into buildings".

I have the feeling that the future time traveller is going to view the Al Qaeda terrorist as a colorful and glamorous villain from history the way that we think of Pirates, Viking Raiders,Western Outlaws, 1920's Gangsters, Jack The Ripper or even, dare I say it, Nazi's and German Soldiers.

So, as a 21st Centurian, ofcourse I condemn Al Qaeda as evil,mad, vile and contemptible but
as a person who likes a histories, stories and colorful characters I think they are making the 21st century more interesting.

Sun, 2010-11-07 00:50

David Kirtley

Hind sight always reinterprets history. The Al Qaeda chapter is not yet closed. Are they going to bring mounting horror to the west (and the east), as they did do to a vicious extent in Iraq, or are they going to win hearts and minds among muslims and lead some sort of muslim fundamentalist renaissance against corrupted western values and Israel. I don't personally see them as very romantic; more as young brainwashed miseducated and misdirected fools, throwing their lives away and their victims for no greater good at all. Look what nasty stupidity they brought to the Iraqi civil wars after the fall of Saddam. They seemed to be a large part of why that nation couldn't find its feet and kept blaming the foreigners who never intended to stay anyway for the troubles they and other groups, both Sunni and Shia, created. Maybe I am missing something in their 'romantic' fight against all the odds. Perhaps the modern international economic system really is the real devil, but I don't think they will build anything good with indiscriminate terror attacks and suicide.

Sun, 2010-11-07 15:13

chuck

The winner writes the history books so I guess it depends who wins. The question is will America run out of money before the muslim world runs out of jihadis.

Mon, 2010-11-08 09:35

Crowkey

In my view Al Qaeda is a made up word like Supercalifragiliisticexpialidouious. 911 was an inside job

Wed, 2011-01-19 23:01

(Reply to #4) #5

Whatsername

Thank goodness you said that, I was beginning to think no one on here knew that 9/11 was the biggist lie in history, well maybe not the biggest but quite a porker. We are all the victims and perpertrators of evil to a greater or lesser extent.

Fri, 2011-01-21 11:50

(Reply to #5) #6

well-wisher

The problem I have with the "Al-Qaeda doesn't exist", conspiracy theory is that, even if its true that Al-Qaeda was a fiction to begin with, it certainly isn't a fiction now. In the documentary the "Power Of Nightmares" they put forward the conspiracy theory view that "there was no Al-Qaeda. There was only lots of little islamic terrorist groups that had no connection to each other but the CIA and the Neo-conservatives created this fictional terrorist network called Al Qaeda and tried to lump all the small unconnected islamic terrorist groups together under that umbrella name" But,if thats true, it's also true that, since the name Al-Qaeda came to the publics attention, lots of small terrorist groups have started calling themselves Al-Qaeda; embracing and adopting that name, wether it was originally made up or not. So, as I said, even if Al-Qaeda didn't exist before 9/11 it certainly exists now.

Oh look, a link. I wonder where it leads.

JoHn

Sun, 2010-12-19 17:29

camilla

I don't think Nazis are "glamorous" and sick narcissists who get vulnerable people to kill themselves while killing others are as far from anything "fun" as you could get. They are human rabid dogs.They are a perversion of humanity and that is how they will be seen. Terrorism is the downside of the new technologies we have invented mass travel and mass communications. Tribal conflicts no longer stay "over there". We have created a new environment and do not know how to manage it.

Sun, 2011-01-02 13:52

well-wisher

Camilla. What your talking about is the mundane-ness of evil but in popular culture, evil IS glamorous (or atleast glamorized). All villains are glamorous. Vampires,murderers and Serial Killers and the Devil are glamorous. Darkness and death are glamorous. People are fascinated by darkness.

Oh look, a link. I wonder where it leads.

JoHn

Tue, 2011-01-18 11:30

(Reply to #8) #9

prettypolly

"evil IS glamorous." Would YOU like to be a victim of evil, well-wisher? Would you like to have been blown up in the 7th July 2005 bus or underground train attacks? Would you like to have been there at the time?

Tue, 2011-01-18 22:33

(Reply to #9) #10

well-wisher

"Would YOU like to be a victim of evil, well-wisher? Would you like to have been blown up in the 7th July 2005 bus or underground train attacks? Would you like to have been there at the time?" I wouldn't have liked to have been a victim of Jack The Ripper either, yet he helps London's tourist industry and I don't think many tourists come to London to weep over his victims.

Oh look, a link. I wonder where it leads.

JoHn

Mon, 2011-01-17 19:51

#11

camilla

They are only fun when they are fiction. Otherwise we have already begun to confuse fiction and reality and are losing our humanity.

Tue, 2011-01-18 11:31

(Reply to #11) #12

prettypolly

"They are only fun when they are fiction. Otherwise we have already begun to confuse fiction and reality and are losing our humanity." Sensible girl, Camilla!

Tue, 2011-01-18 22:37

(Reply to #12) #13

well-wisher

"They are only fun when they are fiction. Otherwise we have already begun to confuse fiction and reality and are losing our humanity." Not just fiction. One only has to look at the success of the factual "Horrible Histories" books and "The London dungeon" and magazines like "True Crime".

Oh look, a link. I wonder where it leads.

JoHn

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