The Watering Hole, Wednesday, November 18, 2015: Fighting Terrorism

I’m Briseadh na Faire, and I’m running for President.

Today’s topic du jour: Terrorism.

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Newton’s 3rd law of physics.

Yet this applies with equal, if not greater force, to social interactions, especially on the massed scale.

Terrorists act = governments react.

Both kill innocent civilians.

The equal and opposite reaction to anarchy is authoritarianism; to terrorism is torture; to drone strikes is suicide bombings; and the cycle continues.

The path is endless; oddly enough, perhaps necessary, at least until we address the problem of overpopulation. Poverty – lack of food, water, the basic necessities of life – is the stagnant pool from which terrorists are bred and recruited. The suicide bomber doesn’t hope in 72 virgins. He hopes in a better life for those he leaves behind. He has given up all hope in a better life for himself. So, in a perverse sort of way, these endless wars have a driving function to equalize population with available resources.

And therein lies the solution.

Fighting terrorists with authoritarianism, with bombs, with drone strikes, with tanks and boots on the ground never works. Terrorism is like the Hydra – cut off one head, two more grow in its place. It’s an ‘ism’ not a person, or even a group of persons. War, violence, extraordinary renditions, torture – these reactions by governments only create more terrorists.

(And terrorists, if they truly wanted to be revolutionaries – freedom fighters – would confine their attacks to military targets, thus garnering support instead of fear, from their civilian populations.)

To put an end to terrorism, we must first accept it will take some time. This cesspool was not created overnight – it will not be cleaned up overnight. We must take positive steps globally to address population control. And we must take positive steps globally to address the inequitable distribution of wealth.

We must live up to our ideals when it comes to the rule of law, and not cast aside protections for human rights for the sake of the illusion of security.

If a handful of people commit a heinous crime – does that justify turning away 10,000 innocent victims seeking refuge? If it does, we are the ones who have lost our way.

Once upon a time, we held the ideal that it was better to not convict 10 criminals than to send one innocent person to jail. Now, it seems to be better to send 10 innocent people to jail than release one criminal.

Governments react to terrorism with their own version of terrorism. While those in power stay in power this way (at least for awhile) it does not eliminate terrorism.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The true equal and opposite reaction to terrorism is love. Love balances hate. Tolerance balances rejection. Acceptance balances exclusion. Faith balances fear.

And by faith, I do not mean religious faith – but faith in a positive outcome. The masses have yet to embrace this level of faith – the level of faith necessary to overcome the ‘us against them’ attitude; the level of faith necessary to not see everything as an attack against their religion. The masses are still controlled by the messages propagated by the few empowered from birth by the wealth of their progenitors.

Fight terrorism with love. It’s not a new idea. It’s just one that’s not been tried since the son of a carpenter suggested it some 2000 years ago.

I’m Briseadh na Faire, and I’m running for President (all satire aside); a vote for me is a vote that won’t be counted, because the two-party system has rigged the process to prevent the counting of write-in candidates who don’t jump through their hoops.

Meanwhile, there’s this:

OPEN THREAD