Notes On Liberty
Spontaneous thoughts on a humble creed
Longform Essays
Libertarians and Pragmatists on Democracy
Why Republican Libertarianism?
Myths of Sovereignty and British Isolation
Institutions, Machines, and Complex Orders
Legal Immigration Into the United States
Poverty Under Democratic Socialism
The State in education
Three Lessons on Institutions and Incentives
Protectionism; Free Trade, Step by Step
About the Notewriters
Shree Agnihotri
Alexander Albrecht
Ethan Blevins
Joakim Book
Brandon Christensen
Lode Cossaer
Nick Cowen
Mary Lucia Darst
Andre Van Doren
Jacques Delacroix
Lucas G. Freire
Vincent Geloso
Edwin van de Haar
Kevin Kallmes
Mark Koyama
Michelango Landgrave
Chhay Lin Lim
Adrián Lucardi
Ash Navabi
Tridivesh Singh Maini
Bill Rein
Bruno Gonçalves Rosi
Erin Sheley
Barry Stocker
Federico Sosa Valle
Derrill Watson
Rick Weber
Zak Woodman
Andrei Znamenski
Guest Notewriters
HomeSmall Thought On The Terrorist Attack in Paris, France
Small Thought On The Terrorist Attack in Paris, France
11/22/2015 11/22/2015 Chhay Lin Lim Liberty, PoliticsCambodia, democracy, Democratic fundamentalism, France, international relations, Khmer Rouge, Laos, Religious fundamentalism, Secret bombings, terrorism, War on Terror
What the attack in Paris has made clear to me is that there is a deep hatred amongst people against the west. I believe that much of this hatred stems from the same roots from which my discontents with the west had also grown – western interventionist policies with foreign nations. I also sense such discontents among the few people that I know from Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, and Serbia.
My displeasures with the west originate from the personal stories of my parents who, before they became victims of the Khmer Rouge, were also victims of American bombings of Cambodia – a fact that is not widely known. The bombardments that started in 1965 ended in 1973, and had killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians. Indeed, before the Khmer Rouge took power over Cambodia in 1975 and before they sent all people to the rural areas to grow foodstuffs for 'Angkar' (the Organization/the State), there were already widespread famines and scores of displaced people due to the bombings. It had created a chaotic climate in which the anti-western, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist propaganda of the Khmer Rouge found their way into people's minds – mostly into the minds of those poor rural Cambodian people that were suffering most from the secret bombings. Ben Kiernan writes in 'Bombs over Cambodia' (2004):
Years after the war ended, journalist Bruce Palling asked Chhit Do, a former Khmer Rouge officer, if his forces had used the bombing as antiAmerican propaganda. Chhit Do replied:
"Every time after there had been bombing, they would take the people to see the craters, to see how big and deep the craters were, to see how the earth had been gouged out and scorched . . . . The ordinary people sometimes literally shit in their pants when the big bombs and shells came. Their minds just froze up and they would wander around mute for three or four days. Terrified and half crazy, the people were ready to believe what they were told. It was because of their dissatisfaction with the bombing that they kept on co-operating with the Khmer Rouge, joining up with the Khmer Rouge, sending their children off to go with them. . . . Sometimes the bombs fell and hit little children, and their fathers would be all for the Khmer Rouge."
Cambodia, together with Laos, still remains one of the heaviest bombed countries in the history of the world.[1] My parents were just 7-8 years old at the advent of the secret bombings. Imagine that a drone would bomb the school of your child or the hospital in which your loved ones are, would you not feel enraged? Would you not want to take revenge on those that are responsible?
A pre-moral person looks at the consequences of the actions. He sees the attacks, he acknowledges the dead, he becomes emotional and judges firmly. A moral person withholds his judgements and attempts to comprehend the causes of the attackers' actions. I do not want to justify the killings of the French people, but I would like to emphasize that if we were really to honor the victims, we should reflect on the question why there are people that hate the west so fiercely. Maybe our society itself is part of a larger machine that is the origin of foreign hatred against the west. We must not only realize that religious fundamentalism is a danger to the world, but that there is a more contemptible false idol which is democratic fundamentalism – the uncritical acceptance that democracy is equal to liberty, that it is always superior and that, if necessary, it should be spread with violence.
As long as we, as a society, fail to reflect on ourselves and the political system we participate in, we will never find a fundamentally peaceful solution.
[1] See Ben Kiernan's 'Bombs Over Cambodia: New Light On US Air War'
← Syrian Refugees and Security
Turkey just shot down a Russian fighter jet →
11 thoughts on "Small Thought On The Terrorist Attack in Paris, France"
Bert says:
There are always two sides and sometimes more to consider with these events. The biggest lesson is violence begets violence, and murderers will always find a reason or a cause to murder. You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. Another good post on your part.
Small Thought On The Terrorist Attack in Paris, France | Chhay Lin Lim says:
[…] together with Laos, still remains one of the heaviest bombed countries in the history of the world.[1] My parents were just 7-8 years old at the advent of the secret bombings. Imagine that a drone would […]
Yang Ho says:
It may be true that the west's actions rooted a hatred for some people, which means that the majority would have contempt for the West on the bases of religion and intervention?
Chhay Lin Lim says:
Not necessarily on the basis of religion. But a religious person that is filled with hatred may justify his hatred through his religion, leading into 'religious fundamentalism'.
Warren Gibson says:
A very thoughtful and sobering post. Some comments:
The memory of the bombing will live on for generations of Cambodians. Meanwhile most Americans, I suspect, are unaware of this aspect of the Vietnam War. (I was around then, but we didn't learn of the bombing for quite some time after it started, and when we did hear about it, I like most Amercans, being preoccupied with other things, took Nixon's explanations at face value.) Like George Bush, who claimed the 9/11 terrorists were motivated by hatred of our freedom, most of us, with rare exceptions like Ron Paul, fail to connect the dots between terrorist acts and past American foreign interventions.
That said, I think hatred of the West exists in many foreigners' minds side-by-side with admiration and envy, especially on a personal level.
Democracy definitely does not equal liberty. Nobody said this better than Hayek in the chapter of his Road to Serfdom entitled "Why the Worst Get on Top." http://fee.org/freeman/hayek-was-right-the-worst-do-get-to-the-top/
Thank you Warren. You're right, there is still a lot of envy and admiration of the west. What if the west did not intervene as much or destabilize their countries… how much more admiration would they have. 🙂
John Cyberome says:
A point well made on a perennial moral dilemma. Thanks for posting it.
Why did the Cambodians trade Foreign Terror for Native Horror?
Well, we tend to think that the alternative to evil is good. Yet, there are times when the choice is between the known and unknown evil. Blissfully, we chose the latter.
Did anyone remind the Parisians the simple truths? That we have nothing to fear, but fear itself. That there are no terrorists, only terrorized.
I don't understand why Cambodians traded foreign terror for native horror. It's something I've always wanted to understand. I don't remember a time when I did not have such questions as: how can people be so cruel to each other or would they (the friends I had) be able to commit such horrendous acts to me if they would live during the Khmer Rouge period? It seems like there is a terrible part of human nature that is called upon in certain circumstances. I think the Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment have been examples of how peaceful people can move to extremely horrifying acts. I also think that the Khmer Rouge had good intentions. In their eyes, they were saving the nation from corruption, from immorality, from foreign invaders and from domestic traitors. Cambodia by the way, is a country that is quite paranoid. Until this day, they still fear that the Thai or the Vietnamese will one day take over the country. Some already believe that the country only exists by name, but that it's actually under Vietnamese rule. According to them, after the Vietnamese occupation from 1979-1989, they have installed a pro-Vietnamese 'puppet'. This paranoia feeds nationalism – a sentiment, I believe, that can be easily manipulated into hatred towards foreign Khmer like Sino-khmer or Vietnamese-khmer. Besides that, I also think that the poorer people were envious of the wealthy class. When the Khmer Rouge came into power and turned the social hierarchy upside down by installing the poor people into higher social positions, they may have been especially cruel to those fellow Cambodians who they believed were better off. I also think that we can partly blame it on the Cambodian culture. The culture is very hierarchical. People of status look down on poorer people and treat them like crap. The poor don't even dare to look the better-off in their eyes. It's a culture that breeds envy and discontents between classes. I think these are a few reasons why the Cambodians had traded foreign terror for native horror. In all honesty, I find the culture quite backward :P.
It is an interesting read indeed but there are two or even more sides to every story. What we are also noting is that many of these groups that hate Western interventionist policies also hate their own people for being different in one way or the other. However, I agree that the misplaced perception of democracy as the superior form of governance overlooks the essential internal historical and socio-political factors behind the politics of the different countries that have become victims of Western 'sanctification' processes fronted by bombs after daring to opt not to embrace democracy. Libya and Iraq were stable before Western intervention.
From the Comments: Why did Cambodians trade foreign terror for domestic horror? | Notes On Liberty says:
[…] Cyberome pitches the question to Chhay Lin on his post about the terrorist attacks in Paris. Chhay Lin's response (which I […]
From the Comments: Military intervention, democracy, and stability | Notes On Liberty says:
[…] reader (and excellent blogger in his own right) Tam has an interesting response to Chhay Lin's thoughts on the Paris terrorist […]
Leave a Reply to Yang Ho Cancel reply
Enter Your E-Mail Address, Then Click "The Box"
"The Box"
Brandon Christensen on Introducing: the Federation of Free States, an ongoing thought experiment
clclark563 on The long-run risks of Trump's racism
Einstein on Jordan Peterson's Ignorance of Postmodern Philosophy
Thomas L. Knapp on The long-run risks of Trump's racism
Brandon Christensen on Tone deaf Leftists: A Chilean tale
kakatoa on FURTHER CRACKS IN THE GLOBAL WARMING PROPHECY
Against Ideology | Notes On Liberty on Dumbing Down the World
Introducing: the Federation of Free States, an ongoing thought experiment
Jordan Peterson's Ignorance of Postmodern Philosophy
Elite Anxiety: Paul Collier's "Future of Capitalism"
Classic Notes
(Christensen) Colonialism: Myths and Realities
(Delacroix) Legal Immigration Into the United States
(Weber) Gun control: Centralized vs. Dispersed
(Geloso) A flaw regarding the chance of "out-earning" your parents
(Stocker) Tacitus on Barbarian Liberty
(Rosi) The Protestant Reformation and freedom of conscience, II
(Landgrave) What is a nation?
(Rein) A preliminary argument against moral blameworthiness
(Van de Haar) Classical Liberalism and the Nation State
(Sosa Valle) Three Lessons on Institutions and Incentives
(Maini) The EU's laudable Asia Connectivity Strategy
(Lim) Early childhood memories of a Cambodian refugee camp
(Woodman) Classical Liberal and Libertarian Criticisms of Democratic Institutions
(Cowen) Public Choice and Market Failure
(Blevins) Spaghetti Monsters and Free Exercise
(Book) Mr. Darcy's Ten Thousand a Year
(Kallmes) Can Median Voter Theorem explain political polarization?
(Koyama) The End of the Past
(Darst) Semiotics in national dialogue: an observation
(Freire) Economics in the ancient world?
(Navabi) Physical Goods, Immaterial Goods, and Public Goods
(Znamenski) "Foucault's Pendulum": Social Scholarship, Ideology, and Libertarian Temptations
(Watson) Freedom of Religion Secures Other Rights As Well
(Agnihotri) Courts as Modern Civic Churches?
(Albrecht) Eroding norms and political transformation: A new chance for liberty?
(Lucardi) What is the best book about Argentina?
(Cossaer) On the trade off between the rule of law and lower taxes
Our Recent Books
Persecution and Toleration: The Long Road to Religious Freedom (2019)
Philosophy of the Novel (2018)
Rethinking Canadian Economic Growth and Development since 1900: The Quebec Case (2017)
Degrees of Freedom: Liberal Political Philosophy and Ideology (2015)
Kierkegaard on Politics (2014)
Nietzsche as Political Philosopher (2014)
Rousseau on Language and Writing: Two Perspectives (2014)
I Used to Be French: An Immature Autobiography (2014)
Les pumas de grande banlieue: histoires d'émigration (2014)
Du Grand Rattrapage au Déclin Tranquille: Une histoire économique et sociale du Québec de 1900 à nos jours (2013)
Do Império ao Estado: Morfologias do sistema internacional (2013)
Bemind maar onbekend: de politieke filosofie van het liberalisme (2011)
Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia (2011)
Classical Liberalism and International Relations Theory: Hume, Smith, Mises, and Hayek (2009)
In Our Notes
American culture anarchism anthropology art history Barack Obama Brazil bureaucracy capitalism China Christianity civil liberty colonialism constitutionalism costs decentralization democracy Donald Trump economic development economic growth economic history economics ethics Europe European Union F.A. Hayek federation France free speech free trade geopolitics Germany globalization identity immigration imperialism India individualism inequality institutions international relations Iran Islam Islamism Israel Jacques Delacroix knowledge problem liberalism libertarianism maps media studies Mexico nationalism political thought populism property rights public choice theory racism RealClearHistory republicanism rule of law Russia scientific method secession socialism state sovereignty Syria taxation terrorism Turkey United Kingdom United States War on Drugs Western culture
Notes from Elsewhere
Policy of Truth
Alt-M
Murica Derp
Progressive Geographies
askblog
Bleeding Heart Libertarians
Law and Liberty
Uneasy Money
The Skeptics
Punto de Vista Economico
Rational Standard
Oxford Words
Offsetting Behaviour
Sound Money Project
Uncouth Reflections
Mainly Macro
Pragati
Power & Market
Jacobite
Reality-Based Community
Duck of Minerva
Disorder of Things
JHIBlog
Archives of the Notewriters
Michelangelo Landgrave
Zachary Woodman
Archives Select Month July 2019 (25) June 2019 (60) May 2019 (49) April 2019 (48) March 2019 (68) February 2019 (63) January 2019 (79) December 2018 (60) November 2018 (71) October 2018 (70) September 2018 (57) August 2018 (55) July 2018 (66) June 2018 (55) May 2018 (79) April 2018 (70) March 2018 (63) February 2018 (53) January 2018 (21) December 2017 (16) November 2017 (21) October 2017 (15) September 2017 (16) August 2017 (29) July 2017 (23) June 2017 (21) May 2017 (28) April 2017 (40) March 2017 (26) February 2017 (31) January 2017 (40) December 2016 (48) November 2016 (38) October 2016 (22) September 2016 (19) August 2016 (26) July 2016 (12) June 2016 (22) May 2016 (26) April 2016 (23) March 2016 (14) February 2016 (20) January 2016 (27) December 2015 (25) November 2015 (23) October 2015 (26) September 2015 (24) August 2015 (17) July 2015 (30) June 2015 (31) May 2015 (23) April 2015 (24) March 2015 (27) February 2015 (22) January 2015 (24) December 2014 (24) November 2014 (30) October 2014 (30) September 2014 (28) August 2014 (27) July 2014 (30) June 2014 (38) May 2014 (41) April 2014 (42) March 2014 (38) February 2014 (53) January 2014 (46) December 2013 (51) November 2013 (47) October 2013 (48) September 2013 (31) August 2013 (36) July 2013 (48) June 2013 (33) May 2013 (50) April 2013 (27) March 2013 (61) February 2013 (32) January 2013 (35) December 2012 (31) November 2012 (27) October 2012 (33) September 2012 (44) August 2012 (66) July 2012 (36) June 2012 (25) May 2012 (23) April 2012 (35) March 2012 (34) February 2012 (28) January 2012 (17)