Exploring the being of knowing

The Taliban and Gangs

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Like many of us, I’ve been thinking about the situation in Afghanistan.

I’m trying to think of a solution. Rather, I think about what a screwed up situation that is. I try to wrap my head around people who are part of the Taliban. And I try to wrap my head around people that can’t be themselves because the Taliban will kill them or kill their families or hurt them or some other nonsense.

It dawned on me that I’ve never heard of an Afghanistan gang. I mean, the Taliban could be understood as a gang, but I was thinking more like the mob, like organized crime.

It seems to me that in the west, and in America, when there’s a problem with the government then people get together and they form gangs. And these gangs, never minding the ethical questions that might come with them (is there an ethical question when your government is an oppressive religious organization ?) generally speaking, they are the formation of people who feel that the government is doing them wrong. So they just decided to do things their own way.

I’m wondering if there’s some thing about that area of the world that prevents them from having gangs that are not associated with a religion. Gangs of people whose sole purpose is to try to be happy. To try to make a better world for themselves but for the future more so.

Just a thought. And probably an oversimplified one.

It’s just interesting to me. There are no gangs in Afghanistan, no political movements that aren’t already caught up in large governmental issues.

I don’t know.,.

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Essays in mental health philosophy—less “tips,” more why things work (or don’t). I look at the first principles under therapy, psychiatry, psychology, and everyday life, and occasionally share notes from papers and books-in-progress.

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Lance Kair, LPC, blends philosophy, mindfulness, and counseling to help clients find agency, meaning, fulfillment, and healing through deep understanding, self-awareness, and compassionate therapeutic collaboration.

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