the other day, my professor said something along the lines of "terrorism is 99% political." i found that interesting. though bombings and senseless killing is very much a reality, for the most part we lose more people a year on the highways than on terrorist attacks, as he pointed out. but car accidents just don't instill the same fear as a bomb strapped to a terrorist does (how many of you instantly imagined that terrorist to be arab [likely bearded] when you read that sentence?), and fear is a very good emotion to stir up if you want a reaction. vote for me and i'll get rid of the terrorists sounds so much better than vote for me and i'll make stricter road rules. but when it comes right down to it, the latter would probably save more lives in the long run.
more than half of the projects i've done and scenarios i've worked with in class have centered around a band of terrorists - usually muslim, always with arab-sounding names - wanting to blow something or other up. we get their hard drives, find their plan, stop them, and save the day. according to my professor, this just doesn't happen as much in the real world as it does in our classrooms.
i'm not saying that terrorists don't exist or that we should just do nothing about terrorism, but what i'm trying to get at is that there are more important things to worry about, more likely things to happen. a while back i wrote about how sick i was of the arab = terrorist equation that society seems to have taken as fact, and i still am. every person that does not look or think like you does not want to kill you. getting them before they can get you does not work when they don't want to get you in the first place. i don't understand why that is so hard for some people to understand.
on a semi-related note, i thought that tarek mehanna's statement at his hearing was worth a read. and then you can read this article (that's super short) which seems to have missed the point of the statement entirely.
*Hands Held High - Linkin Park
more than half of the projects i've done and scenarios i've worked with in class have centered around a band of terrorists - usually muslim, always with arab-sounding names - wanting to blow something or other up. we get their hard drives, find their plan, stop them, and save the day. according to my professor, this just doesn't happen as much in the real world as it does in our classrooms.
i'm not saying that terrorists don't exist or that we should just do nothing about terrorism, but what i'm trying to get at is that there are more important things to worry about, more likely things to happen. a while back i wrote about how sick i was of the arab = terrorist equation that society seems to have taken as fact, and i still am. every person that does not look or think like you does not want to kill you. getting them before they can get you does not work when they don't want to get you in the first place. i don't understand why that is so hard for some people to understand.
on a semi-related note, i thought that tarek mehanna's statement at his hearing was worth a read. and then you can read this article (that's super short) which seems to have missed the point of the statement entirely.
*Hands Held High - Linkin Park
actually the image that popped into my head when i read bomb strapped on was Rush Hour...i don't remember which one...but i saw an asian and a bomb and a casino. lol
ReplyDeletei think the second rush hour was the one with the casino. i think.
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