Reaction to Upsetting History?

[Queequeg]

I'm doing a huge paper on the Northern Caucasus, and been spending a lot of time on a half-dozen radical Islamist websites run out of various ex-SSR or anti-Russian nations.  I think the main one, Kavkazcenter, is hosted in Helsinki.

These are stupendously awful people.  Just, honestly, about the worst humanity has to offer.  I don't even know if they can be corrupted.  Death is the ideal, no matter if it is your sister, daughter, brother, father or mother. It's really, really goddamn sickening. 

But I just had the misfortune of coming across a bunch of pictures of Muslim militants preparing for the Beslan massacre.  They're fucking goofing around.  Putting on masks.  While they're training for a mission that they had to guess would likely end up with a bunch of dead children.

I don't understand how a group of psychologically healthy people could do this.  Mass, industrialized slaughter I can understand in some way-the Holocaust often tried to rationalize mass death along Fordist lines.  Mass bombings I can understand.  Even striking a target of huge symbolic importance like the WTC.  It's awful, it's hideous, but there's a logic to it. 

Beslan somehow makes me uniquely queasy, though.  It reminds me of the experiments the Mengele used to run on Gypsy twins-I just can't really wrap my head around it.  I can't even picture it. 

Anyone ever had something like this?  Just a...mental block? 

[Habbaku]

Not a mental block, per se, but when reading about the final months of World War II in Germany I was definitely hitting a level of melancholy that I had never experienced when reading about so many other bad spots in history.  I went through periods where I would have to put the book down and didn't really feel like doing anything for ~30 minutes afterwards aside from just listening to music.

Before that, I think the only thing that came close was while reading about some of the massacres in the Balkans during the same era, but even that wasn't the same.

[Ideologue]

Mass bombings I can understand.

Good, because I don't have the time to explain it to you.

Anyway, stuff like the German and Japanese atrocities discomfit me, but I've been pretty jaded to it by now.  Events which involve long-term imprisonment/slavery upset me more than simple mass-killing.

[HVC]

History, like movies, don't really phase me for whatever reason. it just doesn't seem real.

[Razgovory]

These are stupendously awful people.  Just, honestly, about the worst humanity has to offer.  I don't even know if they can be corrupted.  Death is the ideal, no matter if it is your sister, daughter, brother, father or mother. It's really, really goddamn sickening. 

Could you explain this bit to me a bit better?  What do you mean "Death is the ideal"?  Surely they have a political purpose beyond simply dying.

[Queequeg]

Not really.  The entire point of life is coming back to God.  Death is the best part of life.  A violent death in the service of Islam is the best way to do it .

Google Translated from the Russian:

One held an interesting conversation with a group of women ustaza.



Ustaz asked: "Do you want to get into Heaven?" All answered: "Yes-ah-ah ..." ustaz asked again: "And if you want to die today?" No one answered. It was obvious that no one wanted to die.



With a smile ustaz said, "Then how do we go to heaven when we die?" Ustaz continued: "Do you want me to pray about how you live long?" All answered: "Yes-ah-ah ... "



Ustaz asked again: "How much do you want to live? One hundred years from now? Two hundred or maybe thousand? Even 80-year-old people look unimportant, not to mention those who for a hundred. " But matters did not end, and ustaz continued: "Do you love God?" The response was predictable. The women at the same time said, "Yes."



Ustaz said: "Normally, when a man loves, he seeks to meet with loved ones. Do not you want to meet with God? "Hush, no one answered.



Most of us are afraid to talk about death. Not that speak, but to imagine that we can not. This is due to the fact that we are not ready to meet with what will happen after death. Although whether or not we are ready, we still face it. Ready or not we are, death will still come to us. And rather than shy away from it, we'd better start preparing for death.



The best preparation - is aware of death. Think of death - is the door to God. Death - this is the way to a beautiful place to Paradise. Constantly mindful of death, we will try to do each time step to Paradise, which is full of blessings.



The meaning of human life - a return to Allah. And in this short journey, there are those who will come back safely, but there are those who are lost in Hell. We're too busy Dunja (mortal world) and we believe that it is real life. We forget that life is - it is only a means to find the road home. Glitter Dunja makes us fall asleep on the way home.



The Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) once said that the wisest - the one who always remembers death. In other words, the wisest is he who looks into the distance. With this in mind and the purpose of life, he will always be a patient to move forward.



The vision of a Muslim is not limited to this world, but it's so much more. His vision goes beyond this world. The vision of a Muslim is associated with the meeting with Allah. For him the moment of death - a wonderful moment, because soon he will meet with the favorite, of whom missed long.



Sometimes we are afraid of death, because death will divide us from loved ones. Parents, relatives, husband, wife, children, and this proves that we love them more than God. If we love God, then death would be an invitation from God.



But we should not ask for death. Death in sin and without cause on the contrary alienate us from God. Suicide - a demonstration of despair in the mercy of Allah. The desire to die soon because of the difficulties of the world indicates that we want to avoid the realities of life. Good as death - a death in the pursuit ... When striving to elevate the ideals of the greatest (of Islam), peace and prosperity ...



Finally, the saved are those who understand that all our wealth and power - is only a means to return to Allah. The bodies have become saturated with tears, and then be wetted as a result of hard work to rectify the world, but their hearts should be tied to Allah. And most importantly - we need to work hard, think right, and we should have a sincere heart.



Dunja O Lord! Teach us how to subdue dunyu instead of obedience to her! When the glitter Dunja dazzles our eyes, when employment in worldly adornments fills our hearts and remind us of Allah! Remind us of your prosperity and His compassion, which is higher than the simple Dunya, which is sure to be abandoned. Amen.

[CountDeMoney]

Oh no, there's no clash of civilizations going on or anything.

Reminds me of that old Point/Counterpoint from an Onion rip-off site right after 9/11:
We Should Really Strive To Understand Their Culture versus What Part Of "I Want To Spill Your Infidel Blood" Do You Not Understand?

[Razgovory]

I imagine you need to a pretty good pitch to convince someone be a suicide bomber.

[The Brain]

*shrug* Islam is Islam.

There are no inferior religions or cultures.

[Martinus]

These are stupendously awful people.  Just, honestly, about the worst humanity has to offer.

I disagree. Russians are that. And since these people kill Russians, they are naturally better.

[Valmy]

Spoken like a true Pole.

[Sheilbh]

Let Our Fame Be Great was interesting on Beslan.  The book's very broadly organised around atrocities of the North Caucus - so Circassia, the Mountain Turks, Grozny and Beslan.

[PDH]

Weird, who would have thought that peoples today in the Caucasus Region would be bloodthirsty, vendetta ridden, death seeking fanatical tribes?  They never have before.

[derspiess]

History, like movies, don't really phase me for whatever reason. it just doesn't seem real.

I'm sort of in the same boat.  History that happened on other continents (except maybe events that directly involved Americans) seems less real than stuff that happened here. 

[Ed Anger]

but when reading about the final months of World War II in Germany I was definitely hitting a level of melancholy

That is when my pants hit my ankles. MURDER BONERZ.