Absolutely incorrect. I don't mind making an analogy between a fairy tale like Lord of the Rings, and present-day events. However, the author has everything backwards here.
A better comparison between the ring forged by Sauron in "Lord of the Rings" would be modern-day capitalism. Or even deeper, love and attachment to this worldly life. ISIL, despite all their crimes and transgressions, cannot be accused of representing this. Only if you look at things superficially would you consider an unjust beheading or misguided slave market to be worse than unjust sanctions or misguided wars of aggression and aerial bombardment. The problem is that in the case of the latter, the consequences and tragedies that result are not filmed or boasted about (as is the case of the former). Thus, how easy is it to be fooled and deceived into getting this situation so backwards!
The author did mention some of the root causes and transgressions that I’m talking about…such as authoritarian regimes and illegal wars of occupation. ISIS and other groups are but a response and reaction to these crimes. Yet, the focus of this article is primarily on that reaction with only a paragraph here or there on the root causes (which come much closer to be a representation of that ring) of current events! In actuality, those underlying causes go well beyond just current events. They extend back to centuries of colonization and the aftermath of that (but I won’t get into that here).
So why focus so much on the consequence of a problem rather than the root of it? In "Lord of the Rings" - the ring used by Sauron was the actual root of the problem and the center of evil in that fictional world. It became extremely powerful and it corrupted the hearts of all those who came into contact with it. Without a doubt, the world today is moving towards a very dark place where moral and financial corruption is the center of worldly power post-WW2. Information regulated by corporatocracy and entertainment influenced by the occult are prominent! Western democracies are supporting and sustaining monstrous dictatorships in the Muslim world and extended third world. At the same time, technology is becoming an ever-more powerful tool to empower these democracies that act in the interest of corrupt elites (or the so-called "1%" - which is just an expression as opposed to a mathematically accurate percentage). That technology then is given to or sold to the tyrannies and police states of the eastern world. The end result is a global orwellian/panopticon surveillance society where death or abduction can come at any time from secret police, drones, or shadow operators. Are you really going to minimize this reach and power and instead, focus on something like ISIS?
Those who are empowered today then decide who is or is not a terrorist, and who to bomb or not to bomb. And this form of "magic" or this power (like the power wielded by Sauron) is exactly what the author has fallen for by writing the piece above! Who is it that the author is concentrating on as "barbaric" and "evil"? Is it the root cause of the problem (which would be the better comparison to the one ring), or a mere consequence and result from the missteps of that root cause?
The author should recall or research the experience of the GLA in Algeria, as there are many similarities between it and ISIS. Yet, the eventual fall of the GLA did not end "the worldview that gave rise to it"...rather, that worldview has only continued to expand and expand (and most likely, the fall of ISIS will be seen as a great relief for that worldview i.e. for the Islamist movement and project to restore a unified Khalifah).
The Ottoman Khalifah lasted centuries and conquered so much territory - and it is something similar to it that the Muslim world could potentially unite upon and use as a counterweight to the instability of oppressive and failed states. However, I don't think that the author of this article would care to support that. What the citizens of the Muslim world want is not the same as what the citizens of the western world want. It is important to live in reality and pay attention to the streets and to the average people. If the author of this article does that, then he would not equate al-Qaidah with ISIS as they have become two very different things; nor is al-Qaidah necessarily the only component of the global Islamist movement and Khalifate project; nor would he analyze the "Arab Spring" as he has done here; nor would he ever state that the OIC is any sort of real representative of the Muslim world; And so forth.
Everything that has happened over the last few decades within the Muslim world has continued to expose various forms of nationalism as well as secular humanism (which may well be the true perspective that this author is coming from) as "the hollow sham" that it is. If everything outside of secular humanism is to be considered "radical/extreme" by the author's standards...then I'm sorry to say that he will not find what he is looking for. Islam in its most austere form is the last line of defense against a secular world order. And it is that secular order and those who rule over it that have the monopoly on atrocity, barbarity, destruction, sanctions, slavery, prison camps, exploitation, corruption, power, materialism, and worldly desires and interests. So again, what really represents the ring of power from Tolkien's fictional world...in today’s real world?
Studying the role of the khawarij sect within that "whole movement", as well as thinking about whether those who were (just 10 years ago) ardent baathists...can now all of a sudden claim to act in a pure manner as rulers of an Islamic state - will help with your understanding.
Absolutely incorrect. I don't mind making an analogy between a fairy tale like Lord of the Rings, and present-day events. However, the author has everything backwards here.
A better comparison between the ring forged by Sauron in "Lord of the Rings" would be modern-day capitalism. Or even deeper, love and attachment to this worldly life. ISIL, despite all their crimes and transgressions, cannot be accused of representing this. Only if you look at things superficially would you consider an unjust beheading or misguided slave market to be worse than unjust sanctions or misguided wars of aggression and aerial bombardment. The problem is that in the case of the latter, the consequences and tragedies that result are not filmed or boasted about (as is the case of the former). Thus, how easy is it to be fooled and deceived into getting this situation so backwards!
The author did mention some of the root causes and transgressions that I’m talking about…such as authoritarian regimes and illegal wars of occupation. ISIS and other groups are but a response and reaction to these crimes. Yet, the focus of this article is primarily on that reaction with only a paragraph here or there on the root causes (which come much closer to be a representation of that ring) of current events! In actuality, those underlying causes go well beyond just current events. They extend back to centuries of colonization and the aftermath of that (but I won’t get into that here).
So why focus so much on the consequence of a problem rather than the root of it? In "Lord of the Rings" - the ring used by Sauron was the actual root of the problem and the center of evil in that fictional world. It became extremely powerful and it corrupted the hearts of all those who came into contact with it. Without a doubt, the world today is moving towards a very dark place where moral and financial corruption is the center of worldly power post-WW2. Information regulated by corporatocracy and entertainment influenced by the occult are prominent! Western democracies are supporting and sustaining monstrous dictatorships in the Muslim world and extended third world. At the same time, technology is becoming an ever-more powerful tool to empower these democracies that act in the interest of corrupt elites (or the so-called "1%" - which is just an expression as opposed to a mathematically accurate percentage). That technology then is given to or sold to the tyrannies and police states of the eastern world. The end result is a global orwellian/panopticon surveillance society where death or abduction can come at any time from secret police, drones, or shadow operators. Are you really going to minimize this reach and power and instead, focus on something like ISIS?
Those who are empowered today then decide who is or is not a terrorist, and who to bomb or not to bomb. And this form of "magic" or this power (like the power wielded by Sauron) is exactly what the author has fallen for by writing the piece above! Who is it that the author is concentrating on as "barbaric" and "evil"? Is it the root cause of the problem (which would be the better comparison to the one ring), or a mere consequence and result from the missteps of that root cause?
The author should recall or research the experience of the GLA in Algeria, as there are many similarities between it and ISIS. Yet, the eventual fall of the GLA did not end "the worldview that gave rise to it"...rather, that worldview has only continued to expand and expand (and most likely, the fall of ISIS will be seen as a great relief for that worldview i.e. for the Islamist movement and project to restore a unified Khalifah).
The Ottoman Khalifah lasted centuries and conquered so much territory - and it is something similar to it that the Muslim world could potentially unite upon and use as a counterweight to the instability of oppressive and failed states. However, I don't think that the author of this article would care to support that. What the citizens of the Muslim world want is not the same as what the citizens of the western world want. It is important to live in reality and pay attention to the streets and to the average people. If the author of this article does that, then he would not equate al-Qaidah with ISIS as they have become two very different things; nor is al-Qaidah necessarily the only component of the global Islamist movement and Khalifate project; nor would he analyze the "Arab Spring" as he has done here; nor would he ever state that the OIC is any sort of real representative of the Muslim world; And so forth.
Everything that has happened over the last few decades within the Muslim world has continued to expose various forms of nationalism as well as secular humanism (which may well be the true perspective that this author is coming from) as "the hollow sham" that it is. If everything outside of secular humanism is to be considered "radical/extreme" by the author's standards...then I'm sorry to say that he will not find what he is looking for. Islam in its most austere form is the last line of defense against a secular world order. And it is that secular order and those who rule over it that have the monopoly on atrocity, barbarity, destruction, sanctions, slavery, prison camps, exploitation, corruption, power, materialism, and worldly desires and interests. So again, what really represents the ring of power from Tolkien's fictional world...in today’s real world?
We can't agree on the meaning of those terms. That is why it is best not to use them.
Studying the role of the khawarij sect within that "whole movement", as well as thinking about whether those who were (just 10 years ago) ardent baathists...can now all of a sudden claim to act in a pure manner as rulers of an Islamic state - will help with your understanding.