When facing a bully, an unfair teacher or police officer, an angry parent or one who ignores you, a potential employer, or a terrorist group, what is the natural reaction? Cower in a corner, plot revenge, accept the enemy's position and join the opposition?
Only by understanding an enemy can you gain confidence in tailoring an effective approach to each situation. Bill Gates was said to know more about his competitors' products than his competitors did. One size does not fit all, when dealing with enemies.
In his book, Playing to the Edge, Michael V. Hayden, who headed two U.S. intelligence agencies, explained the MICE system for recruiting spies. Those close to enemy leaders who are willing to betray their countries are not motivated by one thing. Some want Money; some share your Ideology; some are Compromised because they are about to be exposed for something they did; and some who have a huge Ego feel they aren't appreciated. Different motivations require different approaches.
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson knew exactly what each member of the U.S. Senate wanted (a bridge in his home state, a trip to Europe with his wife, a certain committee assignment), when he was Senate majority leader. On the other hand, his failure to understand the motivation of Vietnam's revolutionary leader had dire consequences,
Wednesday Marten gained the results she wanted, when she decided to study the social elite who were ignoring her on New York City's upper East Side. She wrote in Primates of Park Avenue how her study enabled her to join Manhattan's high society. Victims of bullying might benefit by studying popular kids.
Without an understanding of an enemy's culture, however, Michael Morell, a former director at the Central Intelligence Agency, pointed out in the New York Times Opinion section (August 5, 2016) how easy it is to fall into an enemy's trap. Those ignorant of the point of view of Muslim extremists who see themselves engaged in a holy religious war against the secular West live up to this enemy stereotype with every anti-Muslim position they take and every anti-Muslim statement they make. If the enemy likes what you are doing, he may compliment you and you will keep on doing his bidding. What does a young man do, if a gang leader compliments him for killing a rival gang member?
By putting together bits and pieces of the present, it even is possible to understand good and bad futures before they occur. In his book, Submission, Michel Houellebecq anticipates how an Islamic party would go about winning an election and imposing Islamic law in France. Such knowledge, actually any knowledge about an enemy, really is power.
(The idea of understanding an enemy also is discussed in the earlier blog post, "Fight, Flight, or Something Else.")
Showing posts with label enemies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label enemies. Show all posts
Friday, August 12, 2016
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Fight, Flight, or Something Else
We all have enemies. The alarm clock that tells us it's time to get up, when we'd prefer to sleep in. The bully who terrorizes us on social media. Our usual reaction is fight or flight. And we know the results. Violence leads to more violence and destruction, a shattered alarm clock. Flight can result in the kind of isolation from all people and depression that Sebastian Junger describes veterans suffer, when they return home after their tribal bonding with buddies in a war zone.
When unusual circumstances make fight and flight impossible in a prison situation, we get a glimpse of a third way to deal with enemies. If it helps avoid violence and loneliness, it could be worth a try.
While reading Lawrence Wright's book, The Looming Tower, I came across the report of an interrogation between Ali Soufan, a Muslim FBI agent, and Abu Jandal, who served as an Osama bin Laden bodyguard. After listening to Abu Jandal describe himself as a revolutionary trying to rid the world of the evil that came mainly from the United States, Soufan realized Abu Jandal had a very limited knowledge of the United States. He gave him a history of the United States in Arabic. Since Soufan had learned Abu Jandal was a diabetic, he also brought him sugarless wafers with his coffee.
The sugarless-wafers-and-coffee-gesture reminded me that I had read Nelson Mandela had done something similar during the 27 years he was locked up in a South African prison. When one of his guards came in to run the projector on a movie night, Mandela heard him complaining that the tea he was carrying was cold. On the next movie night, Mandela was able to provide the guard with a cup of hot tea and cookies. Mandela would later invite the guard to his inauguration as President of South Africa.
While in prison, Mandela learned the Afrikaans language of the Dutch descendants who imposed the apartheid restrictions on blacks in South Africa. He also studied the Afrikaner history and philosophy.
Being a Muslim himself, Soufan could engage Abu Jandal in a discussion of the Quran 's instructions for the honorable conduct of warfare. "Are not women and children to be protected?" he asked. Soufan went on to point out al-Qaeda even killed Muslims in the attacks on the U.S. embassies in East Africa and in New York. Abu Jandal insisted, "The Sheikh is not that crazy. It was the Israelis." When he could no longer deny what the overwhelming evidence showed to be true, Abu Jandal provided information about the structure of al-Qaeda, locations of hideouts, and escape plans.
My granddaughter, who will be a high school senior this fall, is on the "Senior Citizens" committee created to help freshmen feel at home in the new surroundings that house 2,200 students seven hours a day. Since her mother had been on a similar high school committee, she passed on some advice about what to tell freshmen. I told them, if they see me in the hall, don't be afraid to come over and tell me how things are going or to ask for advice. Introduce me to your friends. I'm not a big bad senior who knows it all. A few years ago I was a freshman and next year I'll be a freshman again in college. Fight, flight, or understand.
When unusual circumstances make fight and flight impossible in a prison situation, we get a glimpse of a third way to deal with enemies. If it helps avoid violence and loneliness, it could be worth a try.
While reading Lawrence Wright's book, The Looming Tower, I came across the report of an interrogation between Ali Soufan, a Muslim FBI agent, and Abu Jandal, who served as an Osama bin Laden bodyguard. After listening to Abu Jandal describe himself as a revolutionary trying to rid the world of the evil that came mainly from the United States, Soufan realized Abu Jandal had a very limited knowledge of the United States. He gave him a history of the United States in Arabic. Since Soufan had learned Abu Jandal was a diabetic, he also brought him sugarless wafers with his coffee.
The sugarless-wafers-and-coffee-gesture reminded me that I had read Nelson Mandela had done something similar during the 27 years he was locked up in a South African prison. When one of his guards came in to run the projector on a movie night, Mandela heard him complaining that the tea he was carrying was cold. On the next movie night, Mandela was able to provide the guard with a cup of hot tea and cookies. Mandela would later invite the guard to his inauguration as President of South Africa.
While in prison, Mandela learned the Afrikaans language of the Dutch descendants who imposed the apartheid restrictions on blacks in South Africa. He also studied the Afrikaner history and philosophy.
Being a Muslim himself, Soufan could engage Abu Jandal in a discussion of the Quran 's instructions for the honorable conduct of warfare. "Are not women and children to be protected?" he asked. Soufan went on to point out al-Qaeda even killed Muslims in the attacks on the U.S. embassies in East Africa and in New York. Abu Jandal insisted, "The Sheikh is not that crazy. It was the Israelis." When he could no longer deny what the overwhelming evidence showed to be true, Abu Jandal provided information about the structure of al-Qaeda, locations of hideouts, and escape plans.
My granddaughter, who will be a high school senior this fall, is on the "Senior Citizens" committee created to help freshmen feel at home in the new surroundings that house 2,200 students seven hours a day. Since her mother had been on a similar high school committee, she passed on some advice about what to tell freshmen. I told them, if they see me in the hall, don't be afraid to come over and tell me how things are going or to ask for advice. Introduce me to your friends. I'm not a big bad senior who knows it all. A few years ago I was a freshman and next year I'll be a freshman again in college. Fight, flight, or understand.
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