Terrorism is perhaps the most overestimated threat in America, a country that tends lately toward vastly overestimating threats.
Can you imagine the current American zeitgeist in the situation of the second world war? You wouldn’t be able to smell the fear for the stench of piss. We are fucking pathetic.
Err, genius, you know how “9/11 changed everything” because it was the very first foreign act of terrorism on American soil ? We’ve had terrorists chucking bombs and grenades at crowded cafes since bombs were invented. Baader-Meinhof, Action Directe, the Lockerbie disaster, the IRA, the Munich Olympics, the Red Brigades… Or, for that matter, the London and Madrid Al-Qaeda bombings that followed 9/11. None of these things ring a fucking bell, you ethnocentric pinhead ?
And yet, while we station soldiers in the subways just in case, we don’t have weekly terror updates on the news, or obnoxious “what’s in your Evian bottle, really ?” checks at the airports. The borders are still wide open. Wonder why.
Actually it wasn’t. In fact when Clinton was in office there was a bombing there. Of course, since a “weak on terror” Democrat was in office, instead of attacking an uninvolved nation and letting the mastermind escape, all that happened is that the conspirators were caught and thrown in prison.
I don’t think I’ve ever read such a ridiculous assertion on this message board.
The countries of the EU “aren’t targets the way we are”? People have been trying to blow things up in Europe to make a political statement since 1605, and probably before.
Have you never heard of the IRA? ETA? The Red Brigades? The PLO? 17 November? Al Majhiroun? The Black Hand? Shining Path? Do you live under a rock?
If it didn’t happen to an American, it didn’t happen.
And I’m not saying that buttonjockey is being deliberately America-centric but that it’s a prevailing attitude that most of us aren’t even aware we hold. We get very little international news here, even less back before 9/11 happened. If you went up to the average American on the street and asked them what the ETA was (or even what a “Basque separatist” was, or even what their area of operation or grievances are), they’d stare like a deer in the headlights. If you told them there were terrorist organizations in South America or Japan or Spain or Italy, it would be news to them. They have probably heard about the IRA and Hamas, but it wouldn’t occur to them to equate that with Al Qaeda and 9/11 (and there was a relatively strong movement supporting the IRA in the US…an awful lot of Irish-owned and -frequented bars here had a little coffee can for donations for them for a LONG time).
I had to google “small pig cement” to find out what you were talking about. Now I really regret not finding that book when Michaela was in preschool. It sounds hilarious.
buttonjockey308, just for fun, try and find the biggest English guy you can find and say that he doesn’t really get terrorism as his country wasn’t a target the way America was.
Countrymen of mine blew the living fuck out of several of his major cities for decades. They killed or attempted to kill members of the royal family, members and leaders of the political parties, Thatcher barely escaped with her life once, and lots and lots of cops, soldeirs and civilains. They even mortared Downing Street once.
List of terrorist incidents - Wikipedia here is a list of terrorism attacks in Europe and the US. At the bottom the list is yearly. Europe has had a hell of a lot of attacks for a long time. America is practically pristine in comparison.
…and - and this is a really important bit - by not torturing people, they were actually able to try them in US courts. Which is impossible to do if you torture them, as torture is illegal in the US.
Wait, wait, buttonjockey308 was SERIOUS?? That can’t be. I just assumed it was one of those snarky posts, meant to make fun of people who have that kind of attitude.
Please somebody tell me that buttonjockey308 whooshed us all.
buttonjockey308, you weren’t serious when you said “the countries of the EU aren’t targets the way we are” right?
Recently? In the last 8 years, in the EU countries, was there an event larger than 9/11? Just a quick look says no. Attacks on countries in the EU lost 467 citizens since 2001, nearly 3,000 were killed in 9/11. So while they’ve had it rough with the world wars and the like, they haven’t been out there in the world making enemies the way we have. You’re right that our measures won’t stop a truly well-financed and determined enemy, but they WILL stop some of those that aren’t as well connected or financed and in the interim, save some lives.
It’s all about learning lessons, and as we grow and learn how best to confront the enemy, we may experience a bit of inconvenience, but in the end, I think it will be a better situation.
Which do you think might have more actual impact in how your life is lived: a single (and unrepeated) terrorist event (conducted by people who don’t really blend in to the population that well) in which 3000 people die in one city in the span of about 3 hours, or a constant stream of unpredictable smaller attacks and bombings (conducted by people who pretty much look like everyone else in the population) which disrupt normal life completely in your entire region?
