Illusion of Terrorism

[Jiro]

Pinky brought up an interesting point to me about the terrorism. She expressed her concern about terrorism in USA and what she had heard/seen. This sparkles an interest to me because millions of Americans have exactly same concern as Pinky so I want to talk about this.

The Illusion of Terrorism.... You have seen on many front pages and news with Global Incident Map. Government changed its legal definition of terrorism and will charge anybody with terrorism for even something silly like bomb threat at school.

Take a look at the map below:

Does this scare me? shock me? My answer is - not at all. not a single concern. I'm more concerned about crazy people or psycho around me than terrorists because terrorism attacks in USA is pretty rare compared to other countries especially Asia and Middle East. Look at Israel. I can't imagine living in there with constant threat where there could be a suicide bomber in middle of busy market street. We don't have that in NYC or any other major cities. USA government especially Republicans have a long history of playing fear in public because Republicans = Corporations especially war companies like Boeing, Northrop Grumman, etc = profitable.

so..... what's your say?

 

[Bottesini]

A terrorist attack can take out many more people than the one psycho in your neighborhood.

I was so shocked at 9/11. It was like living through Pearl Harbor except it was the mainland.

And Omaha has SAC so I thought they would blow it up too and I would die from nuclear fallout.

I am very frightened of terrorist attacks happening again.

 

[jillio]

I agree with you jiro. There are many more situations that pose a direct threat to the American citizen than an outside terrorist attack. We need to be aware of the possibility, but we also need to keep it in perspective, and not live our lives based on a very rare occurrance.

 

[shel90]

As someone who lives in the Metro DC area, I am pretty concerned about terrorist attacks. I was in DC when 9/11 happened so that really impacted me deeply cuz I was so close to the Pentagon and the 4th plane was targeted to hit either the White House or the Capitol Building. Maybe cuz I was there when it happened and witnessed the skyline turn black from the jet fuel at the Pentagon, it is more of a personal issue with me.

 

[Hwy99]

And why didn't we do something?

 

[jillio]

As someone who lives in the Metro DC area, I am pretty concerned about terrorist attacks. I was in DC when 9/11 happened so that really impacted me deeply cuz I was so close to the Pentagon and the 4th plane was targeted to hit either the White House or the Capitol Building. Maybe cuz I was there when it happened and witnessed the skyline turn black from the jet fuel at the Pentagon, it is more of a personal issue with me.

The closer you were to the actual site, the more profound the impact on you. That is perfectly understandable. The closer you are to a disaster, the more it affects you.

 

[Babyface]

imma terrorist against ignorant hearies rawr...... but yeah jiros right in alot of aspect however my only stance is any terrorism is if in fact it is terrorism not the irag war terrorist stuff but reall terrorism then yeah it doesnt matter where it come from its all bad

 

[Byrdie714]

so..... what's your say?

Interesting and yet I noticed that your map just consists of Middle Eastern terrorist groups which is informative.

But also wrong.

Wrong in the sense of American terrorist groups. Afterall, have we forgotten Timothy McVeigh and the bombing of Oklahoma City? Or the anti-abortionist bombing of the Olympics in Atlanta? Or the shooting attack at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle? Or the White supremacists of Ruby Ridge, ID?

The sad thing is that terrorism is everywhere regardless of what race or nationality.

Myself? The only terrorist groups I have to deal with are summer tourists!

 

[Babyface]

Interesting and yet I noticed that your map just consists of Middle Eastern terrorist groups which is informative.

But also wrong.

Wrong in the sense of American terrorist groups. Afterall, have we forgotten Timothy McVeigh and the bombing of Oklahoma City? Or the anti-abortionist bombing of the Olympics in Atlanta? Or the shooting attack at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle? Or the White supremacists of Ruby Ridge, ID?

The sad thing is that terrorism is everywhere regardless of what race or nationality.

Myself? The only terrorist groups I have to deal with are summer tourists!

ruby ridge should never have happened the government was at fault and also for waco A.C.A.B!!!

 

[Jiro]

Let me slightly clarify my view. People are terrified like shel and pinky - worrying about the next attack. Because of this fear, we let government strip away our freedom and basic civil rights with Patriot Acts and bunch more secret bills that authorized unwarranted wiretapping, confiscating laptops at airports, torturous interrogation at Gitmo Camp, and so on.

Like Ben Franklin said - ""Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither." Our country has become an Orwellian society - which London is. Should we allow our fear and give up our freedom for security?

My point is - yes... this devastating terrorism attack (done by foreigners) is a rare occurrence in USA but we should not sacrifice our freedom/rights for security. it is tragic that it happened in USA and many lives were lost. I live next to NYC and I have a whole NYC in my condo view. My father was in subway just several blocks away from WTC when the first plane hit it. He felt the impact but didn't think of it. I visited WTC site when it was still burning. The smell was indescribable. Immediately after that - 3 of my friends joined Army Rangers and one came back in pine box.

But I am realistic and logical. Even though this 9/11 was terrible.... it does not mean we should be extremely concerned about Al-Qaeda and spend all our time and money to kill all of them. This means we need to open our eyes and start paying attention to international affair cuz we have been ignoring it for so long... This 9/11 is the price of our depraved ignorance. We need to pay attention and start electing right people in our government. Because of our ignorance, the government was corrupted and their cries for help were left unanswered. We took advantage of poor nations just so we can have 99 cents hamburger and cheap jeans. Our ignorance caused this is to happen - the 9/11. Don't forget that we terrorized them first before they terrorized us.

 

[bethmeg]

Don't forget that we terrorized them first before they terrorized us
How true!! Risk to real terrorist attack is minimal, but the governemts want us to believe it's far greater. Most muslims are law abiding decent people, the governements and media choose to highlight and enhance threats...why? Its suits them. Encouraging fear and hatered breeds more distrust against nations, creates the right environment for more terrorists of every genre and gives our governments better backing from citizens when launching unlateral wars and attacks on other lands. UK and USA have breached endless UN resolutions against Islamic countries, yet Iraq and Palestine breached less than a handful between them. It's important to look at the real sourse of anger against the West by Islamics and the real reason why the West is so keen to attack Eastern countries.

 

[jillio]

Don't forget that we terrorized them first before they terrorized us
How true!! Risk to real terrorist attack is minimal, but the governemts want us to believe it's far greater. Most muslims are law abiding decent people, the governements and media choose to highlight and enhance threats...why? Its suits them. Encouraging fear and hatered breeds more distrust against nations, creates the right environment for more terrorists of every genre and gives our governments better backing from citizens when launching unlateral wars and attacks on other lands. UK and USA have breached endless UN resolutions against Islamic countries, yet Iraq and Palestine breached less than a handful between them. It's important to look at the real sourse of anger against the West by Islamics and the real reason why the West is so keen to attack Eastern countries.

Well said!

 

[Byrdie714]

Don't forget that we terrorized them first before they terrorized us
How true!! Risk to real terrorist attack is minimal, but the governemts want us to believe it's far greater. Most muslims are law abiding decent people, the governements and media choose to highlight and enhance threats...why? Its suits them. Encouraging fear and hatered breeds more distrust against nations, creates the right environment for more terrorists of every genre and gives our governments better backing from citizens when launching unlateral wars and attacks on other lands. UK and USA have breached endless UN resolutions against Islamic countries, yet Iraq and Palestine breached less than a handful between them. It's important to look at the real sourse of anger against the West by Islamics and the real reason why the West is so keen to attack Eastern countries.

Then what about American terrorists? America has been attacked by its own brand of terrorists compared to foreign terrorists.

 

[jillio]

Then what about American terrorists? America has been attacked by its own brand of terrorists compared to foreign terrorists.

Have to agree with that. We need to worry more about the terrorists within our own borders than those outside our borders. And, I'm not talking about the foreign infiltration. I'm talking about the terrorists who are many generations born Americans.

The frightening thing about the terrorist mentality is that it is all based on a dedication to a specific morality that they are hell bent on propagating. That is difficult to counteract.

 

[Byrdie714]

SPLCenter.org: Hate Groups Map

Courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center which has a map of hate/extremist groups in the U.S. that have been known to carry out terrorist attacks against a group of people.

Sad to see Washington state has 20 of these groups....

 

[Jiro]

Then what about American terrorists? America has been attacked by its own brand of terrorists compared to foreign terrorists.

bethmeg was talking about foreign terrorists. now domestic terrorism is the different issue. I was just trying to put some rational sense into people who are terrified about having another 9/11 attack. Government wants us to forget about domestic terrorism and keep replaying 9/11 & angry Middle Eastern riots burning American flags.

NJ has 34.... looks like CA has the most hate groups in USA - 80. ouch....

 

[Byrdie714]

bethmeg was talking about foreign terrorists. now domestic terrorism is the different issue. I was just trying to put some rational sense into people who are terrified about having another 9/11 attack. Government wants us to forget about domestic terrorism and keep replaying 9/11 & angry Middle Eastern riots burning American flags.

NJ has 34.... looks like CA has the most hate groups in USA - 80. ouch....

How is domestic terrorism and foreign terrorism different?

Terrorism is terrorism regardless.

 

[Jiro]

How is domestic terrorism and foreign terrorism different?

Terrorism is terrorism regardless.

yes but we have to know who caused it. We should be more concerned about our own people than foreigners. We should be allocating our budget/manpower/resource/etc. to domestic terrorism than on foreign terrorism. Majority of our law enforcement and intelligence resources are redirected to foreign terrorism - resulting in much more unsolved cases.

It's like being a teacher paying more attention and care on students than her own child. get it?

 

[jillio]

How is domestic terrorism and foreign terrorism different?

Terrorism is terrorism regardless.

And it is often well disquised under the mask of doing what's best. Or has Lane so eloquently put it, "the mask of benevolence."

 

[Byrdie714]

yes but we have to know who caused it. We should be more concerned about our own people than foreigners. We should be allocating our budget/manpower/resource/etc. to domestic terrorism than on foreign terrorism. Majority of our law enforcement and intelligence resources are redirected to foreign terrorism - resulting in much more unsolved cases.

It's like being a teacher paying more attention and care on students than her own child. get it?

It is.

And I'm sure many are in agreement with the next statment that Homeland Security is a farce.