The point I think 6 is trying to make is simple. In a school yard brawl where one kid walks up and punches another kid shouting, "Take that!" The kid who has been hit is more concerned immediately with not being hit again than with trying to figure out just what, "take that" meant.
And the notion that if only you were willing to explore the reasons and motivations of someone else you could resolve a given problem is utter rubbish. For every "reason" you can give there will be millions of people living their lives under similar circumstance but not acting the same way. There are millions of Isrealis and Palestinians, despite all the past and present horror and bloodshed who are willing to try and live together peacefully yet the killing continues. So give me a reason other than money, power, lust or revenge for why the cycle goes on and on. How 'bout poverty and injustice? But if that were all there was to it everyone would be at everyone else's throat, wouldn't they? But they aren't. Or try Northern Ireland or East Timor or Cyprus or most of Africa where religious differences, cultural differences and ethnic divisions are all part of the mix that has had people killing each other generation after generation. Are any of these extremists prepared to sit down and discuss ways to co-exist? Not so far. Toss in dozens of governments, both well meaning and not, maneuvering and manipulating circumstances as and when they are able and the problem isn't identifying reasons, it's listing all the thousands of "reasons" that might exist. And that presumes any portion of all this is predicated on rational consideration.
In an increasingly global world with weapons capable of snuffing out lives in the millions at a moment every decision becomes hugely magnified and unfortunately we are left with people still having to make those decisions. Right now the United States is trying to change the paradigm in the Islamic world believing that free people will choose peace. The real question is can you get there from here.
