A few days ago, I ordered two books from amazon.com, a biography of Mozart and The Prince. I woke up this morning to my girlfriend calling to tell me the news. I turned on the tv, saw enough, and figured it would be good to get out of the room. I checked my mail and the two books arrived. I went back up to my room and there I made the glorious mental connection. With the NY skyline collisions on slow-mo like football higlights, I sat and read Machiavelli's work. On this day...I received the most life changing and life-affirming dose of cynicism. It really got me misty eyed. Oh how I read me brothers, and how I stripped myself of the things that burden us--love and compassion.

People want revenge? No good. Terrorists are dead. Yeah, I'm guessing they will catch the financiers, but really, how do you trade the lives of a couple thousand for a few Muslim fat cats. It just doesn’t work out well in the math, but if you work hard enough, you could probably prevent it. Of course, the question remains, how do you prevent this?

It was on the Eastern Front of World War II that I found my answer. As the Nazis surged into Russia, they hit a slight speed bump. You see, there was the regular German army. They were much like you and I. They just happened to be on the wrong side. Then there was the German SS. They were Germany’s fiercest fighters. They did not take prisoners. Whereas regular German soldiers suffered of depression from daily duty of brutalizing Pols, the SS could keep up with the best of them and do it with a smile, but this earned them a reputation. Where ever they went, they encountered stiff resistance. In one particular occupied village (about 1100 people), a Polish assasin killed an SS officer. On this particular day, I guess the SS were feeling like the Romans. The Polish man was a fanatic, as any normal person would be in their hatred for the Nazis, and the SS realized this. How do you make an example of a fanatic? You don't…You make an example of his friends, his family--in this particular case, the entire village. Oh how me brothers, the streets were quiet. There was no uneasy tension between the German soldiers and the local population on that day, for you see...well you know...they made the perfect example, and the other villages listened.

Of course, the Nazis were driven back and that set the tone for even a darker era in human history--Stalin's rule. But he's a whole different story.

Anyway, you want Mideastern terrorism to stop? Be nice and formal with handling the terrorists, bring them in, give a nice fair trial, then imprison them. However, that just isn’t enough with some people and for some regions, and evidently in the Middle East where it seems like every rock has been thrown at least four times a year for the last two thousand years, it just isn’t enough either. Examples have been made of people throughout history and it seems to work just about every time. Terrorists blow shit up because we don’t listen to protests. We listen to bombs. Maybe if we respond in just the right way, they’ll listen. But we won’t, so oh well.

9/11/2001 9:30:50 PM

man, you guys are some lazy bastards.

9/12/2001 1:28:16 AM

I'm not sure what to think about what you said, but it's probably the most intelligent thing I've read about all this business in a while.

9/12/2001 1:36:51 AM

seeing that no one is going to reply, how about i just give a cliff notes version: if you want to stop terrorism, catch one terrorist, kill his mother, father, kin, and friends, relatively speaking. It's amazing how people can change their ways once they feel a higher obligation towards others.



[Edited on September 12, 2001 at 1:47 AM. Reason : e]

9/12/2001 1:38:49 AM

very good point.

9/12/2001 1:40:17 AM

ah... now i get it

yea, makes sense

9/12/2001 1:48:44 AM

becoming terrorists ourselves is not a viable option(?)

9/12/2001 9:55:26 AM

there is no right and wrong on the world wide level. of course, people believe there is, but not really, it is just our interests masqerauding as morality. terrorism is not like general warfare. it is a war of will power and it's rules are determined by who sinks the lowest. people will die because of this, innocent people. the only question is whether we kill people effectively and thus disuade future incidents. if we choose target a general population, it will be inneffective. if we choose our targets effectively, then we get bring it to a screaching halt, and thus prevent future loss of life.

we have already resorted to terrorism plenty of times with all of the guerilla groups we have sponsored and trained, we have just yet to do it directly, don't believe me? ask the victims of the south american guerillas we've trained. ask the people of chile, i mean, we did resort of economic terrorism when we hyper inflated their currency and sank their economy when there was a socialist movement. ask the russian troops who fought in afganistan. i mean, we did give the afgans mules, stinger missles, and arms. a russian Hind helicopter is kind of ineffective when you have a bunch of rugheads toating stinger missles. And you say that is warfare? okay, pretend there is a revolt in Puerto Rico, we send in troops only to find Russia has armed them to the teeth, is that fair? ask in the innocent villagers in south east asia, when we basically endorsed tribal warfare to stop the NV. ask the nations of Iran and Iraq when we armed both of them, in effort to cripple both of them in their war.

we're already terrorists, we just sugar coat and say we're not really doing it. bullshit, when we sponsor the groups, we know exactly what they are going to do, yeah-that includes murder, rape, and all that good stuff.

[Edited on September 12, 2001 at 12:10 PM. Reason : s]

9/12/2001 12:04:08 PM

I pretty much disagree with you, but damn is that shit well put. You should ditch the guitar and pick up a pen.

9/12/2001 11:36:27 PM

well, i generally agree with that portrayal.

9/12/2001 11:37:42 PM