Why they hate us and what to do about it (via Emperor Misha I, The Enlightened and Gracious, Omnipotent and Omniscient Ruler of the Anti-Idiotarian Empire, Defender of The Clue™, Squasher of Dissent and Fisker of the Moronical)

TANSTAAFL has some suggestions on how to address the root causes of the 9/11 attacks and Islamic fundamentalism in general. Using the the behaviour of the Taliban as an indicator of what al Qaeda is so annoyed with us about, TANSTAAFL asks whether the wrong groups or behaviors are being identified as the root cause.

The "why do they hate us" crowd seems not to be suggesting that:

Women should withdraw into the home and leave the affairs of men to men.

Homosexuals should be forcibly returned to the closet, and the rights granted them under the US system should be revoked.

The use of the Scarlet Letter in cases of adultery should be reinstituted, "with a view to life imprisonment at a minimum".

TANSTAAFL notes that this is precisely the kind of policy/group/behavior that set off the Taliban and other Islamic fundamentalist groups, and thus really should be included as part of the package of changes to be adopted in the US if we are to address the root cause of their hatred.

Some possible additions: I'm pretty sure that abortions are illegal under sharia, so Roe v. Wade should be overruled. Pig farming is out, of course, as is the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Let us not even discuss the excesses of the entertainment industry as presently consituted.

Sadly, I do not believe that addressing these particular root causes is likely to occur any time soon at the Hall of Cognition. Were I to so much as consider adopting any of the foregoing positions, much less attempt to impose same upon She Who Must Be Obeyed, life at the Hall of Cognition is likely to become somewhat difficult. Granted, the parts of the Hall which I do not constantly use might be somewhat neater, since I have observed over the years that SWMBO simply will not sit around and veg (vege?) out. If prohibited from leaving the Hall without being escorted by me, SWMBO will use her time to do something (because I seldom venture outside the Hall), and, eventually, that something will be to clean up (but, of course, not to clean up after me, since I am a big boy and can do that myself).

But in most, if not all, other respects, life in the Hall of Cognition would degrade catastrophically, as Cap'n Clueless would put it.

I would venture to say that this is likely to be true of most American households. If so, it also is likely to be the root cause of the failure to identify and address the correct root causes. Not only are those brazen American women one of the main reasons Osama hates us, they are also the reason we cannot address the reasons that Osama hates us.

See? Its all their fault.