This is my first politcal post, so go easy… I was never a politcal student.
Flame me if I’m wrong, but…
If we gave up a bit of freedom, such as the right of the media to report and televise terrorist events , wouldn’t this almost completely remove the power of terrorism?
Of course that may also remove the desire in the west to continue this “war on terror”.
I think the media has played the biggest part in turning suicide bombers into martyrs and making little known fundamentalist islamic groups famous…
[quote=“bobepine”][quote=“Richardm”]We could all convert to Islam.[/quote]You’d have to wear a veil though. Could you live with that?
bobepine[/quote]
I wonder if I could get away with just wearing one of those doctor masks?
But seriously, I don’t agree with the idea of giving up any freedoms. Bush says the world needs more freedom and I agree. I don’t believe you can end terrorism with retaliation. We are just making things worse right now. For every person you kill, you feed the hatred. Isreal has been doing it for years.
I would concentrate on punishing the perpetrators and trying to stop the hate. The source. I don’t have easy answers. Somewhere I think love, charity, and forgiveness will have to come into the equation.
First, the freedom of the press is too sacred to give up. It protects us from worse evils than random acts of terrorism, such as the evil of dictatorship.
Second, the freedom could only be relegated within a limited area such as one country. Even if the US, for example, restricted the freedom to report on roadside bombs in Iraq, Al Jazeera would still report on them, as would the media in other nations. So the terrorists would still get their press.
If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a noise?
Being ignorant of the issue doesn’t make the issue go away. You can say most of American was ignorant of the issue brewing in the Middle East prior to 9/11 and to this day are still ignorant.
[quote=“Tyc00n”]
I think the media has played the biggest part in turning suicide bombers into martyrs and making little known fundamentalist islamic groups famous…[/quote]
I think so, too; at least to a degree. I remember being a left leaning type back in the 90’s and wondering why it was the media wouldn’t talk about a wider range of views. Eventually (vis Seatle WTO) I saw that all it took was a few cans of spray paint and a couple burning garbage cans and all the sudden – the whole world was watching. Other groups certainly noticed this sooner…
Perhaps the most important rule of journalism is that if it bleeds, it ‘leads.’ This mentality makes cheap tricks, gore, ‘fire!’ and car accidents, rather than good ideas, the surest ways to get a hearing.
If they won’t listen when I speak softly, maybe I should roar…
I wasn’t intending this thread to be a blame America thread, and after talking to a colleague of mine, I was informed that exactly this method was used against the IRA… and it had the desired affect.
The problem with a heavy hand approach to dealing with internecine grievances is that tentative measures don’t work. They only make the situation worse.
If you really intend to use suppression to make the world a safer – and presumably better – place, you have to be prepared to go the whole nine yards or not at all. That means being prepared to slaughter upwards of millions of aggrieved people and imprisoning thousands more with chronic attitude problems in vast rehabilitative archipelagoes where they can’t stir up any trouble. There are numerous historical templates which could be referenced for the working details.
Only then will you be able to get real results of ultimate containment and control you seek which suppressing a few news stories will barely make a dent in.
I’m with Richardm on this one myself though. I think if you peeled back all the layers of these “troubles” we’re currently embroiled in you’ll find a sense of grievance fueling the conflict – as usual – and not the easier answer of irresponsible journalism encouraging some sort of suicidal copycat behaviour among impressionable Muslim youth.
So if you’re just not prepared to kill or imprison all those people who see themselves – rightly or wrongly – as victims of injustice and thereby eliminate the terrorist “fuel cycle” at its source, then the next best solution would be to try understand the source of that grievance and see if there’s any way you can eliminate it without compromising yourself. Otherwise, just be prepared for a long downward slide into bestiality.
That process of understanding and firm but fair balancing of rights, in a nutshell, is one of the pillars of civilization which supposedly differentiates us from our barbarous ancestors.
[quote=“Richardm”]I don’t have easy answers. Somewhere I think love, charity, and forgiveness will have to come into the equation.[/quote]That sounds about right but…You’re such a dreamer Richard. As long as there is air to breathe people will be fighting. Terrorism is contemporary war at its finest and it’s not going to go away, it’s going get more sophisticated.