When you think of Al Qaeda do you think of any justification or beauty for what they stand for?

When I think Al-Qaeda….I think that I don’t really know jack shit about “Al-Qaeda”

Does Al Qaeda talk about the resources? Or, talk about their God? Maybe they talk about the land, but I don’t get the impression they would stop their hate if we just stopped buying oil, or stopped working oil deals. Or, maybe I don’t understand the question well.

So, I’ll admit up front I don’t have a nuanced understanding of what they stand for, but I don’t think I’m closed minded. Let’s walk through this.

They believe in a fundamental religious form of law. So far we’re good, there are a lot of extreme positions I don’t share, but believe people have every right to hold themselves.

As part of trying to bring about their views, they kill people who don’t believe the same intentionally and indiscriminately. Even if those people pose no threat to them. It sounds silly to say, but that’s pretty much inexcusable. I don’t care what you’re fighting for.

Everything beyond that really doesn’t matter to me. I wouldn’t support that even if I wanted the exact same things they do.

It’s also worth noting that they have no land or resources, they aren’t a country or a people, they’re a group tied together by ideology. They are essentially a religious army that’s decided a guerilla war is the best way to inflict as much damage on their enemies as they can. These aren’t people who are protecting their homeland, these are people who have decided god wants them to blow up non-believers.

It’s kind of hard to give that the benefit of the doubt. To answer your question, there’s no beauty in that. There’s no justification that’s going to make it ok, so I don’t really look for one.

You may be confusing either Arabs or Muslims in general with Al-Qaeda regarding the western world being the red coats. I still wouldn’t agree, but at least there are some parallels there.

If a group murders for its political or religious believes (isn’t that the same?) it is what it is: Murderers, and not a political asosiation.

If they are muslim or christians… it does not matter…

Another point of view I would have if somebody tries to stop a murder-regime… directly… without harming others… 20.07.44… like that…

Like any collective group—Republicans and Democrats, say—“they” comprise a variety of beliefs and mind-sets and can’t be neatly labeled, certainly not by those of us who have never lived in the countries they occupy.

There’s no beauty in condoning acid being thrown in the faces of little girls trying to get an education. It’s part of why moral relativism is a completely garbage moral theory that no real academic philosophers support. We should all strive to respect and appreciate other cultures, but when that culture embraces the trampling of basic human rights, I don’t think it’s appropriate to cite intervention as “cultural imperialism,” or “western ethnocentrism.”

” Beauty of what they stand for?!? ”

I can see no beauty in religious nut nonsense.

Let’s make this simple. If you are not of the same Islamist fundamentalist mind that al Qaeda professes, then they fully believe it is their duty in service of their perfect revealed knowledge of God to kill you, your family, your children and to forever wipe from the Earth everything you stand for.

Now we have made more than enough mistakes in our dealings with the Middle East and Africa over the past 50 years or so to make us look like bad guys, but al Qaeda’s beef with us is that we don’t worship the right religious myth in just the right way. And they truly believe that their God requires that all Earth be converted to the worship of Allah and his prophet, Muhammad. There is no way you are going to appease them short of converting to their belief system in all aspects of your life or laying down and letting them drive their religious juggernaut over you till you’re dead.

@ETpro only the last 50 years?

@Yetanotheruser

As the questioner does, you miss the point.

Parse the colonial past from the insane religious present ( and future if these people have their way ) and you will see the pertinent point.

Al Qaeda is just a way of labelling various extremist Muslim groups. What they stand for depends on who they are and where they operate. Some of the Taliban in Afghanistan could be called Al Qaeda, so could many Sunnis in Iraq or the rebels in Syria. As an organisation it has long since ceased to exist.

@flutherother Mostly so. Before us, it was the European colonial powers. But as @Neodarwinian states, debating pre WWII foreign policy utterly obliterates the point of the question facing us today.

@flutherother I am sorry, but claiming al Qaeda is nonexistent today is delusional. It still has a leadership and command/control structure in place and has metastasized from an Afghan based operation to one that is global in scope.

@Neodarwinian “As the questioner does” hmm… so none of this is subjective it’s all written in stone.

As far as I’m concerned although I don’t share the views of Al-Qaeda it doesn’t mean this is as clear as mud. In fact the only thing written in stone is that this is subjective to one or the other. I’m in no way shape or form trying to suggest there is one certain way about this nor am I glorifying Al Qaeda. But if you step outside of your shoes and really try to be them, they serve something, “A God aka Allah” and no matter how hard any liberal wants to not believe they are support capitalism by mere existence through current society in USA. It’s just set up that way and it’s all we know by default. I wonder if this how Al Qaeda people believe in their lives. It’s the default and for them killing others is making a change etc.

Again I don’t believe they are right. I guess my wording in the details kind of attacks the reader and assumes they are “stupid” but I didn’t mean to come off that way. It was meant to challenge anyone who firmly believes in one scenario to step into their shoes. But I guess with the whole killing for their beliefs thing no one would want to step into their shoes, directly.

Anyways it’s late for me and thoughts become tiring. Ciao goodnight.

@pleiades

Relativism?

Sometime you need to come to a conclusion when the evidence presented is overwhelming.

” step outside of your shoes and really try to be them, they serve something, ”

I served delusion once and I would not willingly return to those chains again.

” thoughts become tiring. ”

Yes, then one needs to act. Don’t over think this as the obvious is staring you in the face and you way seems more ossified than my well thought conclusions here. Mu comment, seemingly, stands. You miss the forest for the trees. ( or is that the other way around? )

I think the Muslim faith is interesting. To me it’s reminiscent of some Christian sects.

Al Qaeda’s ideology is modern-day fascism. There is nothing beautiful about it. It is cruel and inhumane.