How to beat terrorism; for the individual
This year is interesting for my home city of Manchester, because 10 years ago this month, one of the biggest terrorist attacks in British history occurred here. On June 15th 1996, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) set off a truck bomb on Corporation Street in Manchester (link). By the grace of God, no one was killed, but there were hundreds of injuries, and much of the city centre had to be re-built, including the historic Corn Exchange building amongst several others. The first I knew of the attack was when I was in my bedroom, typing on my PC when I heard fire trucks and police cars roaring down my street towards Manchester city centre. A few minutes later, the radio announced a bomb had been detonated in the city centre, and the IRA had claimed responsibility. That was the first time terorrism ever came close to home.
I have since spoken to many other people who remember the Manchester bomb; one person told me how as they drove near the city centre, they heard an almighty boom noise, followed by the sight of a massive plume of smoke rising from the city centre. Another, who works in the police told me that as he was attending a police meeting, a police officer passed him his pager with the words "BOMB IN MANCHESTER" on it. They decided to finish their meeting until they knew more details before making an announcement (so for those of you who criticise Bush for not reacting, its called procedure).
However, the anniversary got me thinking. How do you beat terrorism? Well, there are two ways; one way in which our governments and armies defeat terrorism, which I will discuss in the next installment of this article. But this article deals with how you defeat terrorism. I hope it helps, because it has helped me, and I can assure you it will be a cold day in hell when I run scared from terrorism.
Frighten the populace
Terrorism was actually invented by leftists (why am I not surprised?), who throughout the C19th carried on a campaign of bombing and vandalism. They did so because of their anarchist beliefs. They believed that the West was inherently "oppressive", and the governments of our nations needed to be over thrown and replaced with their anarchist commune. However, they believed that the only thing stopping the people over throwing their government was their fear of the security forces (police, army etc). The anarchists believed that by launching terorrist attacks on these targets, they could show the ordinary "masses" just how vulnerable the security forces really were, destroying the myth of invincibility they enjoyed, and thus setting the stage for the people to attack them.
However, as history records, thats not what happened. As it happens, Western society is not particularly oppressive, and therefore people felt/feel little need to overthrow it. Far from being impressed with the terrorist bombings which showed how vulnerable the police were, most people were actually disgusted at the attacks, and thus the anarchists lost much, if not all of what little credibility they had. Consequently, terrorists knew that the masses would never rise up against their governments, so they had to try something new.
The "Reasonable man" and blame the victim
if theres one problem Western people have, its that we suffer from what I like to call the "Reaosnable man" disease. That is, we like to think of ourselves as reaosnable people, we tend to spend most of our time around other reaosnable people, and therefore we assume that everyone in the world is reaosnable as well. So when we see people who plough hijacked planes into buildings or who set car bombs off in crowded market places, this gets us thinking; how annoyed and furstrated would I have to get in order to do something like that? At which point we conclude that the terrorists must be reasonable men driven by desperation and righteous grievances. Indeed, many people in the post 9/11 world claim that it is the poverty and political oppression of the Middle East that is the cause of terrorism, and if only we could make these societies more open and "reasonable" then terrorism would cease.
But terrorists are not reasonable men.
Consequently, the victims of terorrism begin to self blame. A commonly asked nauseating question the self flagellating reaosnable men asked themselves post 9/11 is "Why do they hate us so much?". In other words "What must we have done to push these reasonable men to such lengths?". This is the worst example of blame the victim thinking possible. The answer is, despite what the terrorists claim, is that we did nothing. They attack us for the simple reason that the Saudi backed extremist madrasahs whip up such a climate of hatred towards us "infidels" who are literally de-humanised and spoken of in the most murderous of terms (e.g. "the sons of apes and pigs"). Because they don't view us as human, it makes them find it easier to kill us
Frighten and pressure the people; why Al Qaeda are smarter than anarchists
The strategic aim of the C19th anarchist terrorists was to create a climate of chaos and lawlessness as the result of their actions, which would see them get their dream of a lawless, anarchist state. The Islamic extremists however are much smarter; instead of viewing the people as "comrades", they see them as targets. They aim not to create a climate of lawlessness, but seek instead to create a climate of fear. If people are afraid to go to shopping malls or city centres because they may get blown up, then consumer spending falls, and our economy and jobs suffer. Indeed, Al Qaeda have spoken incessantly of their desire to harm the West's economy, and terrorising and frightening the consumer is a big part of it. If people are afraid to get onto planes to visit relatives or go on vacation, then again, jobs and the economy suffer. If we are afraid to take the subway train to work because it might get blown up, then against, the economy suffers. But also, the people get scared; and scared people are strongly motivated to want someone to take the fear away.
Al Qaeda press releases often offer us a deal; as Osama Bin Laden once promised "Your freedom [from fear] depends on our freedom from fear". In other words, if we give in the demands of Al Qaeda, and pressure our governments to do so, then they won't attack us any more, and we can go to shopping malls and take the place as often as we like. Everything will be just like September 10th 2001 again.
Except it won't.
Terrorists, as we have already established, are not reasonable men. Reasonable men do not hijack planes and ram them into buildings. Reasonable men do not cut the throats of bound, crying kidnapped aid workers. Reasonable men do not shoot at children playing in school yards in the West Bank and Gaza strip. And it is not possible to make a deal with an un reasonable man.
Now it is possible to make a deal with a reasonable man, because by his very nature, his demands will be acceptable, and he's unlikely to suddenly change them or add on some small print. Throughout the C19th, European powers enjoyed relative peace and stability because their dealings with each other were mostly done by reasonable men. Compare this to the C20th, when certain un-reasonable men began dabbling in European politics; and we know how that turned out.
Our Islamic extremist enemies are not reaosnable men. To them, we have only two choices; accept a state of dhimmitude and slavery, or die. Slavery or death. In other words, wholly unreasonable demands. Behind the "noise" of certain Western-Islamic points of friction (Israel-Palestine, Iran's nuclear power, the war in Iraq etc) is this basic "convert or die" ultimatum. And unless you like being enslaved and/or killed horribly, then you'll agree with my conclusion we cannot accept it.
Solution? Dont be frightened, don't be pressured
The best way to beat fear is to confront it, and do exactly the opposite of what the terrorists want. Al Qaeda wanted us to stop flying on aeroplanes, yet the airline industry is recovering, as people demonstrate their defiance. Al Qaeda want us to stop travelling on public transport, and from visiting our shopping malls and city centres. Let me share a story with you.
The very next day after the Manchester bomb, my dad and I went to a soccer match, and refused to let fear stop us from enjoying our lives as citizens of a free country.
The very next day after the London subway bombings, I was in the second busiest railway station in Britain, totally unafraid. And I certainly wasn't alone.
Almost evey day, I walk down the very street where the Manchester bomb was detonated just 10 years ago, spending money in stores, and walking around a country where I can speak my mind and can live my life as a I choose.
I do not let terrorists frighten me. Neither should you. Thats how we'll win
I have since spoken to many other people who remember the Manchester bomb; one person told me how as they drove near the city centre, they heard an almighty boom noise, followed by the sight of a massive plume of smoke rising from the city centre. Another, who works in the police told me that as he was attending a police meeting, a police officer passed him his pager with the words "BOMB IN MANCHESTER" on it. They decided to finish their meeting until they knew more details before making an announcement (so for those of you who criticise Bush for not reacting, its called procedure).
However, the anniversary got me thinking. How do you beat terrorism? Well, there are two ways; one way in which our governments and armies defeat terrorism, which I will discuss in the next installment of this article. But this article deals with how you defeat terrorism. I hope it helps, because it has helped me, and I can assure you it will be a cold day in hell when I run scared from terrorism.
Frighten the populace
Terrorism was actually invented by leftists (why am I not surprised?), who throughout the C19th carried on a campaign of bombing and vandalism. They did so because of their anarchist beliefs. They believed that the West was inherently "oppressive", and the governments of our nations needed to be over thrown and replaced with their anarchist commune. However, they believed that the only thing stopping the people over throwing their government was their fear of the security forces (police, army etc). The anarchists believed that by launching terorrist attacks on these targets, they could show the ordinary "masses" just how vulnerable the security forces really were, destroying the myth of invincibility they enjoyed, and thus setting the stage for the people to attack them.
However, as history records, thats not what happened. As it happens, Western society is not particularly oppressive, and therefore people felt/feel little need to overthrow it. Far from being impressed with the terrorist bombings which showed how vulnerable the police were, most people were actually disgusted at the attacks, and thus the anarchists lost much, if not all of what little credibility they had. Consequently, terrorists knew that the masses would never rise up against their governments, so they had to try something new.
The "Reasonable man" and blame the victim
if theres one problem Western people have, its that we suffer from what I like to call the "Reaosnable man" disease. That is, we like to think of ourselves as reaosnable people, we tend to spend most of our time around other reaosnable people, and therefore we assume that everyone in the world is reaosnable as well. So when we see people who plough hijacked planes into buildings or who set car bombs off in crowded market places, this gets us thinking; how annoyed and furstrated would I have to get in order to do something like that? At which point we conclude that the terrorists must be reasonable men driven by desperation and righteous grievances. Indeed, many people in the post 9/11 world claim that it is the poverty and political oppression of the Middle East that is the cause of terrorism, and if only we could make these societies more open and "reasonable" then terrorism would cease.
But terrorists are not reasonable men.
Consequently, the victims of terorrism begin to self blame. A commonly asked nauseating question the self flagellating reaosnable men asked themselves post 9/11 is "Why do they hate us so much?". In other words "What must we have done to push these reasonable men to such lengths?". This is the worst example of blame the victim thinking possible. The answer is, despite what the terrorists claim, is that we did nothing. They attack us for the simple reason that the Saudi backed extremist madrasahs whip up such a climate of hatred towards us "infidels" who are literally de-humanised and spoken of in the most murderous of terms (e.g. "the sons of apes and pigs"). Because they don't view us as human, it makes them find it easier to kill us
Frighten and pressure the people; why Al Qaeda are smarter than anarchists
The strategic aim of the C19th anarchist terrorists was to create a climate of chaos and lawlessness as the result of their actions, which would see them get their dream of a lawless, anarchist state. The Islamic extremists however are much smarter; instead of viewing the people as "comrades", they see them as targets. They aim not to create a climate of lawlessness, but seek instead to create a climate of fear. If people are afraid to go to shopping malls or city centres because they may get blown up, then consumer spending falls, and our economy and jobs suffer. Indeed, Al Qaeda have spoken incessantly of their desire to harm the West's economy, and terrorising and frightening the consumer is a big part of it. If people are afraid to get onto planes to visit relatives or go on vacation, then again, jobs and the economy suffer. If we are afraid to take the subway train to work because it might get blown up, then against, the economy suffers. But also, the people get scared; and scared people are strongly motivated to want someone to take the fear away.
Al Qaeda press releases often offer us a deal; as Osama Bin Laden once promised "Your freedom [from fear] depends on our freedom from fear". In other words, if we give in the demands of Al Qaeda, and pressure our governments to do so, then they won't attack us any more, and we can go to shopping malls and take the place as often as we like. Everything will be just like September 10th 2001 again.
Except it won't.
Terrorists, as we have already established, are not reasonable men. Reasonable men do not hijack planes and ram them into buildings. Reasonable men do not cut the throats of bound, crying kidnapped aid workers. Reasonable men do not shoot at children playing in school yards in the West Bank and Gaza strip. And it is not possible to make a deal with an un reasonable man.
Now it is possible to make a deal with a reasonable man, because by his very nature, his demands will be acceptable, and he's unlikely to suddenly change them or add on some small print. Throughout the C19th, European powers enjoyed relative peace and stability because their dealings with each other were mostly done by reasonable men. Compare this to the C20th, when certain un-reasonable men began dabbling in European politics; and we know how that turned out.
Our Islamic extremist enemies are not reaosnable men. To them, we have only two choices; accept a state of dhimmitude and slavery, or die. Slavery or death. In other words, wholly unreasonable demands. Behind the "noise" of certain Western-Islamic points of friction (Israel-Palestine, Iran's nuclear power, the war in Iraq etc) is this basic "convert or die" ultimatum. And unless you like being enslaved and/or killed horribly, then you'll agree with my conclusion we cannot accept it.
Solution? Dont be frightened, don't be pressured
The best way to beat fear is to confront it, and do exactly the opposite of what the terrorists want. Al Qaeda wanted us to stop flying on aeroplanes, yet the airline industry is recovering, as people demonstrate their defiance. Al Qaeda want us to stop travelling on public transport, and from visiting our shopping malls and city centres. Let me share a story with you.
The very next day after the Manchester bomb, my dad and I went to a soccer match, and refused to let fear stop us from enjoying our lives as citizens of a free country.
The very next day after the London subway bombings, I was in the second busiest railway station in Britain, totally unafraid. And I certainly wasn't alone.
Almost evey day, I walk down the very street where the Manchester bomb was detonated just 10 years ago, spending money in stores, and walking around a country where I can speak my mind and can live my life as a I choose.
I do not let terrorists frighten me. Neither should you. Thats how we'll win
posted by Michael | 6:48 AM
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