What is sensed the most in the recent terrorism at the World Trade Center is an extremely superhuman and 'chosen people' kind of attitude that says "we are the righteous weak, we are on a mission from God, whatever we do or whoever many we kill, it is all God's will."

"Terrorizing the American occupiers is a religious and logical obligation," says Osama Bin Laden, godfather of international terror, in the magazine Nida'l Islam. "Because of providence, I can do anything." This expression of righteous immunity shows how evil can wear the mask of an angel and operate accordingly.

In truth, all massacres and political evils have been committed by those who believed they had a monopoly on 'righteousness.' There is no shortage of instances where people who had axes to grind because they believed they were righteous victims actually thought they could engage in acts like the kamikaze-style attack on innocent civilians in the World Trade Center, and still not be committing any sins.

The logic these crusaders usually use to support their beliefs a view of affairs based in tribalism. It is division by groups: "You are a ****** [evil] because you are with them, but I am a good guy because I'm over here." Far-right white supremacists, for example, hate blacks and Jews just for belonging to those groups. Some liberals and leftists consider all businessmen, developers of new technology, and persons opposed to increased government funding to be reactionaries. This crude division along the lines of good and evil incites blind hate, strife, struggles to the death, and uncompromising slaughter.

At the earliest stages of this tribalist 'hate-making' is the kind of brainwashing that deceives and confuses and distorts clear judgment. The hate is the result of ignorance that blinds one's ability to see a situation for what it is, prejudice, and dogmatic indoctrination. The people behind this 'steeling of the soul' can be false messiahs, charismatic politicians, secret societies, elders who cannot be refused, or the closest of relationships with fellow members of the same organization. The psychologist Hurd tells us that those who have been thus blinded enter the group as warriors, and at this point they are so scared of admitting they are wrong that they cannot but help perpetrate merciless violence against their enemies, whether blacks, Jews, or capitalists.

What is so horrifying is that this hateful social atmosphere exists here as well. Recently our society has also been overcome by extremes of hate. There has been hate on the part of the initial perpetrators of the hate, and hate that is a reaction of those who have suffered. In the vicious cycle of hate, evil has been met with evil, poison with poison, and resentment with resentment in a furtherance of a jihad state of mind. The situation has been made worse by the agitating politics of authoritarian populism, which has tried to use this hateful state of mind for its own political advantage. As long as this internal hate that is only restrained insomuch as actual knives are not drawn continues, then the Republic of Korea's future might as well be like that of the Twin Towers.

The greatest teachers of humanity have taught us that to avoid a catastrophic end caused by hate, we need to fight evil with good, not more evil. Unfortunately this is a far too lofty and remote method. For the moment, it seems all that can be done is for the civilized world to take the terrorists in New York, the terrorists on the civilian planes, and ringleaders behind all the terrorism in the world, and sit them in a defendants seat in a war crimes tribunal and condemn and punish them. The US and the rest of the global community have become too complacent since the fall of the communist block, and it is time to move again to remove this 'barbarism of the 21st century.'

(Chosun Ilbo Chief Editorial Writer - September 15, 2001)