BY the time that this is being read, it may well be that the extraordinary archaeological ruins of Palmyra in Syria will have been reduced to powder. They will have been blown apart by Daesh (so-called IS), for whom such spectacular historic sites are inexplicably offensive. Just as these fanatical bigots destroyed the priceless Assyrian artifacts in Mosul's main museum, so it seems that the spectacular ruins of not just one, but many civilizations at Palmyra will have been obliterated with high explosive charges. Scholars and Western liberals will wring their hands at such wanton destruction of the astonishing archaeological heritage of the Middle East, a region that has played such a pivotal part in the advancement of humankind. But this is precisely what the fanatical bigots of Daesh intend. Uneducated to the point of idiocy, they have no concept whatsoever of the fundamental value these structures represent, not just to academics but to people all over the world, who seek to learn from the lessons of the past. The only thing the lunatics of Daesh understand, is the value that all decent people put upon this rich architectural inheritance. As part of their overall campaign to inspire terror and disgust in those who oppose them, the destruction of a few ruins is nothing. It requires much more effort to organize a mass beheading or the burning of a prisoner alive. Laying charges around a treasured piece of the world's cultural inheritance is easy. The Taliban demonstrated their utter ignorance when they blew up the Banyam Buddhas. There is something which most so-called ‘liberals' are always loath to admit. This is that when push comes to shove, they care more about artifacts than they do about the loss of lives in the fighting that surrounds them. The terrible logic is that human beings can be replaced whereas the exquisite monuments thrown up by generations long passed, are irreplaceable While there is something monstrous in this analysis, there is however, at the same time, something deeply absurd in the behavior of Daesh bigots. One of their most outstanding achievements has been their ability to mobilize social media to disseminate their message of fear. One wonders how often, if ever, these dullards consider who it was that enabled them to broadcast their messages of bloodshed and hatred. How ‘impactful' would their ghastly decapitation or immolation footage be without the Western technology that facilitates their adroit publicity? Does it ever occur to any of the sell-outs who have joined the ranks of the Daesh publicity machine that their blasphemous message would be impossible without the technology of those that they insist that they hate. If Daesh were a remotely ‘pure' organization, it would have never embraced the technology that has enhanced its global reach. It can, with justice, be asked how can such ‘cavemen' use the sophisticated electronic engineering of a despised civilization to spread their narrow-minded, Stone-age message. Apologists would argue that the terrorists were turning the enemy's technology against them. More sane people would assert that, even as they reject the achievements of the past, which, like it or not, are sourced directly from the likes of historic locations such as Palmyra, the terrorists are dooming themselves to irrelevance. Those who do not admit and value the past have absolutely no future.
