GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--Feb 21, 2004 -- There's a line in the Mafia movie, Prizzi's Honor, that goes:  "The Prizzi's would rather eat their young than lose money."
          The quote puts priorities where they are--at least for some who are proud of elevating money above a child's welfare.   It also suggests Terrorism may be eating its own children.
            The NY Times today reported the rift between two Terrorist groups operating in Iraq.   It seems one asked the other to help maim, murder and Terrorize the Muslims, an effort to induce more riots and anti-American fervor.

  Al Qaeda was approached by Ansar al Islam to help attack Shiite Muslims.  Al Qaeda has avoided attacks on fellow Muslims.   According to the Times the " tactic is intended to ignite sectarian clashes inside Iraq and, ultimately, indirectly enlist more Iraqi Sunnis in a campaign aimed at ousting American forces.  Quoting the letter between Ansar and Al Qaeda, the Terrorist goal was spelled out:  "Some people will say that this will be a reckless and irresponsible action that will bring the Islamic nation to a battle for which the Islamic nation is unprepared," the letter said. "Souls will perish and blood will be spilled. This is, however, exactly what we want."
         Ansar's request was rejected.
         It seems that Terrorism for Terrorism's sake has limits.    Al Qaeda may not be willing to "eat its children" in favor of earning a "Terrorism buck."  
         That doesn't suggest, however, any compassion or compunction on the part of Terrorism overall.
          It is unconscionable, by nature.    

        Yesterday, for example, my wife and I went to Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater to catch a viewing of John Malkovich in the independent movie, "Ripley's Game."   Malkovich is a cold ruthless killer who performs executions like a chef preparing a great feast for a nationally televised audience.
           He does it with panache.
          In a scene with a neophyte he is mentoring on how to kill for "fun and profit" he turns to the man who is upset over his ability to kill ( Dougray Scott; good facing evil) and says:  "I am unlike you.  I have no conscience.   I never had one.  As a child, I never wondered about good or bad, right or wrong.  I did what needed to be done and moved on."
             One could easily see John Malkovich eating his children.   There's just something about that guy!
            And, Osama bin Laden fits that child-eating die.   But, as the head of Al Qaeda, he, or his representatives, refused to join in on the maiming and murdering of Shiite Muslims.   
             It makes one wonder:  Will Terrorists eat their own children?
             Maybe we treat child abusers the wrong way.   Perhaps we should gather all the child abusers up and shove them into one room.   Perhaps the pathology of the sum of the room will turn the predators upon themselves.
             And, as Terrorism becomes more segmented, more defined and refined into various "causes," it begins to lose its "unconscionable nature," it begins to develop a character, a personality that no longer is seeking to just issue Fear, Intimidation and Complacency, but to surgically issue it to some while avoiding contaminating others.

        It becomes political.  It develops a conscience.   "Sorry, our Terrorists can only Terrorize people in these categories!"
            We tend to think of Terrorists in a group, madmen and madwomen bent on senseless destruction that results in Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.    The recent suicide bombing of the Russian subway serves as an example.
             No one has yet taken official credit for the bombing, although there is little doubt among Russian authority's that it was birthed in Chechnya.
              Terrorism, like any organism, evolves.
               The mean, brutal kid who likes to torture defenseless animals and set fires, may grow into a nice guy.  He may also become a brutal father, ruling by Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.
                The nice person who tries to do everything right may find life trouncing them.  At every corner they may get hammered by reality, and turn bitter, snarling and biting every hand that tries to feed it.
                  Then, there is the chance that the hard-core Terrorist who would eat his or her children in a blink, decides one day to have compassion.    "Nope, not going to kill my fellow Muslims.  No way, Jose."
                   And, there may be a chance that Al Qaeda might even turn and fight its sister Terrorist group, Ansar al Islam.   That would be ironic.  A Terrorist Sentinel of Vigilance fighting a Terrorist Beast of Terror.
                  If the internal battle of Terror forces in Iraq is a precursor of things to come, we might well step back and ask ourselves:  "What am I doing to keep my Beast of Terror from evolving at a greater rate than my Sentinel of Vigilance?"
                  What we don't realize is that we might be eating our children each day and not be aware of it.     We may not be eating them all in one sitting, but, sporadically we may be chewing chunks out of them.

          Say we come home from work and our kids want to wrestle, or play and we're "too tired" and push them away.   Do we "eat a chunk of them?"
          Say our kids want us to listen to their "babble" and that's all we hear, "their babble" so we yell, "Shut up!" or, "Be Quiet," and make them feel like they have intruded on our lives, and our walls of silence are more important than their thirst to communicate--have we ripped chunks of their flesh and spat them out?
            When something's disturbing your children, and you always know it, are you eager to sit down quietly and build the bridge of trust with the child so he or she will share the deepest secrets?   Or, do you shy away from the inner depths of the child, and in so doing, take another bite out of your child's sense of inner security?
              You can apply this formulation to your interpersonal relations, and, to yourself.   When you beat yourself up over things you haven't done, or wished you hadn't done, or thought you should have done, aren't you eating yourself?   
                Vigilance is about learning to spit out what we have bitten of ourselves and others.    It is about not eating our children--those around us and ourselves.
                 It isn't easy to not turn on someone or something and use it as the whipping post for what ails us.   It doesn't take any Courage, Conviction or Right Actions for future Generations to extend the index finger and blame the world.            

                 It takes a lot Courage, Conviction and Right Actions to realize the finger that points out has four fingers pointing back.   
                  We all need to learn to not eat our children--the Children of Vigilance.
                  We need to learn how to turn Fear into Courage, Intimidation into Conviction and Complacency into Right Action.
                  It isn't that hard.
                  In a way, Al Qaeda has done it.   It turned its back on a ripe opportunity to "waste human life" at the expense of Americans.   It decided the price of attacking its own to get to Americans wasn't worth it.   Seemingly there a presence of a "conscience" within Al Qaeda?"
                 Then, there is the beautifully morbidly funny movie, Ripley's Game.   In it, there is a change in the main character.   He may end up with the twinge of a conscience.   Each viewer will have to decide that.
                   And us?  We?   Me?   You?   They?
                   Maybe we eat our children and don't know it.   Maybe we haven't posed that question.   Maybe we do have blind spots that can be healed.
                   Maybe we can become better Sentinels of Vigilance and less potential Beasts of Terror.
                   We can only assure that will happen if we take the Pledge of Vigilance, and, go to see Ripley's Game.
                   

Feb 20--Terrorize Culture:  Kill History