Comments | pmb: Terrorism

pmb

Terrorism

Sep 22, 2006 12:44

Every now and then, I get pissed off enough about the news to go on a ranty tear about it. Read this or not at your pleasure.

I feel like I'm living in some kind of imaginary dystopia that I will wake up from - this is Pottersville or Bifftown or something. Terrorism is not scary. Nuclear war is scary. Terrorism is only scary if you don't ( Read more... )

politics

Comments 17

nuclear_eggset September 22 2006, 23:13:03 UTC

I think the politics in this country are far scarier than most of the other things going on, quite honestly. And the bill they're working on... Gagh. The thing is, people aren't doing/saying anything about this for two reasons ( ... )

snailprincess September 22 2006, 23:24:50 UTC

I don't know man. It really is scary sometimes ( ... )

pmb September 22 2006, 23:37:57 UTC

A really interesting part of the movie Fog of War was a clip of LBJ stating that the war in Vietnam was a war on "tyranny and aggression". Thus, we've been fighting wars on abstract concepts and losing for 50 years now: "tyranny and agrression", "poverty", "drugs", and now, "terror".

Well, not really akjdg September 23 2006, 04:11:15 UTC

1. "perhaps a few hundred worldwide" isn't really all that perhaps. A few hundred in Spain, a few dozen in London, a few hundred in Se Asia at various hotel and resort bombings, 'perhaps a thousand worldwide' is a better guesstimate.

2. Terrorists have killed in the U.S. since 9/11. We had the anthrax killings, the Virginia sniper killings, the midwest mailbox pipe bomb... killings? Of course, these aren't the terrorists we're looking for.

I agree with all your points, just keeping a lid on exaggerations...

snailprincess September 22 2006, 23:47:50 UTC

Do you think it is possible to have any affect on the average person with a rational evaluation of the dangers of terrorism. Thinking hypothetically for a minute, could you have an impact with a large scale marketing campaign that focused on helping people evaluate the actual risks of terrorism. Show them how it ranks against other dangers they face such as: driving, getting hit by lightning or winning the lottery.

jes5199 September 23 2006, 00:46:31 UTC

like this?
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71743-0.html

mycrust September 23 2006, 00:53:44 UTC

That's a really nice list, and you put all of this really well.

I think I lost hope when I realized that people we're willing to keep the administration in power after the Abu Ghraib photos came out.

jes5199 September 23 2006, 06:02:54 UTC

I am not even certain that it is safe to speculate on what happens in the flood. There are witch hunts here.