Steve in Manchester has put it very well again:
Why, why, why? You were born here FFS! What medievil twat filled you with that much hatred? Was it moral outrage? Bare female arms at the height of summer? Rowdy young men quaffing ale outside the pubs of England? Was it the very notion of democracy that offended you? A deep yearning for the proud civilsations of the Tigris, Euphrates, Ganges and the rest to return to some kind of perverted ascendancy? What was it? What made you think that setting that timer, triggering the carnage with a mobile phone or whatever; what made you think it was THE RIGHT THING TO DO?
‘Cos, for the life of me I don’t get it. I really don’t.
I suppose for me the futility of it is what is dumbfounding. This morning’s 6 am CBC radio news says one suicide bomber’s parents rain a nice fish and chip shop in a mixed neighbourhood where everyone got along and that the bomber was a friendly guy, excellent cricketer. What is so ill about that picture that you blow yourself up for a cause that will never come within a thousand years of ever coming to pass? Because, frankly, there is nothing the slightest bit attractive in the form or the substance of the message.
I also suppose one odder thing is that it is fanatical regressivism. At least the IRA and, say, the 1890s Chicago anarchists blowing themselves up were revolutionary in the sense they were trying to make a better day in their twisted attacks, nasty utopians. But what is the plan with these back-facers? Most fans of tyranny do the right thing – take over the army, enslave and destroy the people and reap the rewards. But these guys appear to confuse the tyrant and the victim: “if you don’t watch out I will blow me up…and when we’ve all blown ourselves up then…err…watch out!”
I am coming to think that there is little to the fighting the causes of terrorism but also there may be little to the fight – unless we get a clue what this is about. I think islamo-fascism is too simplistic. The faith has been around for 1500 years and no one has talked about a puritan nilhilistic militantism like this in the past. There is something awfully odd wrapped by the guise of islamo-fascism. Georgetown odd. Columbine odd. So someone is passing a compelling message – which is hate speech. Hate of normal folk.