Scared in our own homes?

[anunitu]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

One very large issue is not about Terrorism but how ordinary people view their government and just how much trust there is in the Government not screwing its own people.

If you think about the "Truthers" and their view on the government.

Just look art this link..
http://truthernews.wordpress.com/

it is kinda scary that people are this Paranoid about everything.

\http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/04/politi...cs-hofstadter/

The truth is out there,but sometimes it is a bit to way out there....

Truthfully,You really have to work at it to get this Paranoid...(Plum Jelly is a secret plan to make everyone's teeth purple)

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So think about this statement"

"To 17% of Americans, President Obama is a Muslim -- and 65% of that group are "uncomfortable" with that. It's not enough for many opponents to disagree with the president on the issues; he has been characterized as a socialist and even the Antichrist."

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

I don't disagree. My fourth favorite teacher in high school (after 3 of the biology teachers) taught world history. His second favorite saying was "one man's terrorist is a another man's freedom fighter" (his first favorite saying was "the arc of history bends towards justice, but darn me if it doesn't bend too slowly for my sense of justice"... his third favorite saying was "desparate men favor desparate measures", which he sometimes reprased as "if you ain't got nothin', then you ain't got nothin't to lose", and his fourth favorite saying was "history isn't what happened, its what people say happened, with footnotes"...he called these (and the handful of others he had, The Unofficial Rules of History).

Suffice to say, the idea that the Boston Tea Party=terrorism isn't a POV that I am unfamiliar with.

I like his sayings (even the one he ripped from Bob Dylan, who ripped it from Janis Joplin - he must have been a hippy. Did he have long hair?).

But, regarding terrorism, it seems that any act intended to indiscriminately harm non-combatants, and having no clear military objective, could validly be defined as terrorism, and not freedom fighting.

In fact, either ONE of those conditions is suggestive, but when they occur together, there is no doubt - at least in my puny little mind.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

I personally know people who plan to bury their guns inside of pipes so the gov't. satellites won't see them, because troops are going to be coming door-to-door collecting them.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

So, the shooter was a Canadian, born and raised in Quebec.

I think the real question we should be asking ourselves is, why are our own citizens getting drawn into extremist philosophies and sometimes even joining extremist networks? I think it would be dangerous to think this is about religious zealots, because that would be ignoring the real problem completely.

[thalassa]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

So, the shooter was a Canadian, born and raised in Quebec.

I think the real question we should be asking ourselves is, why are our own citizens getting drawn into extremist philosophies and sometimes even joining extremist networks? I think it would be dangerous to think this is about religious zealots, because that would be ignoring the real problem completely.

Because not everyone values a plural society.

Its one of the great blind spot (and there are a few) of liberalism and progressivism (and in most topics, I am both) to think that everyone values (or should value, *if only we did __________*) a plural society (usually, and rather incorrectly phrased as "tolerance").

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

^^^^This! And more this!! Today on The View, Rosie O. said "Nobody wants war." - Wrong.- There are warlike cultures whose goal it is to dominate. I was just posting elsewhere that I hate when people say "EVERYONE needs (or wants or loves) - fill-in-the-blank." Um, NO. Everyone wants/needs air, food, water; all else is choice.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

Because not everyone values a plural society.

Its one of the great blind spot (and there are a few) of liberalism and progressivism (and in most topics, I am both) to think that everyone values (or should value, *if only we did __________*) a plural society (usually, and rather incorrectly phrased as "tolerance").

Yeah, I get that...but it bothers me in a country like Canada. Where I grew up, people DO value a plural society. Almost all of us come from immigrant backgrounds (only about 5% of Canadians have entirely First Nations heritage), and a -lot- of us come from pretty recent immigrant backgrounds. After WWII, there were massive waves of immigration from Europe and Asia. We should know what it's like to live in a plural society. It's something that we were proud of. When I was growing up, all I heard was about Canada was a "mosaic and not a melting pot" and how we were a country of immigrants who respected each other's differences. Now I feel like we're forgetting about it, which is really, really sad, because it's something that the rest of the world really admires about us.


I understand that different cultures feel differently, but this guy was a CANADIAN. Born and raised.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

History is very telling.

In the west, the idea that "war is bad" - as a majority opinion - is pretty young. World War I was a glorious adventure, until the dead & damaged came home in 1919.

European empire building - with glorious war as the aim of the nation - didn't end until '45 (although it began in pre-Roman times), and it looks like Russia wants to bring it back even now.

We can't lean back and pat ourselves on the back for being way, way advanced. 70 years isn't all that much history to be proud of.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Scared in our own homes?

I'm aware of that, but can you blame me for being EXTREMELY wary of war, given where I live? I mean, I'm a walk away from WWII ruins and there are bomb alerts (where they find active bombs from WWII buried in the ground) on a regular basis.

I'm Canadian, but like a good chunk of the Canadian population, I come from an immigrant background. I'm also German, and I grew up with stories of bombs falling on Stuttgart and eating nettles in the aftermath because there was no food.

And once again, I'm not saying that there are no war-like cultures anymore, but the shooter was from CANADA. He was from OUR culture.

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Now, all that being said, I think my worst fears were pretty unfounded. Over the past day, I've seen some pretty sane coverage of the tragedy and a lot of commentary about sticking together and pulling through. I've heard little about getting tough on terror. That's the country I know and love, and it warms my heart a little bit to see people supporting each other like that and coming together as a nation.