Thursday, July 7, 2005
Nearly four years later
(Updated entry) There is no justification for what happened in London today just as there is none for what happened on September 11, 2001. There may be an explanation but there cannot be any justification. Terrorism's causes are identical to what it emerges from, namely: fear, anger, apprehension and sadness.
The only success, for want of a better word, that terrorism can have is to cause chaos and disruption. In fact, all bullies gleefully cheer their results (oooh, look what I did!) but they have no architecture or plan beyond tossing everything into disarray.
The first reaction of those who are terrorized may be to say "Fine, what do you want? Here. Now will you stop?" But (a) they even rarely know what they want and (b) they won't stop, no matter what they get. Terrorists aren't interested in stopping or in results. They just want to use fear to cause fear. Terrorists get their their kicks and their power from seeing and smelling fear. But ha, ha, ha we've all had it up to here. The British showed their mettle during the Battle of Britain when all the air power of Nazi Germany couldn't frighten them into submission. Now we're all learning that being terrorized serves, amazingly and wonderfully, to harden our determination to resist. And there is no reasoning or resolving with bullies. Their grievances can be listened and attended to only after they put down and walk away from their passion for destruction.
So here's my suggestion. Let's go forward with our lives, perhaps more peacefully, tolerantly and kindly than before. Let's be sure to tell those we care about that we do. That's how this will stop. Terrorists can kill themselves and can be killed by their enemies but terrorism can and will only be completely defeated by its opposite.
The only success, for want of a better word, that terrorism can have is to cause chaos and disruption. In fact, all bullies gleefully cheer their results (oooh, look what I did!) but they have no architecture or plan beyond tossing everything into disarray.
The first reaction of those who are terrorized may be to say "Fine, what do you want? Here. Now will you stop?" But (a) they even rarely know what they want and (b) they won't stop, no matter what they get. Terrorists aren't interested in stopping or in results. They just want to use fear to cause fear. Terrorists get their their kicks and their power from seeing and smelling fear. But ha, ha, ha we've all had it up to here. The British showed their mettle during the Battle of Britain when all the air power of Nazi Germany couldn't frighten them into submission. Now we're all learning that being terrorized serves, amazingly and wonderfully, to harden our determination to resist. And there is no reasoning or resolving with bullies. Their grievances can be listened and attended to only after they put down and walk away from their passion for destruction.
So here's my suggestion. Let's go forward with our lives, perhaps more peacefully, tolerantly and kindly than before. Let's be sure to tell those we care about that we do. That's how this will stop. Terrorists can kill themselves and can be killed by their enemies but terrorism can and will only be completely defeated by its opposite.
Labels: huh?, places, reflections
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