Root of All Evil
So what, in Alexander Downer’s view, are the causes of terrorism? According to Australia’s Foreign Minister, "It misconceives the problem to think there are 'root causes' like poverty, disadvantage or hopelessly entrenched political impasses - all of them, in any case, long-running and endemic features of life throughout the Middle East," he said. "They are not the well spring of terrorist motivation, and fixing them will not fix anything else. We are engaged in a battle of ideas, a struggle to the death over values." Values? Like a home, a job, a living wage? Is terrorism caused by socialized medicine instead of a free market system such as in the U.S.? Is it the lack of newspapers and cable television? Mr. Downer’s statement doesn’t just “border on the ignorant,” as described by Dr. Wright-Neville of Monash University, it’s a downright offensive statement that seeks to distance privileged societies from alleviating suffering elsewhere. Terrorists are themselves to blame for their actions, for the death and destruction they cause, but like street crime, whether in Sydney or in NYC or in Jakarta, there is more than just an opposition of “values” at work, and the sociological roots of ideological evils need to be acknowledged and combated. This is the front line in the so-called war on terrorism.