The Hamburg Cell

[poliphilo]

Young men are very suggestible. They're fragile and they have a great need to belong. And so they're very easily roped into wars, sects, jihads and the like. If the war, sect or jihad is something that pisses Daddy off then so much the better.

I was watching Channel 4's drama about the 9/11 hijackers last night. They were rootless rich boys, most of them, adrift in a society that didn't give them enough respect. Al Quaeda offered them brotherhood, charismatic father figures, dogmatic certainty, a strong sense of purpose. As one of them said as he made his commitment to the Hamburg cell- "I want my life to count."

They weren't demons. At least, they weren't demons to begin with. At some point or other they crossed the line. And the scary thing is it was impossible to say exactly when that happened. When did imagination fail? When did they stop asking questions? We watched as noble idealists morphed into murderous fanatics and it was a smooth, unbroken process.

War on Terror? Bush was right the first time; it's unwinnable. Why? Because it's a war on human nature. So long as there are needy young men there will be recruits for Al Quaeda and the like.

Comments

humanized

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

yeah i watched that too. funny to see them as handsome. these good-looking blokes (yeah it's just actors but of course the real dudes might have been too) being nice and saying thankyou very much to the airline people, then going on to do what the TV didn't show but what we knew happened next.

the choice not to show hostage situations in the planes. that was interesting. part of me was afraid they would show it- cos after seeing them be kind of normal but for their sentiments up to that point- we'd have to watch them put other people, and themselves, through some really bad shit. they were doing some wussy self-defense training in a hotel room. then they have to start sticking knives in people who they know are innocent. big diference. probably quite hard to maintain your 'idealism' in that situation.

the will to make something like that happen, to make people do these things, is awe-inspiring. hitler had it too i guess. cult leaders.

fight club is a great movie cos it shows us this from beginning to end. just wanting to belong. to do something important. all the things you said. and at the end we want to cheer the destruction of buildings. which is an act of terrorism. weird.

Re: humanized

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It would have made a big difference if we'd have seen the actual hijackings. I guess they spared us that for the sake of the relatives of the victims. Also, of course, we have no idea what really happened on board those planes.

I thought the guy playing Mohammed Atta looked a lot like Mr Bean. He moved like him too. A comical, prissy, little chap.

Re: humanized

[archyena.livejournal.com]

But in the movie Project Mayhem practices a distinct separation of man from material, the buildings have been abandoned before they are dynamited. Symbolically, this is the end of the global capitalist-consumerist order, the collapse of the structures once no one believes in them. No one is hurt because no one remains to be.

Re: humanized

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

collapse of the global capitalist-consumerist order? hmm. i wasn't going that way with it, but i'm sure you've got a point. what i was mentioning it more for was the extents to which people will go to follow a charismatic leader who offers them meaning in life. now, we see in fight club that the leader is seriously flawed, and so is his plan. so while the destruction of the buildings could show the end of the global capitalist etc.. when no-one believes in it, it could also just be because they already made sure the buildings were vacated- and blowing them up just seemed like a cool thing to do. rebellion against any authority/power figure to give life conflict and meaning.
either way.
but what you said is interesting too.
further, in the book fight club, project mayhem doesn't separate so clearly between man and material. i don't remember if the buildings are vacated or not, but they sure kill some dudes and also cut off that guys balls.