U.S. Ambassador Killed in Libya... Extremists, of All Sorts, Win

As I write, the news that Christopher Stevens, Ambassador to Libya, has been killed in an RPG attack on the American Consulate in Bengazi is only hours old. Yet the script is a familiar one, and much like a formulaic summer flick that doesn't live up to the hype, I'm looking at my ticket stub wondering if the price of admission was really worth it.

I live, like most people, more or less in the middle of warring extremists. I don't live in a place where it touches me personally routinely, but I've long since given up the illusion that simply because it is another part of the world feeling the munitions, it's not my concern. I'm human first, and American second. I'm a citizen of our species, and our planet, and right now that species is being railroaded by extremism.

A Tale of Two Ideologies (or more)

A newspaper front page after the Atlanta bombing

People, especially in the West, are familiar with Muslim extremists. And certainly, they seem to be the flavor most likely to wield destruction upon others lately, but it is true, if perfunctory to many people, to note that there are many kinds of extremists. The thing is, these other kinds aren't as toothless or gentle as we make them out to be.

There are Christian extremists, of course. The 1996 Olympic Bombing in Atlanta was perpetrated by Eric Robert Rudolph who also bombed several abortion clinics and a lesbian nightclub, saying "the purpose of the attack on July 27 was to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand".

There are Jewish extremists as well. Some have sprayed graffiti on Christian sites in Jerusalem saying in Hebrew "Death to Christians". Others have attacked women, Arabs, Christians, and even the Israeli military in the region for not conforming with their views on religion and morality.

And there are extremists from other walks as well. It was a Hindu extremist that killed Gandhi. Buddhist extremists (which is a bit of a mind-fuck in itself) have damaged churches in Sri Lanka and killed thousands of Muslims and Christians in Myanmar and India. Even Atheism has its extremists, though they tend to restrict themselves to going online and being obnoxious to people they don't know.

But anywhere there is something which is a concept, there are people that want to take it to an extreme.

In this case, a perfectly respectable man has been killed because two opposing extremist groups have decided to play games with one another.

Where Did This Come From?

A natural question when something like this happens is why. Why did these people do this? Some are satisfied with this question, but I'm not. That question can be answered with such platitudes as "they hate America" or "they're extremists", as I outlined above. No, the question I'm interested in is "Why did these people believe this was a good idea?"

Now you may think at first glance that these are the same question. But they are not. People do not think something is a good idea simply because they hate America or because they are extremist. People believe that an action is a good idea because they think it furthers a goal of theirs. Generally, but broadly, people only do things that they honestly, truly believe are a good idea. They may change their mind later, but at the time most people believe that their current course of action is always a good thing. There are exceptions, but that is always the case.

So why would someone believe this to be a good idea?

Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt during the Arab Spring

Nearly two years ago what has become known as the "Arab Spring" began, sweeping several longtime dictators out of 'public service', and into the private sector. The positive and negative aspects of these various revolts and revolutions are many, but the important thing to remember here is that they occurred in both Libya and Egypt, and that we directly and materially supported the revolution in Libya.

These countries are both finding their footing, attempting to institute democratic forms of government in regions that have been largely unstable in the recent past. In this process, many of the most extreme groups have come out, trying to convince the people that they should be trusted to lead. This has been more successful in Egypt than in Libya so far, but both have sizable populations that are wary of extremism.

Many of the people there are however Muslim, and because of this the extremists try very hard to control people through religion. All they need is an excuse.

Cue Christian and Jewish extremists. So, remember the fellow that was going to hold a Quran burning party in Florida? Him and a man name Sam Bacile, an Israeli currently living in California, played off of one another beautifully to provide a perfect storm. Bacile, a real estate developer, wrote and produced what the Boston Globe (correctly) calls a "Saturday Night Live spoof" of Islam and its prophet Muhammad.

I've seen the video... it's hard to watch. You can tell that the people who thought it up believe it to be very clever, but to the average person it can only be described as stupid, tactless, and vulgar. It depicts the prophet as a confused pedophile who promotes homosexuality, is not capable of coherent thought, and even engages in soft-core pornography.

It's everything you would expect from an extremist.

Terry Jones, pastor

Terry Jones, of Quran burning fame, decided to hold a viewing of the video at his church on September 11th (of all days), and attention was drawn. The Arab world, now with a dubbed version of the film to review, found the video insulting and outrageous. I can't really blame them for that... I'm not Muslim and I found it insulting and outrageous.

But... the extremists never miss an opportunity. A religious television station in Egypt, owned by a Saudi national, began spreading the idea that this video was somehow an official U.S. Government product, and that it represented an official view of American policy. Then it called for protests.

And protest they did.

It All Went So Wrong...

Christopher Stevens

This video, as vile and tasteless as it was, probably was nothing more than a pretext for riling up local sentiments to swing popular opinion or make people more malleable. Unfortunately, this time it had some rather dire consequences. A dead ambassador is a very big deal, and while I doubt the American Government will respond with sanctions or missiles, the killing of an ambassador is considered one of the most barbaric and uncivilized acts imaginable in international politics.

But extremists can rarely see past their own followers.

Our world is a cruel and strange place, with different extremists on both sides, and dead diplomats in the middle. Many will tell you yet again after today that Islam is the problem. Maybe, I don't know. But I suspect not.

I think extremism is the problem. We have so much hate for other people that we forget they are people, and that in my opinion is far worse and far more shameful than anything Islam or any other religion teaches.