On ulterior Motives and projected Motives

We all go through life having a public persona that is a modified (read polished) version of who we really are.

In simple English, this means we have a set of ulterior motives we make sure not to reveal, and we adopt a public posture that projects a different set of motives. We manage the complexity of this situation by pretending to work towards achieving the projected motives, but in reality try to achieve our ulterior motives.

Qualitatively, we are all the same because our nature is our common heritage. But we're not the same quantitatively because the gap between who we are and who we pretend to be depends on our history. It varies from one individual to another and from one culture to another. Moreover, in the same way that some individuals do not worry about the image they project of themselves – however good or bad it may be – some cultures communicate that what you see is what you get.

If a group of individuals or an entire people are unexpectedly taken out of one environment and placed into another, they may experience the famous 'culture shock' that could rattle them. Otherwise, we are a flexible species that easily adapts to the culture in which we find ourselves. But while we try to live as serenely as we can, we still maintain our antennas in full operating mode because we continually try to assess what the real motives of the other guy or gal may be.

Some people believe they are a good judge of character and can read anyone like an open book. Other people say they have the famous sixth sense which helps them decide who to trust and who not to. It also happens that a law enforcement institution would, at times, consult someone calling themselves psychic to help solve a difficult case. But is there a way for the rest of us, who may not be so endowed, to sense what someone is up to as they discuss a situation that’s familiar to us?

Yes there is a way, though not a surefire one. We are lucky to have a perfect example on which to try our hand. It is an article that came under the title: “Defending the civilized world” and the subtitle: “Eradicating 'radical Islamic terrorism' will require a long war.” It was written by Clifford D. May and published on January 24, 2017 in The Washington Times.

What we try to do is determine if the writer has one focused message or if he is vacillating between several of them. If the message is focused, the chances are that it is of the 'what you see is what you get' variety. But if the message branches out in several directions, the chances are that one branch expresses the real motive of the writer whereas the others are hiding his ulterior motives.

The motive that is disclosed by Clifford May is what he borrowed from President Trump: “In his inaugural address, President Trump vowed to unite the world against radical Islamic terrorism.” But then, May goes on to say this: “Our European allies are civilized to a fault embrac[ing] the mantra 'One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.'” And that's where we sense the presence of another message – what must be the writer's ulterior motive. Thus, whereas May pretends to fight Islamic terrorism, his real motive may be the targeting of what he argues the Europeans are calling freedom fighters.

Going over his entire article, we find that the writer is describing the doings of al-Qaeda and its many offshoots, especially the one calling itself the Islamic State (IS). That also happens to be what President Trump was describing in his speech. Mindful that no one – Europeans, Arabs, Muslims, or even members of the IS, refer to themselves as freedom fighters – we wonder who it is that Clifford May has alluded to as being illegitimate freedom fighters?

There is only one answer to that question because there is only one people under military occupation in the world today: the Palestinians. We conclude that the hidden motive of Clifford May is to conflate the struggle of the Palestinians trying to free themselves, with the attempt of the IS to become the Muslim answer to an increasingly delegitimized Jewish State (JS); referred to as Israel.

The hidden motive of Clifford May is now revealed. The more that IS is seen doing to the Syrian people what the JS is doing to the Palestinian people, the more Clifford May and those like him will want to deflect attention to something else. They will talk about the Nazis and the Communists without ever mentioning the Israeli settlers who are but a primitive manifestation of Nazism and Communism combined.