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@vinlyn said:
Let's see now. Why are we expending so much thought and energy on defining what a terrorist is?
To help me get a grip on my moral attitude towards Terrorism. I hope?
And maybe help other flesh it out as well.
Nothing is simpler than to be led by fear of terrorists. In several ways.
I wonder how the western world is portrayed by Islamist media?
Guess it's just a mental exercise. Or perhaps a way to get us to argue with one another. Or is it part of Lumosity?
Arguing is not compulsory. I believe in free will.
But I can start up a reincarnation thread if anybody feels the need to...?
As for answers I think I have found the distinction I wanted to and its root.
Thanks everyone.
0
HamsakagoosewhispererPolishing the 'just so'Veteran
@Karasti; I don't watch TV news but get plenty of it rammed down my throat from all the ads and links on the internet. I think it is just as 'useless' a kind of news, as most of it is the kind that grabs you by your short-hairs and yanks you around by some spun up emotion. It's like to GET REAL news, you have to have a considerable adult cynicism and wariness about emotionalism and other -isms, and read your news with a detached ear.
But your question, 'why know about it at all?' is intriuging! There are some news bits that don't seem useful to know about, perhaps? What good does it do you or me to know who's the latest hostage being threatened beheading? It's a good question. Unfortunately, maybe? I feel a responsibility to at least witness what's happening among my fellow humans. It's happening to US rather than THEM, in my view. For me it's the information overload that doesn't do me any good.
I might feel more of a responsibility if I felt the options we had to deal with it aligned better with my morals. At least I can practice compassion for them. I suppose I can write letters to tell my elected officials what I think about how we deal with those situations (or don't deal with them). But it actually causes me more distress to first, know about (for example) a hostage situation and second, then to realize that the manner we are going to choose as a country to deal with it is likely worse than the singular hostage taking. If that makes sense, lol.
I think about the news sites I go to, and I am looking for kind of an overview of big stories. But what I find instead are the side stories that distract me for a long time that add nothing to my life and about which I can do nothing. Drunk driver kills a pair of sisters. Some guy robs the liquor store and steals cheap beer. Child is sexually abused by relative. Another college student is missing after a night drinking at the bar. If I am lucky, amongst maybe 25 of those kinds of stories I find one of those "restored my faith in humanity" stories. It seems to me the news probably plans it out exactly that way, too. And if I am not careful, reading so many of those stories, or even just the headlines, affects the way I deal with my family, affects the way I make decisions for my children, and so on. The world feels unsafe, even though statistically I know that is not true. Even 30 years ago, we didn't hear all those relatively unimportant news bits. My parents didn't have to worry about them all because they didn't know about them. They watched the local news and then watched 60 minutes once a week which generally covered a bigger, nationally important news story rather than a true crime story. That was it.
So more so than the larger, internationally significant stories, those ones have more impact on my life and they shouldn't. On top of that, we get those smaller stories about other countries now, too. International child abductions. So all those smaller stories combined with the hostage taking, the war, the genocide just make the world seem particularly dark. Is it necessary to stay connected on that level? What if I didn't? What if no one did? Would it have any impact at all on the outcome of most of the situations?
0
HamsakagoosewhispererPolishing the 'just so'Veteran
That's a good question. I really don't know, I guess I'm not as up to date on current events as some people are, and lacking concern about what this or that Kardashian is doing can only be an improvement. We are bombarded by too much information, or something like that. It's like a binge of information, and it follows that too much information is like too much beer or heroin or gambling. We're vulnerable to it because of our curiosity, an evolutionary trait that got us out of the jungle to see if it's 'better' over yonder. We eat and eat and eat information, and though we're primed to get as much as we can, we might be getting too much to know how to cope with.
Surely over the years we'll become accustomed to it, our great grandchildren will, for instance. Our grandchildren know how to use iPads before they can speak, so maybe our brains will be capable of handling a bigger world of random information. Mine isn't, and it's OK with me that it's not. About two years ago I stopped paying attention except where I am interested. I happen to be interested in what's going on in the Middle East, more the history of it than anything, and how it's shaped modern times. Otherwise I just 'let go' and haven't thought about it much, except how it affects me and mine in the now. I probably do more 'news' here on this forum than anywhere else, because the discussion is between friends and is intelligent and thoughtful.
A "Terrorist" is just a label. The fact is, we are all people. Any of us could have been an ISIS member if we had been raised in the life style and education that these people are enduring.
I'm not making excuses for them, but I don't believe we can understand the mentality if we are looking for a human flaw, as if it is something we all don't already possess, but perhaps we should look at the conditions that are bringing this extreme lack of compassion out of us.
Again, I'm not excusing any of the murderous actions, the individuals need to be stopped, but even more important, the source, the conditions, needs to be discovered and changed, or else it never ends. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I'm pretty sure that "Religion" or "Poverty" are not stand alone culprits, but more likely a toxic blend of several different contributors.
I do spend time contemplating the mentality of people within ISIS, because for me, I find it terrifying that, as a fellow human, I'm capable of accomplishing everything that my fellow humans are doing... because I'm just as human as they are.
Comments
absolutely. Couldn't agree more....
To help me get a grip on my moral attitude towards Terrorism. I hope?
And maybe help other flesh it out as well.
Nothing is simpler than to be led by fear of terrorists. In several ways.
I wonder how the western world is portrayed by Islamist media?
Arguing is not compulsory. I believe in free will.
But I can start up a reincarnation thread if anybody feels the need to...?
As for answers I think I have found the distinction I wanted to and its root.
Thanks everyone.
@Karasti; I don't watch TV news but get plenty of it rammed down my throat from all the ads and links on the internet. I think it is just as 'useless' a kind of news, as most of it is the kind that grabs you by your short-hairs and yanks you around by some spun up emotion. It's like to GET REAL news, you have to have a considerable adult cynicism and wariness about emotionalism and other -isms, and read your news with a detached ear.
But your question, 'why know about it at all?' is intriuging! There are some news bits that don't seem useful to know about, perhaps? What good does it do you or me to know who's the latest hostage being threatened beheading? It's a good question. Unfortunately, maybe? I feel a responsibility to at least witness what's happening among my fellow humans. It's happening to US rather than THEM, in my view. For me it's the information overload that doesn't do me any good.
I might feel more of a responsibility if I felt the options we had to deal with it aligned better with my morals. At least I can practice compassion for them. I suppose I can write letters to tell my elected officials what I think about how we deal with those situations (or don't deal with them). But it actually causes me more distress to first, know about (for example) a hostage situation and second, then to realize that the manner we are going to choose as a country to deal with it is likely worse than the singular hostage taking. If that makes sense, lol.
I think about the news sites I go to, and I am looking for kind of an overview of big stories. But what I find instead are the side stories that distract me for a long time that add nothing to my life and about which I can do nothing. Drunk driver kills a pair of sisters. Some guy robs the liquor store and steals cheap beer. Child is sexually abused by relative. Another college student is missing after a night drinking at the bar. If I am lucky, amongst maybe 25 of those kinds of stories I find one of those "restored my faith in humanity" stories. It seems to me the news probably plans it out exactly that way, too. And if I am not careful, reading so many of those stories, or even just the headlines, affects the way I deal with my family, affects the way I make decisions for my children, and so on. The world feels unsafe, even though statistically I know that is not true. Even 30 years ago, we didn't hear all those relatively unimportant news bits. My parents didn't have to worry about them all because they didn't know about them. They watched the local news and then watched 60 minutes once a week which generally covered a bigger, nationally important news story rather than a true crime story. That was it.
So more so than the larger, internationally significant stories, those ones have more impact on my life and they shouldn't. On top of that, we get those smaller stories about other countries now, too. International child abductions. So all those smaller stories combined with the hostage taking, the war, the genocide just make the world seem particularly dark. Is it necessary to stay connected on that level? What if I didn't? What if no one did? Would it have any impact at all on the outcome of most of the situations?
That's a good question. I really don't know, I guess I'm not as up to date on current events as some people are, and lacking concern about what this or that Kardashian is doing can only be an improvement. We are bombarded by too much information, or something like that. It's like a binge of information, and it follows that too much information is like too much beer or heroin or gambling. We're vulnerable to it because of our curiosity, an evolutionary trait that got us out of the jungle to see if it's 'better' over yonder. We eat and eat and eat information, and though we're primed to get as much as we can, we might be getting too much to know how to cope with.
Surely over the years we'll become accustomed to it, our great grandchildren will, for instance. Our grandchildren know how to use iPads before they can speak, so maybe our brains will be capable of handling a bigger world of random information. Mine isn't, and it's OK with me that it's not. About two years ago I stopped paying attention except where I am interested. I happen to be interested in what's going on in the Middle East, more the history of it than anything, and how it's shaped modern times. Otherwise I just 'let go' and haven't thought about it much, except how it affects me and mine in the now. I probably do more 'news' here on this forum than anywhere else, because the discussion is between friends and is intelligent and thoughtful.
A "Terrorist" is just a label. The fact is, we are all people. Any of us could have been an ISIS member if we had been raised in the life style and education that these people are enduring.
I'm not making excuses for them, but I don't believe we can understand the mentality if we are looking for a human flaw, as if it is something we all don't already possess, but perhaps we should look at the conditions that are bringing this extreme lack of compassion out of us.
Again, I'm not excusing any of the murderous actions, the individuals need to be stopped, but even more important, the source, the conditions, needs to be discovered and changed, or else it never ends. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I'm pretty sure that "Religion" or "Poverty" are not stand alone culprits, but more likely a toxic blend of several different contributors.
I do spend time contemplating the mentality of people within ISIS, because for me, I find it terrifying that, as a fellow human, I'm capable of accomplishing everything that my fellow humans are doing... because I'm just as human as they are.