tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post6239241716945153257..comments2024-03-27T11:18:34.222-03:00Comments on Viable Opposition: Terrorism and Playing the Fear CardA Political Junkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03342345936277964422noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-28621403881565585672014-10-25T11:40:58.122-03:002014-10-25T11:40:58.122-03:00One last comment. I guess I'm hoping that, ra...One last comment. I guess I'm hoping that, rather than swallowing what our politicians tell us without examining it for motive, people will take the time to think about what they are trying to spoon feed us.A Political Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03342345936277964422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-61708663320393133152014-10-25T10:56:20.555-03:002014-10-25T10:56:20.555-03:00It is a question that we, the people, will never b...It is a question that we, the people, will never be able to answer however, governments have provided very little proof that we have been under continuous threat that requires them to infringe on our rights, particularly privacy.<br /><br />I agree that it is a bit of a conundrum, however, the fact that governments throughout the ages have used fear to control us is without dispute in my mind.<br /><br />Thanks for your comments.A Political Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03342345936277964422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-2661893624886224962014-10-24T17:30:01.945-03:002014-10-24T17:30:01.945-03:00I wasn't puzzled about what the message was; t...I wasn't puzzled about what the message was; that was made clear enough. I was puzzled about how the facts discussed were supposed to substantiate this message. The logic appears to be: we go to great lengths to suppress terrorist activities; subsequently there are few terrorist activities; therefore, we needn't have gone to those great lengths.<br />Don't you see the problem?Gregory Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11293280236115306205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-14818035673343146682014-10-24T09:03:35.739-03:002014-10-24T09:03:35.739-03:00Gregory
I believe that the authors of the origina...Gregory<br /><br />I believe that the authors of the original paper were trying to tell us that much of what we currently believe about terrorism is a delusion, that there is not a terrorist around every corner but that governments have used irrational fears to justify their actions (i.e. spending trillions of dollars on two wars, spying on their own citizens). By including the list of confirmed terrorist plots, they showed that most of the plots were pipe dreams that had little chance of success and nearly half of them were sting operations undertaken by the nation's security apparatus.<br /><br />Here is the authors' concluding paragraph:<br /><br />"Whatever the genesis, Americans seem to have internalized their anxiety about terrorism, and politicians and policymakers have come to believe that they can defy it only at their own peril. Concern about appearing to be soft on terrorism has replaced concern about seeming to be soft on communism, a phenomenon that lasted far longer than the dramatic episodes that generated it. In his assessment of the reaction to the September 11 attacks, anthropologist Scott Atran muses, “Perhaps never in the history of human conoict have so few people with so few actual means and capabilities frightened so many.”A Political Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03342345936277964422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-75126445402376573982014-10-23T22:51:58.193-03:002014-10-23T22:51:58.193-03:00Will terrorists kill innocent civilians in the yea...Will terrorists kill innocent civilians in the years to come? Of course. They did so more than 100 years ago, when they were called anarchists—and a responsible nation-state must take reasonable measures to protect its citizens. But there is no way to completely eliminate terrorism.The challenge that confronts us is how we will live with that threat. <br /><br />We have created a massive economy of fear, an industry of fear, a national psychology of fear. Al Qaeda could never have achieved that on its own. We have inflicted it on ourselves. the article below delves deeper into how we have built a massive and expensive industry to strip us of our liberties because of fear.<br /><br />http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-terrorist-under-every-bed.htmlBruce Wildshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10181323607060607040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-2864838687018277382014-10-23T21:11:23.414-03:002014-10-23T21:11:23.414-03:00Because of the threat of terror, many police actio...Because of the threat of terror, many police actions have been taken and much money spent. Subsequently, there have been few successful terrorist actions, and very few of the sort that were guarded against. What should we conclude? On the face of it, the police actions and money spent seem to have been successful. Yet your conclusion is the opposite.<br /><br />Please help us to understand this odd essay.Gregory Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11293280236115306205noreply@blogger.com