I’ve Done It Now

Posted on July 26, 2002 in Peace

Asking people to take a moment to consider why terrorists do what they do is risky: they think that by addressing their frame of mind you endorse the terrorist point of view. The scarey thing for most people is that when you get them to consider the reasons why terrorists terrorize, the reasons aren’t very much different from the ones we give for reacting to terrorism. Both sides justify attacks on civilians because civilians, supposedly, give the actors in violence their support. Both sides attack say that in war civilians are going to die, so don’t shed any tears about it.

I cry. I cry for the people who died in the WTC attack, for the Israeli civilians who have been the victims of suicide bombers, and for the many more Palestinians and other helpless peoples who endure harsh states.

The reason why I am going to be in trouble, perhaps even from this paranoid government of ours, is because I’ve gone ahead and recommend that people read what I call the “terrorist bible” on the main page of my ezine. You are welcome to disagree with me, but this is how I feel: the best way to fight terrorism is to establish reasonable standards of justice and stick to them. The excuse that many people to not change, namely that if we make the changes we are “giving in to terrorism” is weak and only grants the terrorist more material that he can use to convert people to his cause. It is blaming our evil on another person’s evil and denying to ourselves autonomy. The terrorist becomes our master. We react and end up doing more evil.

The article in question