Re: Thoughts on Terrorists

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org>]

>First thing I would suggest - is shut up wild talk and actions. Put some
>sort of censorship on the media on just the same things that were
>censured in WWII.

You do realize that just the sort of discussion we are having on this
subject on this list would likely be one of the first things to be 
censored.  Polite discussion of implications, antecedents, ways to
prevent future occurences, can easily be misinterpreted as criticism
of policy of various governments, even if it isn't.

I do wholeheartedly concur that the media, particularly the U.S. media,
would do well to show some responsibility and tone down their hype and
repetition of sensationalism.  To get real news I have to go to foreign
media.  It's embarrassing.

To be clear about something: as far as I'm concerned, the attacks of
11 September were not justifiable by any history or explanations or
any means or ends whatever.  Those who did it must be brought to justice.

Once, or while, that is being done, I hope many of us are also concerned
about finding ways to prevent such attacks from happening again.
It may be, as some have said, that they were the fruit of evil feeding
upon ignorance.  If so, let us root out the evil and cure the ignorance.
That is easy to say, but it will be hard to do.  The more who try to
think of how to do it, the more likely it is to happen.

>  Let all of us join together in a united thought and
>action to show our common bond of humanity. Yes there are places we can
>be hurt, and if you think about them, not out loud, places that would
>cause distruption of our lives and safety. We need to be united, not
>only Sinclairs but all of us, whomever we see and interact with daily,
>weekly, whenever!
>Across the world - UNITED we Stand!!  Am I afraid?  You can bet your
>bottom dollar!  Can whatever happen to me? yes, I think it can. I can
>only protect myself so much, worry so much. After that - so it happens,
>I'll deal with it to the best of my ability.  Sally in the real ground
>zero - just outside of Washington, DC - still within the first 25 mile
>radius.

In case any of you haven't seen Tony Blair's speech of 2 October,
it's worth a read:
 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour2001/story/0,1414,562006,00.html

Two extracts:

 ``I believe their memorial can and should be greater than simply the
 punishment of the guilty. It is that out of the shadow of this evil, should
 emerge lasting good: destruction of the machinery of terrorism wherever
 it is found; hope amongst all nations of a new beginning where we seek to
 resolve differences in a calm and ordered way; greater understanding
 between nations and between faiths; and above all justice and prosperity
 for the poor and dispossessed, so that people everywhere can see the
 chance of a better future through the hard work and creative power of the
 free citizen, not the violence and savagery of the fanatic.''

 ``...''

 ``I believe this is a fight for freedom. And I want to make it a fight for
 justice too. Justice not only to punish the guilty. But justice to bring those
 same values of democracy and freedom to people round the world.

 And I mean: freedom, not only in the narrow sense of personal liberty but
 in the broader sense of each individual having the economic and social
 freedom to develop their potential to the full. That is what community
 means, founded on the equal worth of all.

 The starving, the wretched, the dispossessed, the ignorant, those living in
 want and squalor from the deserts of Northern Africa to the slums of
 Gaza, to the mountain ranges of Afghanistan: they too are our cause.''

 --Tony Blair, 2 Oct 2001

John
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