Tweet
Chris 62:
Finally. Thank you.
I wouldn't agree that I started the insult thing, but we'll put that behind us.
Now for a summary of my views:
I believe, like most people, that terrorism is wrong. This is more out of a selfish reason than anything else: I have no desire to be killed, without warning, in a violent event, and I don't think anyone else does. After all, morality is based on what society doesn't want to happen to itself.
However, I don't think terrorism can be compared to an "evil empire" that consists of leaders, factories, munitions, funds from shadowy regimes, etc. Terrorism is a "force", a direct result of intense hatred. It is bred in an environment of anger and ignorance, resulting in people who do want to kill civilians to further their cause. It often arises when people have nothing to lose.
Hence, while the leaders and masterminds of terrorist acts are obviously warped in their heads, I believe that the majority of actual perpetrators, be they suicide bombers, suicide pilots, suicide snipers, or a variety of other suiciders, are normal people like you and I. In fact, I firmly believe that had you or I been born into a society like that, we would have become what they have become.
Thus, my conclusion? The war against terrorism, as it is so often labeled, is just one facet of a much wider struggle against terrorism. War may accomplish some goals: disrupt terrorist organizations and their bases, stop the immediate threat of terrorism. However, it is vastly not enough.
Terrorism must be beaten at the core. The core is oppression, is ignorance, is extremism. This core can't be taken out by missiles or assassins. It can only be taken out by improving the lives of those living in oppressed, ignorant, extreme societies. Economic aid, a fairer foreign policy, removal of sanctions would all help. In fact, I would even go far enough to say that America should open its talks to all leaders, however extreme or autocratic they may be, as long as they are willing to reply sanely, as so many are now willing to. I mean countries like Saudi Arabia and even North Korea. Isolation and the "cutting off" of countries serve only to create more hatred, more oppression, more ignorance and more terrorism. You may think that this is being "soft", this is giving in, but the only alternative is much, much worse. Sometimes you have to pick the lesser of two evils.
Thus, to summarize: Terrorism is a result of oppression, poverty and ignorance. Overt wars fought by soldiers will not destroy terrorism, it will only temporarily postpone it, as the very ground that created terrorism will create it anew. Isolation won't solve the problem either since it only creates more oppression, more poverty and more ignorance. The only ways are economic aid, removal of sanctions, and talks - not with bin Laden obviously, but with dictators who are still receptive, even if you are disgusted by the thought of it. You have to do it, no matter how soft you think it is. The only alternative is another 9/11 - and another - and even more to come.
Do you want to step back a little, kill terrorism in its cradle, and in addition, improve the lives of millions of poor, embittered people? Or do you want terrorism to continue forever?
Finally. Thank you.
I wouldn't agree that I started the insult thing, but we'll put that behind us.
Now for a summary of my views:
I believe, like most people, that terrorism is wrong. This is more out of a selfish reason than anything else: I have no desire to be killed, without warning, in a violent event, and I don't think anyone else does. After all, morality is based on what society doesn't want to happen to itself.
However, I don't think terrorism can be compared to an "evil empire" that consists of leaders, factories, munitions, funds from shadowy regimes, etc. Terrorism is a "force", a direct result of intense hatred. It is bred in an environment of anger and ignorance, resulting in people who do want to kill civilians to further their cause. It often arises when people have nothing to lose.
Hence, while the leaders and masterminds of terrorist acts are obviously warped in their heads, I believe that the majority of actual perpetrators, be they suicide bombers, suicide pilots, suicide snipers, or a variety of other suiciders, are normal people like you and I. In fact, I firmly believe that had you or I been born into a society like that, we would have become what they have become.
Thus, my conclusion? The war against terrorism, as it is so often labeled, is just one facet of a much wider struggle against terrorism. War may accomplish some goals: disrupt terrorist organizations and their bases, stop the immediate threat of terrorism. However, it is vastly not enough.
Terrorism must be beaten at the core. The core is oppression, is ignorance, is extremism. This core can't be taken out by missiles or assassins. It can only be taken out by improving the lives of those living in oppressed, ignorant, extreme societies. Economic aid, a fairer foreign policy, removal of sanctions would all help. In fact, I would even go far enough to say that America should open its talks to all leaders, however extreme or autocratic they may be, as long as they are willing to reply sanely, as so many are now willing to. I mean countries like Saudi Arabia and even North Korea. Isolation and the "cutting off" of countries serve only to create more hatred, more oppression, more ignorance and more terrorism. You may think that this is being "soft", this is giving in, but the only alternative is much, much worse. Sometimes you have to pick the lesser of two evils.
Thus, to summarize: Terrorism is a result of oppression, poverty and ignorance. Overt wars fought by soldiers will not destroy terrorism, it will only temporarily postpone it, as the very ground that created terrorism will create it anew. Isolation won't solve the problem either since it only creates more oppression, more poverty and more ignorance. The only ways are economic aid, removal of sanctions, and talks - not with bin Laden obviously, but with dictators who are still receptive, even if you are disgusted by the thought of it. You have to do it, no matter how soft you think it is. The only alternative is another 9/11 - and another - and even more to come.
Do you want to step back a little, kill terrorism in its cradle, and in addition, improve the lives of millions of poor, embittered people? Or do you want terrorism to continue forever?
?
Comment