Terror rant

And surprisingly, it's Michael Gee who answered my question. Thanks for the thoughtful post.

 

I agree. Somewhere, some terrorist fuck is guffawing at the fact that we have to give away our lotion at a security checkpoint.

He's probably even saying "it puts the lotion on the skin, or else it gets the hose again."

Har.

 

What we, as Americans, can't accept is that if someone wants to hurt you bad enough to kill themselves in the process, there isn't a lot you can do about it.

You do what makes sense and play the percentages, but there is no "absolutely safe."

Ask the Israelis.

 

Ragu, your most recent post is excellent. But, I already linked the one you quoted me on, so I'll work from here.

While there are some very smart and thoughtful people that disagree there are a lot of smart and thoughtful people that do agree. Whether Bush and Blair receive a political fall-out is inconsequential, as I'm sure you agree.

America had an excellent opportunity immediately after 9/11. Very few people deny this. Nearly everyone in the world felt our pain. Of course, there was a segment of world that didn't and this was no different than the Oklahoma City bombing. I feel that this was our chance to really create a dent in terror. Yet, the actions taken resulted in a certain backlash.

The Iraq war, were it planned and executed properly could have turned out the way Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney advertised. It wasn't so it didn't. Now, there is a real conundrum that exists.

Decades ago, Americans lived in fear of the USSR launching nuclear missiles into the country. Communism was the great enemy and provider of terror.

It was through this fear that McCarthyism came about and thousands of Americans ended up blacklisted and losing out on their liberties simply as a result of ideology or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fear drove this country into a position where much of its ideals were put on hold.

Sadly, I see in this thread and others the same type of mentality. This time, instead of witches or Communists we are pointing at Muslims.

 

Don't wanna make you feel bad, Ragu, but I agree with the praise you're getting here. Great posts, not just because I agree with the majority of what you're saying, but because they're obviously well thought out and not knee jerk.

 

Interesting. Within the next month we're going to do a million sotries reflecting back on the Sept. 11 attacks. those pieces are going to be chock full of regular people and experts talking about how everything changed on Sept. 11. How we changed on Sept. 11.
That certainly as the talk immediately after the attacks.
I don't think that has been the case, and that's the real story — how we haven't changed since Sept. 11.
I don't mean to belittle the feelings of the people who lost friends and loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks, but we, in the broad sense of 'we' as a people, have not really changed as a result of Sept. 11.

 

The passion of this enemy is rooted in thousands of years of hatred and fanatacism. You aren't going to negotiate them away, or make peace with them, or change their minds...they just want you dead. They have no reason to stop trying.

Not to abuse the cancer analogy further, but:

When you have cancer, your first try to cut it out....yet too frequently it has already spread beyond your reach.  So you have to choice but to take extreme measures. You take chemotherapy when nothing else works. You take it, or you die. You wait too long...and you die anyway. The enemy has already done its damage.

We're checking old ladies for hand lotion, and the enemy is planning its next damage.

 

Agree that we really haven't changed.
Bush says we're at war with terrorism. But it's really not a war. Not like WWII was a war when this country and its citizens truly had to make sacrifices. If we're fighting a war, we're doing it in a half-ass way.

 

Well, there's a lot of mixed messages out there. On one hand, we're somehow supposed to "be changed" by the tragic events of 9/11 and see the world in a different way. On the other hand, we're not supposed to change how we live because then, and we've heard this a million times, "the terrorists win."  Well, Americans may have been changed by 9/11, and I think many see the world in a different way, although there are myriad conflicting worldviews that have grown out of that, and they'll never truly converge in any real sense (with the lone exception of another 9/11-like tragedy, and then , only for a while). But Americans on the whole are hesitant to "change" their way of life. Choosing to live the way we do (in so many different ways) and enjoying unmatched freedoms is part of the unique American experience.

I just think people are confused and frustrated -- and I don't blame them.

 

Well, what would be your suggestion for "chemotherapy"?

 

Okay, Dr. 21, what is your chemotherapy treatment entail?

What more, in your mind, needs to be done?

You said "we are treating it with aspirin." Well, give me something stronger. What does your prescription say?

Are you going with the rounding up of every Muslim and placing them in some sort of "summer camp?" Do you advocate carpet nuclear bombing of countries that have a percentage of people that hate us?