'One notch less despicable than the terrorists'

Apparently, I'm one notch less despicable than terrorists.

At least according to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

You see, I don't think that people suddenly wake up on day and say, "Eureka, I think I'll become an extremist."

I have my theories about what causes terrorism. It feeds on despair and a sense of powerlessness. People who feel they have a stake in society, people who feel they have a voice, they don't become terrorists. Terrorism also requires means and a convenient target.

I don't think we can combat the scourge of terrorism if we don't understand it.

According to Friedman, this would make me an 'excuse maker.'

In a recent column, he wrote:

We also need to spotlight the "excuse makers," the former State Department spokesman James Rubin said. After every major terrorist incident, the excuse makers come out to tell us why imperialism, Zionism, colonialism or Iraq explains why the terrorists acted. These excuse makers are just one notch less despicable than the terrorists and also deserve to be exposed.

He doesn't explain the absurd premise that equates 'explaining' with 'excusing.'

Now, let's be clear. I don't assert a direct causal relationship. I don't think imperialism or colonialism or the Iraq conquest caused terrorism by themselves. As such, I don't think that simply ceasing those activities will, in and of themselves, end terrorism as we know it. But it's either grossly disingenuous or pathetically self-delusional to suggest that these factors have played absolutely no role whatsoever.

Who are some countries that terrorists over the years (al-Qaeda or otherwise) have tended to target? The US. Britain. France. Spain.

Why haven't they targeted Canada? Finland? Switzerland? New Zealand?

'They hate us because we're free,' we're told. Yet aren't Canada, Finland, Switzerland and New Zealand free too?

Four of the eight countries mentioned above have long, unpleasant imperial histories and four do not. Guess which four go in which category.

Is that an 'excuse' or is that a historical fact?

I don't think we can combat the scourge of mass murder if we don't understand it. Not justify, but understand. The importance of understanding what makes your opponent tick should be blindly obvious to anyone above the age of 14.

If this makes me an 'excuse maker' or 'one notch less despicable than the terrorists,' then so be it.