September 08, 2003
Terrorism
Linguistically and emotionally speaking, I think one of the most shameful parts of this whole war is that they are using "Terror" to mean "Terrorism".It's not a war on Terror. It's a war on Terrorism. Terrorism is bad and should be wiped out. Terror is different, it's a human emotion that sometimes needs to be embraced to find out what is behind it. It's important, because the demonizing of Terror is yet another step towards invalidating human emotions.
What's so stupid about the reaction is that it is exactly an illustration of what happens when you do invalidate real terror. You've got a whole set of people that are petrified of terrorism and what it means, so much so that as soon as the concept is introduced to them as anything other than a vague hazy term, they immediately and reflexively react with an instinct: "Aaagh! Smash smash! get it offa me! kill! kill!" They don't even try to come to any wisdom about it. It's worse than animal, because it's not actually expressing fear, it's acting from a hatred of fear. And in the long run, it just makes the situation worse. This administration is not strong, it is lethal and stupid.
I think I agree with your point, except that I got hung up at the end. I agree that our administration has been playing off our fears and paranoia, largely keeping us in line with vague warnings and color-coded scare-meters. But, what wisdom can we gain from terrorists? Even if we understand why they are doing what they do, does that really help us sleep at night?
Posted by: Tommy Pantz at September 8, 2003 11:07 AMWell, I fell into the same trap by not making it clear... (or perhaps it actually proves my point). You can gain wisdom from accepting terror - I didn't mean terrorism. I do believe however, that if you understand why terrorists do what they do, and if that understanding then suggests a more informed response, then yes that does help us sleep at night.
I understand and agree. Granted, I like my terror as uninformed as possible, but to each his own.
Posted by: Tommy Pantz at September 9, 2003 12:07 PM