To put it mildly, there are lingering doubts about the US government's sincere goodwill toward the Islamic world. And these doubts are exactly what fuel the brand of terrorism which now holds the world in its grip of fear.
If the United States hopes to tamp down the fires of future violence, it needs to examine its diplomatic charm offensive and take it several layers deeper. Formal diplomacy just won't be enough. The people, churches, charities and NGOs of the United States and the Western world must be involved in the process.
The Muslims the United States needs to reach are often locked out of power by their own rulers. People are angry, dispossessed and sometimes involved in revolutionary organizations. In countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, violent Islamic movements have emerged at the grassroots level, and they have given birth to the multinational hydra of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's vehicle for his twisted vision of jihad.
This is why I love the Internet: scanning the coming week's programming on TCM I was investigating The Mysterious Mr. Wong, a cheapass Bela Lugosi movie. A contributor on IMDB's listing page mentioned that Mr. Wong was based on a book (Sing Sing Nights) by Harry Stephen Keeler which was "even weirder than the movie." Hmmmm. Had to check that out.
Yeah, I'd have to agree weird is the word--and I don't use that term lightly. It's my province to some extent. Keeler was this rather peculiar fellow who had a um literary career of sorts back in the first half of the 20th century. I won't try to summarize it here, but here are some plotlines:
A poem leads the protagonist to a cemetery specializing in circus freaks and the grave of "Legga, the Human Spider," a woman with four legs and six arms. Legga was born in Canton, China, and died in Canton, Ohio. (The Riddle of the Traveling Skull, 1934)
A man is found strangled to death in the middle of a lawn, yet there are no footprints other than his own. Police suspect the "Flying Strangler-Baby," a killer midget who disguises himself as a baby and stalks victims by helicopter. (X. Jones of Scotland Yard, 1936)
A disgruntled phone company employee calls every man in Minneapolis, telling him the morning papers will name him as the secret husband of convicted murderess Jemimah Cobb, who runs a whorehouse specializing in women with physical abnormalities. (The Man With the Magic Eardrums, 1939)(from the Harry Stephen Keeler homepage)
The article at that link summarizes Keeler's life well, giving you a pretty good idea where he was coming from. There's also an article from the SFB Gate back in '99. You can buy some of his books here, for around 20 bucks each. Apparently he's been re-discovered by certain folks, which means you won't find any deals on ebay, probably. Tasty stuff.
While I was searching for Keeler, I came upon Platypus Pranks, which is a great site for deeper weirdness diversions: Mark Ryden, Bruce Sterling's Distraction, Princess Mononoke, Alfred Bester, Emperor Norton--you get the idea. A comrade in arms, methinks.
We need to better coordinate against large-scale outbreaks of disease, and that will undoubtely happen now. But let's not get carried away. That's when terror wins.
