Comment on The Belmont Club, "The Grand Inquisitors"

The transformation of the arab peasantry into moslem fedayeen and then into the urban mass of Gaza and other cities was an unintended consequence of Islam. Mohammed’s original intent was that the Moslems would be an elite force of parasites living off the labor of dhimmis. Unfortunately he was as poor an economist as he was a theologian. He was however a good psychiatrist, psychotics often are. Given the relentless degradation that non-Moslems were subjected to the masses converted within a few generations. Given that Islam destroys the creative and sympathetic impulses necessary for economic growth while also removing the incentives for the dhimmis to invest in wealth generation outside of trade the stagnation of the urban societies was inevitable. The rejection of the foreigners of al-Qaeda by the elites of Anbar does not provide a good model that we can count on for Gaza. For the Gazans to be a population that can serve as a viable source of law rejecting totalitarian movements like Hamas they would need to be reoccupied and reeducated for at least 2 generations. Moses had to lead the children of Israel into the desert for 40 years to burn off the habits of slavery. The children of Ishmael will need no less.

The transformation of Germany only happened because the totalitarian regime had while widespread in its influence not sunk very deep into the culture after only 12 years. Japan’s transformation was more interesting. Possibly the rapid changes brought about by industrialization within 2 generations had created an unusually flexible psyche that when combined with the shock of total defeat had allowed for the installation of new democratic values.