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…
