Put an end to this rubbish
| By TKeck - Nov 19th, 2005 at 3:37 am EST |
Progessives should unite to defeat an intellectually dishonest argument currently in the public discourse. The argument that "we need to fight the terrorists over there so that we dont have to fight them on our soil." Rubbish. I heard some guy from Arkansas say this on C-SPAN this morning and just about died. The reason this statement aggravates me so much, ESPECIALLY when used by a public representative, is that it is just not a true statement, nor does it even understand terrorism.
The suicide bombers in the middle east are not some monolithic entity (just like communists weren't). You can't lump all terrorists into the same category, because their motivations and goals are often much different. Simply put, terrorism is a tactic. For instance, Hamas, the Tamil Tigers, Chechen rebel groups and the IRA are all groups which have used terror, but are not collaboratively working together. Of course, it goes without saying (but i will say it anyways), state or group violence against innocent people is never justified.
No matter how much the Bush Administration wishes it, the "war on terror" is not WWII. We will probably have to live with terrorism the rest of our lives, because as I said, terrorism is a tactic. Terrorism can not be militarily defeated, because its proponents are not a monolithic entity nor is there a finite number of terrorists. This is why the only way to end terrorism is to address the root causes... through politics. By no means do I suggest coddling or catering to the needs of people who cut off journalists heads. These people should be held accountable. But at some point, people need to realize that terrorism manifests from resentment and grievances that people have with the west.
These grievances may not always be entirely accurate or fair, and surely some people may just follow others like lemmings. But, I would imagine, American hypocriscy concering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Bush Administration's arrogant foreign policy and documented evidence of torture by the military may be creating more people likely to use terrorism against Americans. If we really want to end terrorism, we should start with these issues.
The suicide bombers in the middle east are not some monolithic entity (just like communists weren't). You can't lump all terrorists into the same category, because their motivations and goals are often much different. Simply put, terrorism is a tactic. For instance, Hamas, the Tamil Tigers, Chechen rebel groups and the IRA are all groups which have used terror, but are not collaboratively working together. Of course, it goes without saying (but i will say it anyways), state or group violence against innocent people is never justified.
No matter how much the Bush Administration wishes it, the "war on terror" is not WWII. We will probably have to live with terrorism the rest of our lives, because as I said, terrorism is a tactic. Terrorism can not be militarily defeated, because its proponents are not a monolithic entity nor is there a finite number of terrorists. This is why the only way to end terrorism is to address the root causes... through politics. By no means do I suggest coddling or catering to the needs of people who cut off journalists heads. These people should be held accountable. But at some point, people need to realize that terrorism manifests from resentment and grievances that people have with the west.
These grievances may not always be entirely accurate or fair, and surely some people may just follow others like lemmings. But, I would imagine, American hypocriscy concering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Bush Administration's arrogant foreign policy and documented evidence of torture by the military may be creating more people likely to use terrorism against Americans. If we really want to end terrorism, we should start with these issues.
!
Comments are closed for this post.
Come on people. It's bullshit and we all know it.
Watch the movie: Link
It has everything to do with the qaugmire in Iraq.
So how do we convince them that their belief in the Rock is false? (ooh, that sentence bordered on sacrilege...like the "I've sent them my only Son" Superman promo just before Harry Potter)
The best thing I've found so far is to remind them that, in fact, we ARE fighting the terrorists over here. We're still shutting down subway lines and closing tunnels because of terror threats. We've never found the Anthrax terrorist (meaning there's someone out there with live anthrax that has tried to attack the highest officers in Congress--think we'd have the guy if the letters went to Bush instead of Daschle?).
Remind them of how much the war costs--over $300 Billion. Ask them if we could have secured our borders and our ports with $300 billion. Remind them that we haven't even started monitoring 100% of our cargo that comes in through the ports, even though it's more than possible to do so with the proper equipment and funding.
It's a tough logical fallacy to overcome, no doubt.