It's Islamic jihad, not extremism, Uncle Sam

Wow! I have not read this book, but it sounds like the author nailed it! I will have to read it.

Middlesboro Daily News > Opinion > Editorials > It's Islamic jihad, not extremism, Uncle Sam: "A few years ago, Harvard psychiatric instructor Kenneth Levin wrote 'The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege.' In this illuminating book, Levin examines the Israeli experience of concessionary negotiations with a 'peace partner' openly dedicated to Israel's destruction. He also examines the historical Jewish Diaspora experience in which Jewish populations typically identified with their tormentors and even echoed their antisemitism.

Such interactions are driven by a permanent condition of siege mentality, Levin explains, and clearly manifest two kinds of delusional thinking.

First, there is the fantasy about the intentions of the aggressor (Arab Muslim or European Christian); then, there is the fantasy about changing the aggressor's intentions. Such thinking, Levin says, is common to victims of chronic abuse, particularly children. They fool themselves into thinking that they, the victims, control the abuser by linking the abuse they suffer to their own behavior.

In other words, they believe they cause their own abuse. This mind game, Levin says, actually gives victims a sense of control over situations beyond their control (an abusive parent, for instance). This allows them to avoid feelings of helplessness and despair.

And so the besieged victim pretends: Daddy doesn't really want to hurt me; if I'm a better girl, he'll stop. Israel pretends: Muslims don't really want to destroy our state, and so we'll give them land for peace. Jews in pre-Nazi Europe pretended: The anti-Semites are really right; we deserve a pogrom. "