The attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in France has shocked the world. Terrorism has come to Europe. A few Muslim fundamentalists have succeeded in disrupting society. A huge police force was activated and the assasins were killed. Mass protests centred around Freedom of Speech using the phrase ‘Je suis Charlie’, as if wanting to say: ‘I am in favour of Freedom of Speech too’. In this blog post I will present a personal view on fundamentalist suicidal terrorism and explain why this is relevant for this website called ‘Animal Welfare Solutions Network (AWSN)’.
Charlie Hebdo cartoonists would make fun of Muhammad. This is a hurtful sin according to Muslim fundamentalism. From a rational perspective Muslim fundamentalists appear to be crazy. From an emotional, emphatic perspective, however, religious fundamentalism gives security and hope, where the Free Market Democracy offers little more than social isolation, discrimination and exploitation. Against this background terrorism may be seen as both rational and irrational.
Fundamentalist terrorism is irrational in as far as it emanates from mistaken beliefs. Fundamentalist terrorism can, therefore, be an abnormal behaviour resulting from chronic frustration about the discrepancy between how the fundamentalist perceives the world and how he/she would like it to be. Similar abnormal behaviours can be found in animals, for example in laying hens and fattening pigs showing cannibalistic behaviours such as feather pecking and tail biting. Mechanisms underlying these behaviours have been studied for decades and this knowledge can be useful to better understand abnormal behaviours in humans as well.
Alternatively, terrorism can be regarded as inherently rational. Biological organisms are virtually always competing for scarce resources. Overpopulation will result in chronic failure to succeed. If the situation is hopeless a suicidal attack can be rational as it appears to be one of the most effective ways to reduce losses and to bring about change. This appears to be a paradox: what is there to be gained from giving up one’s life in a suicide attack? However, ‘War is the father of all things’, Heraclitus wrote 25 centuries ago, and so it is. Suicide attacks will raise fear and this will cost a lot of money in the overstrung, hedonistic Western societies. Aggravating the problem is the fact that Free Market Democracies are driven by a perpetual need for economic growth. The insatiable hedonism drives increased production efficiency, and this, in turn, destabilizes society. It works like the proverbial boiling frog. The gradually increasing water temperature may kill the frog before it realizes what has been going on. Over the years broiler breeders and milking cows have gradually been forced to produce more and more meat/milk. This has resulted in extremely high production levels at a very low cost. However, the actual cost to animal welfare has been, and still is, substantial. In addition, the slightest alteration in environmental conditions tends to disrupt the whole system of production: High producing animals dropping dead, leg problems, indigestion, mastitis. Large amounts of antibiotics have been used to cover up the mess, leading to bacterial resistance and human health risks. In other words, many years of gradually increased production efficiency have led to highly efficient systems which have lost the ability to respond to challenges. In biology this is called allostatic load. This also applies to non-agricultural systems and institutions in Western societies. Having been subjected to years of increased production efficiency has weakened their ability to resist challenges like terrorism. Having grown ‘old’, we are likely to suffer from immunodeficiency, so to say. Chances, therefore, are that, contrary to what politicians try to say, Western societies are not very well equipped to deal with terrorism.
Having been a perpetual loser in the rat race, the suicide terrorist may finally make the winners lose out as well. The ‘winners’ will lose their sense of security, their ability to enjoy the pleasures of life as suicide terrorism will inevitably result in vast amounts of time and money being spent on prevention, surveillance and defence. This is what makes fundamentalist terrorism inherently rational, as it reduces the discrepancy between the losers and the winners in the rat race.
This blog has presented a personal view on terrorism, suggesting that it may be regarded both as an irrational, abnormal behaviour in response to chronic frustration, and also as an inherently rational strategy when competing for limited resources. In doing so, relationships to animal welfare issues like harmful social behaviours (e.g. feather pecking in laying hens and tail biting in pigs) and production diseases (indigestion, lameness, mastitis) became evident, suggesting commonalities between terrorism and animal welfare, both for understanding the problem and, perhaps also for their solution. Both problems urgently need a solution; terrorism because it evokes frustration and fear, and animal welfare because it evokes suffering and compassion. Both issues require reflection on our own shortcomings and responsibilities in bringing about a better world for ourselves and for the Charlies at the bottom of society.
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