how many of you think terrorism can be stopped?

Question

ok so as you know the president of india posted that question about how do we stop terrorism, well for all of you who think you can, stop, its impossible. and if you agree with me, well nice thinking

Answer 1

Thought crime was dealt with in George Orwell's book "1984", a cautionary tale about thought control. Even if we could build some device that would tell what somebody else is thinking or going to think some day, and then arrest them for terrorist thoughts, the point of the book is that the resulting society is a pretty creepy place. Bush doesn't say it, but he must be thinking that we could stop terrorism if we killed every last one of them. Good luck with that, George.

Answer 2

Terrorisn--the kind of organized and ongoing attacks we see these days--can indeed be stopped. There will always be an occasional demented individual, but I think that's clearly a different issue.

The key to stopping terrorism is to understand what makes it possible. And that is very well understood by social scientists--except no one is listening to us. A terrorist organization cannnot exist in a vacuum--it requires at least the tacit support of a surrounding society, or a significant portion of the people within a society. Without that support, the terrorists are not going to be able to arm, train, or organize on any substantial or sustained basis.

What creates the social conditions that are needed is simple--you only need a population that feels threatened, disempowered--in a word, oppressed and without hope--a population that is both impoverished and powerless. The desperation that breeds make many people willing to accept--uncritically--anyone who presents themselves as a defender willing to strike back at the oppressor--or at some agency perceived as the oppressor. Terrorists play on this desperation, using it as a means of finding safe haven for their organization--and (as in Palestine and Lebanon) a springboard to power.

To stop them, you need to change the conditions within such societies--give hope to peoples that are vulnerable to being exploited by the terrorists. To do that, however, means recognizing that substantive action is required--not rhetoric--and it must be sustained until the people are able to stand on their own. Bullets won'tdo it. But schools, health care, and economicdevelopment will. Lebanon is a clear case in pooint. Here, Hezobollah was able to gain a foothold in communities that had been badly impacted by the years of fighting that ended with the Israeli withdrawal six years ago. Why? Because these people needed the things I mentioned--and the weak government did not have the capacity to provide those things. And after Israel left, they, the US, and the other Western powers congratulated ourselves on our "accomplishment"--and did nothing to address the power vacuum, the poverty, and the desperation of the Lebanese. Hezbollah moved into that power vacuum, bought goodwill with a few token health clinicsand some "humanitarian aid--and is now, as a result of the misguided military effrorts of the Israelis-on the verge of seizing power.

How much better it would have been if, pausing six years ago in our self-congragulation over our "diplomatic achievemnent," we had spent a few million on hospitals, on schools, and encouraged economic development in that area--if we had take n th etrouble to close the door we had so obliging left open for Hezbollah to walk through.

You will find the same pattern at the root in every society that terrorists find sanctuary in--and the solution is the same. Ordinary people are not terrorists--and will not tolerate them in their midst unless, out of hopless desperation, they come to believe they have nowhere else to turn.

You want to know if its possible to stop terrorism. It is--and that's how to do it. Not diplomacy. Not military action--that can be no more than a means of temporarily disloging terrorists, if that. Not rhetoric and ideology. Real hope. Realhelp. And that s the choice we have--we can reach out to these populations around the world that have lost hope. Or we can wait for the next terrorist plane to smash another skyscraper. Take your choice.

Answer 3

Terrorism is the new communism. Before that it was fascism. before that was something else, preceded by something else, etc. You get the point. "Terrorism" will never be stopped, it will just take on a new form.

Answer 4

It is impossible.It it were possible it would of happened centuries ago. Terrorism is part of the crazyness of mankind.
The best predictor of the future is the past. Well, the past is full of man's inhumanities to man.

Answer 5

it can be deterred, but will never be fully eradicated. as long as there are religious fanatics and people wishing to make "martyrs" out of themselves it will continue to thrive. all we can do is keep good intelligence and do what we can to keep ourselves safe. it is a sad world we live in. i was pregnant during 9-11 and really questioned what kind of world i was bringing a child into

Answer 6

You answered your own question?

Answer 7

it will never be stopped