Terrorism how to fight terrorism

[inea 0]

It seems terrorism occurs more and more lately. There are more and more articles in the news paper about plans for terroristic attacks. in Afghanistan and Iran lots of terroristic attacks occur. terrorism is almost by definiton prepared in a secret way. so it seems almost impossible to prevent people from excecuting terroristic attacks. the question is if there is even an effective way to prevent terrorism.

[Bikerman 2]

It seems terrorism occurs more and more lately. There are more and more articles in the news paper about plans for terroristic attacks. in Afghanistan and Iran lots of terroristic attacks occur. terrorism is almost by definiton prepared in a secret way. so it seems almost impossible to prevent people from excecuting terroristic attacks. the question is if there is even an effective way to prevent terrorism.

The only way to beat terrorism is to not be terrorised. Terrorism is a very effective strategy - which is why most of the world powers have used it repeatedly. The notion that it is largely carried out by small groups of extremists is quite wrong. It is mostly carried out by nation states. The whole idea is to terrorise a population to win political advantage. When the US talked of 'shock and awe' in Iraq, what do you think they were trying to do? When Kissinger authorised the carpet bombing of Cambodia, or Reagan launched his covert killings in Nicaragua, then that was terrorism plain and simple - the aim being to shock and terrify the population into submission.

Where do you think the Taliban and Al Queda originate? They were 'freedom fighters' paid and trained by the US to launch terrorist attacks on the Soviets in Afghanistan.

As Noam Chomsky once said, the best way for states like the UK and US to reduce terrorism is to stop sponsoring it.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Terrorism is NOT happening more now than it has in the past. It's just being publicized more now. Nothing has changed.And terrorism happens on a daily basis. A bomb threat is terrorism. Pulling fire alarms is terrorism. Terrorism is just a way to get people to fear something (or someone).But even the more deadly types have been going on forever and nothing has changed with them.

[Bikerman 2]

Terrorism is NOT happening more now than it has in the past. It's just being publicized more now. Nothing has changed.
And terrorism happens on a daily basis. A bomb threat is terrorism. Pulling fire alarms is terrorism. Terrorism is just a way to get people to fear something (or someone).

But even the more deadly types have been going on forever and nothing has changed with them.

Pulling a firealarm isn't normally terrorism. Terrorism has a goal - pulling fire alarms is generally just vandelism/mischief.

A good general definition of terrorism is:

the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear

Edited October 2, 2010 by Bikerman (see edit history)

[anwiii 17]

seems like the topic starter wasn't very specific in what kind of terrorism. i do think terrorism can be as simple as poulling a fire alarm. in fact, ofcourse that is true and i would be able to argue that point. if there is terrorism, then it means a person or a group of people are being terrorized. this term of being terrorized has been loosely used when someone continues to terrorize someone verbally so in fact, terrorism doesn't have to be a physical act of any kind, but terrorism certainly isn't limited to verbal threats. but to me, there is a difference between a general definition of the word and the legal definition. ofcourse, the legal definition will be more specific in a sense and would constitute a higher crime than let's say assault and battery during a riot. but that is NOT to say that assault and battery(or more specifically battery) cannot be considered terrorism.as far as eliminating terrorism, i don't think that can ever happen even though there have been measures to cut down on terrorist acts. basically to cut down on terrorist acts in the united states, we have to limit the freedoms of the citizens. and in the united states, they have done exactly this. this just shows me what i always knew would happen eventually where you can't even piss without the government knowing about it and eventually, the country as a whole becoming a full police state if there aren't other measures to control the actions of government control to limit citizens' personal freedoms.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Pulling a firealarm isn't normally terrorism. Terrorism has a goal - pulling fire alarms is generally just vandelism/mischief.

You kind of contradict yourself there. Terrorism has a goal, yet pulling a fire alarm doesn't have a goal? If nothing else, the act on itself could be considered the goal. But it can be used in terrorism ways as well because it's widely known that fire alarms (depending on the location) cause people to panic and harm one another in their rush to exit a building or other area. Therefore it even has a physical effect as well, not just mental.

[Bikerman 2]

You kind of contradict yourself there. Terrorism has a goal, yet pulling a fire alarm doesn't have a goal? If nothing else, the act on itself could be considered the goal. But it can be used in terrorism ways as well because it's widely known that fire alarms (depending on the location) cause people to panic and harm one another in their rush to exit a building or other area. Therefore it even has a physical effect as well, not just mental.

No there is no contradiction.
If terrorism implies a goal and pulling a firealarm has no goal then pulling a firealarm is not terrorism...
Yes, it CAN be used as a terrorist act, I said NORMALLY it isn't - no contradiction, it depends whether the alarm is pulled with a goal in mind or not. Simply aiming to scare people is not really a goal, it is a consequence, so if someone just pulls the alarm to scare people it isn't really terrorism. If, however, they wish to avoid a maths lesson, then there is a goal and technically it could be called terrorism (though it would be arguable, since in most cases the action would not cause terror, mild panic at worst).
Edited October 3, 2010 by Bikerman (see edit history)

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Goal : ▸ noun: the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it

Seems to me like pulling a fire alarm for the sake of scaring people classifies as doing something with a plan you want to achieve (in this case the plan is to scare). I honestly can not fathom any other way to explain it. If you're doing something to achieve something, you're achieving your goal. That's what a goal is.

Edit : Vandalism has a goal as well; it is to vandalize. Mischief's goal is to create trouble. Everything you do has to have a goal -- otherwise you wouldn't do it.
Edited October 3, 2010 by rpgsearcherz (see edit history)

[Bikerman 2]

Seems to me like pulling a fire alarm for the sake of scaring people classifies as doing something with a plan you want to achieve (in this case the plan is to scare). I honestly can not fathom any other way to explain it. If you're doing something to achieve something, you're achieving your goal. That's what a goal is.
Edit : Vandalism has a goal as well; it is to vandalize. Mischief's goal is to create trouble. Everything you do has to have a goal -- otherwise you wouldn't do it.

But look again at the definition of terrorism I supplied - "in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature".
Also look again at the definition of goal you supplied - "the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it"
Pushing a fire-alarm isn't much of a plan and how would the person define whether they had achieved their goal? Would it be achieved if a few people screamed? Or would it require mass panic? The non-specific hope of scaring people isn't really a plan in the sense I would use the word...
And not everything has a goal. People frequently act impulsively with no thought of the consequence.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

But look again at the definition of terrorism I supplied - "in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature".Also look again at the definition of goal you supplied - "the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it"
Pushing a fire-alarm isn't much of a plan and how would the person define whether they had achieved their goal? Would it be achieved if a few people screamed? Or would it require mass panic? The non-specific hope of scaring people isn't really a plan in the sense I would use the word...
And not everything has a goal. People frequently act impulsively with no thought of the consequence.

I still don't get what you're saying. You randomly decide to crash your car into a wall. That was your goal and you achieved it when you succeeded. You randomly decide to shout something out. That was your goal and you achieved it when you completed it.

It's impossible to do any action without a goal. And the lack of doing an action is a goal in itself (the goal being to not do an action).

Taking your sense of the word, it still fits in perfect. Idiological describes any and all things idiots can make sense of. In other words, pulling a fire alarm for no reason is an idiotic move, thus it is idiological. Therefore even in your own terms it is considered as terrorism.

[Bikerman 2]

I still don't get what you're saying. You randomly decide to crash your car into a wall. That was your goal and you achieved it when you succeeded. You randomly decide to shout something out. That was your goal and you achieved it when you completed it.

No, that was your action, not your goal. The goal is the intended outcome of the action.

It's impossible to do any action without a goal. And the lack of doing an action is a goal in itself (the goal being to not do an action).

No that isn't true otherwise you would have to say that everyone has infinite goals all the time (there are an infinite number of possible actions at any point in time and by your definition that means you must decide not to do each action - infinite decisions).

Taking your sense of the word, it still fits in perfect. Idiological describes any and all things idiots can make sense of. In other words, pulling a fire alarm for no reason is an idiotic move, thus it is idiological. Therefore even in your own terms it is considered as terrorism.

Ideology is not idiocy - different words. An ideology is a group of ideas or concepts which define a persons needs and hopes. In simple terms an ideology is a belief or a doctrine.