Hi, John! Regarding your question of why the U.S. continues to be hated
in spite of our generous donations of money and manpower...
I'm not sure there is one answer. From my perspective (clinical
psychology), hatred is an exceedingly complex emotion. In many
different kinds of situations (geopolitical, workplace, home, et al),
some folks simply feel hatred toward those who have more money or more
power than they. So, small countries hate large countries and poor
countries hate rich countries. The workers hate the boss, and the kids
hate Dad. One might say that disparities in power make those less
powerful feel their inferiority. Here, hatred is often interpreted by
professionals as self-hatred expressed outwardly as hatred for the
stronger. This might explain why the Afghanistans have supported bin
Laden in his attack on the U.S. rather than their closer and more
pronounced enemy - Russia. Russia's just too weak to hate all that
much. It's much more invigorating to hate someone strong. And so it is
New York that is attacked rather than Moscow. I doubt they hate us
because we have done dreadful things in the past (and we have). They,
too, perform the most dreadful atrocities imaginable - even against
their own people.
Also, some folks become so entrenched in their hatred that over time
they begin to DEFINE THEMSELVES by their hatred. When self-definition
becomes involved in this process, it is nearly impossible to break the
cycle. Although not always the case, we often find this process in
women who are married to wife beaters. They will not leave their
husbands even when housing, food, and jobs are offered to them. They
"live" for their beatings. They define themselves by their martyrdom.
Their sole motivation in life is to get up each day and call family and
friends to talk about their rotten husband, their last trip to the
doctor for a broken bone, and how pathetic their life has become.
Often, these people lose all their friends who are sick of listening to
it.
It has often occurred to me that this type of "martyrdom" and
"self-definition" process is very much at play in the Middle East. I
believe both the Israelis and the Palestinians have reached a level of
defining themselves by their hatred for the other. It's all they talk
about. When the sun rises in the morning, they define their day by what
they will do to the other or by how they will wail when the other does
something to them. There's an old saying in psychology: "He enjoys his
misery." And like the battered wife, the Palestinians and Osama bin
Laden would probably not ever be satisfied with anything we do to help.
We could build roads, schools, hospitals, office centers, airports,
groceries, you name it - but they would still define themselves by their
hatred.
I fail to envision bin Laden as an oppressed desperado. As former
President of the East Texas Council on World Affairs, I have had the
occasion to talk to a number of folks fairly knowledgeable about this
man and his activities over the years. I even brought one of them to
East Texas to give a lecture on the man two years ago in our community.
I believe bin Laden is quite wealthy and wanting for little, nor has he
ever wanted for much materially. He and his brothers are quite bright.
His family provided him with education and a home, and he disrespected
all of it. His behavior even as a youth was so outrageous that his own
father was at a loss as to what to do with this ill-tempered son prone
to outlandish temper tantrums. And so it came to pass that he was
exiled from his homeland and excised from his father's heart.
So now baby boy has a big wad of money in his pocket and a ragtag
gathering of religious fanatics and malleable friends in caves and tents
and rented apartments - the only people left on earth who will deal with
him. Fueled with American technology, large sums of money, and a
devilishly ingenious mind, his temper tantrums are now truly spectacular
in their size and scope as well as their poetry. Somehow, I am not
highly motivated to sit around a table and ask him why he hates us. I
am fairly certain that bin Laden hates many, many things in life - not
the least of which is himself.
Lucy
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