Terrorism, by it’s very definition is the act of inciting terror and fear. Terrorism leads to people changing the way they go about their everyday lives because of fear. My grandmother (I’m sure mom mom will print this out for her to read if she comes across it!) is perfect example of someone who makes it easier for the terror-seeking, brainwashed, cultish ignorant psychotics (I like that description borrowed from the article mentioned below) to achieve the results they seek – making ordinary people who have done them no harm what so ever start freaking out.

My grandmother is in New Delhi. And ever since the first plane hit the WTC in NY, she, like everyone else has been glued to CNN. The moment CNN mentioned that one plane went down near Pittsburgh, the number of people calling my mom in New Delhi to check on me and even those IM’ing or calling me directly too a spike. Nothing spectacular, but enough to make me thing about it and realize that though I recognize the concern and they worry, the better thing to do in the US at least would have been to leave the phone lines open for emergency use… since even if something did happen somewhere, knowing of it sooner when you can’t do much to prevent it or affect any change thereafter is pointless.

Recently, CNN ran this story Man questioned in shooting death of Sikh. Now, I expected something like this. I’d expect that the majority of the people reading this would like to think that I’m nuts for saying that. But truly, I expected it. I’m not one to forward chain emails at all. If a chain email comes to me, that particular path stops with me. But I did post the picture from the chain email my cousin sent me in a previous blog since it made a point. A point which everyone reading this probably already knows, but the sad part is that there are places and people – some within the U.S. as well believe it or not – where even people who have a brain, just cannot think before they act.

Now, my grandmom, sitting all the way over in New Delhi; where the danger of fallout from any military action by the U.S. (that’s a whole other topic of dicussion in itself) in Afghanistan, especially through Pakistan is a lot higher than any danger I would be in in a place like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; is freaking out about me! I guess all I can say is that the terror-seeking, brainwashed, cultish ignorrant psychotics have unfortunately been successful in coloring the rational thinking of normal people. Sad as it may be, they have been successful in creating pandemonium and fear not only in the US, but all over the globe.

On a similar note, I found an article on a blog (for the record the caterina.net, the original article is on Salon.com) I was perusing. The article – An Afghan-American speaks by Tamim Ansary really makes a point. A point I cannot agree with more. And I can only hope that the people who are planning The US response take heed of what is said in that article. I am all for taking out just those people who did this. They really do not deserve to live. But I am definitely opposed to creating global pandemonim, chaos, destruction and loss of lives of not only innocent civilians in various parts of the world but also those armed personnel of any countries that get involved who will simply be following orders without much choice of their own.

The terrorists are using guerilla techniques. And IMHO, what will work in such a situation is not a massive show of force, but a massive show of smarts, intelligence and precision. Lance the boil, don’t make the whole body sick with over potent medication…

I’ve been listening to NPR pretty much non-stop for the past four days. (Hurray for live streams!) and every so often someone says something that just drives the point home regarding the events in NYC. Even with the live coverage on TV and pictures on the web (Yahoo! has excellent slideshows…) I don’t think the enormity and the gravity of the situation in NYC has sunk in yet. The pictures don’t convey it. But thinking about 110 stories times 2… 450,000 tonnes of debris… one can just wonder. I found one picture which really showed the scale when you think of the size of the rescue workers with respect to the mountain of debris that needs to be scaled.

This picture forwarded to me by my cousin says it all…

On Tuesday, the media was back to doing it’s job. On Tuesday the media was reporting news. Breaking news. But as I continue to listen to the coverage on the TV with anchors such as Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw (I don’t have cable…), or the stories on NPR and the Web, I can’t but help wonder at what point will the popular media go back to being the media instead of reporting the news.

The incidents at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and aboard each one of the hijacked planes are no doubt the worst acts of terrorism that we have seen till date. More than any other terroristic activity in modern times. They are deplorable, reprehensible, pathetic and a whole lot more than I can describe with even the choicest words. To watch the people on TV who are looking for their friends and family with continued hope of survival is painful for everyone that I’ve spoken to. So needless to say, everyone has an appreciation of the gravity of the situation…

What’s frustrating to me is that there isn’t much one can do about it. There is enough blood… unfortunaely, because it simply seems to suggest that there aren’t that many people alive to be able to use that blood. Blood doesn’t do any good when you’re already dead. There has been enormous amount of financial support coming in as well, starting of course with the $40B approved by the US Congress… an unprecedened amount. And of course all the financial assitance coming from donations being collected across the US and in other countries. I was pleased to see how easy Amazon, PayPal and CNET and other had made it to donate online.

Bush in his addresses seeks retribution. I have nothing against that. If the US can deterministically link certain individuals to this crime, sure… go right ahead and take them out (I’ve written before about bearing responsibility for your own actions and also darwinism…. the scum of the earth also need to bear responsibility for their actions and to support darwinism be eliminated). However, note that that is qualified by deterministically and also with individuals. But this is not an easy problem. In fact this is a problem which may not have a “solution” at all – one where we are constantly striving for a particular state of the world, which cannot be achieved because the problem itself is akin to having cancer or aids. Extricating tumurous cells from the body, or attending to the symptoms of aids only provides temporary relief – often welcome temporary relief. However, neither approach eliminated the root cause of the problem. And like a pernicious weed, as long as there is a root, it rears its ugly head again.

By no means am I chastizing any of the approaches any of the people in the position to adopt those approaches may take. My point is simply one that has been recognized by several people already, but bears to be repeated… This is a hard problem. Terrorism is a hard problem. Of course that doesn’t mean that we don’t try and solve it… we have after all been successful in in other hard problems. And the creativity, intelligence and determination of the sane half of the human race cannot be underestimated.