Have been watching this whole incident with the latest atempted bomber and the thread it inspired and i have been wondering why no one has asked "did they even CARE if it took down the plane?". Hell you could do almost as much damage to people's mental states in the US (especially but england and some other countries) right now with a smoke bomb and a party poper. You now arnt alowed to even go to the toilet with in an hour of landing and god knows what other restictions have been put in place. So why would a terrorist organisation go to the trouble and expense of launching a real atack when they can just launch a piss poor imitation now and have the same or greater effect?
terrorist attacks
- Thread starter Asguard
- Start date
When we do the job for them
A similar conundrum is the question of just how scared of the terrorists we should be, anyway. Sure, nineteen guys, with several years of planning, managed to exploit our weak security system and hijack some planes and kill a bunch of people. Since then, we've had, what? Two incompetent bombers?
Seriously, I don't get why the terrorists are so focused on airplanes. If they want to do maximum damage, there are scads of soft targets around any number of cities with potential casualties in the hundreds or even thousands.
But they're not coming after these targets. They're coming after the airlines, and they are a bunch of incompetent morons.
They don't need to. Just send a patsy, watch him fuck up, and we'll terrorize ourselves. I think there's a problem when the American people are doing the terrorists' jobs for them.
Asguard said:
A similar conundrum is the question of just how scared of the terrorists we should be, anyway. Sure, nineteen guys, with several years of planning, managed to exploit our weak security system and hijack some planes and kill a bunch of people. Since then, we've had, what? Two incompetent bombers?
Seriously, I don't get why the terrorists are so focused on airplanes. If they want to do maximum damage, there are scads of soft targets around any number of cities with potential casualties in the hundreds or even thousands.
But they're not coming after these targets. They're coming after the airlines, and they are a bunch of incompetent morons.
They don't need to. Just send a patsy, watch him fuck up, and we'll terrorize ourselves. I think there's a problem when the American people are doing the terrorists' jobs for them.
of course there is the point that when you work that out then they use there real guys to strike a REAL target again and you DO have something to be afraid of but *shrug*
Personally im more afraid of the idiots who drive the buses in Adelaide than i am someone from the middle east blowing us up. That ranks about the same as the space station falling on my house (concidering how badly the last 2 were brought down to land in Australia this is probably a more realisitic fear)
Personally im more afraid of the idiots who drive the buses in Adelaide than i am someone from the middle east blowing us up. That ranks about the same as the space station falling on my house (concidering how badly the last 2 were brought down to land in Australia this is probably a more realisitic fear)
The price of freedom
And that's the way it goes. And it is the price of freedom. I don't use that word lightly in this case, but we simply cannot win against terrorism. The most effective reduction of its power will be through state-sponsored terror—tyranny. And if we go that far, the terrorists flat-out win. The best we can do here is not lose, and people need to get used to that.
The funny thing is that Americans frequently say something to the equivalent of "love it or leave it", and I find myself wondering if that's what it's going to take for the truly terrorized. Move to Canada. Or Ireland. Or someplace that isn't so squarely in the terrorists' crosshairs. Because we're the United States of America, and we don't intend to relinquish our dominance of the world easily; and as long as we're the proverbial top dog, terror will for us.
Asguard said:
And that's the way it goes. And it is the price of freedom. I don't use that word lightly in this case, but we simply cannot win against terrorism. The most effective reduction of its power will be through state-sponsored terror—tyranny. And if we go that far, the terrorists flat-out win. The best we can do here is not lose, and people need to get used to that.
The funny thing is that Americans frequently say something to the equivalent of "love it or leave it", and I find myself wondering if that's what it's going to take for the truly terrorized. Move to Canada. Or Ireland. Or someplace that isn't so squarely in the terrorists' crosshairs. Because we're the United States of America, and we don't intend to relinquish our dominance of the world easily; and as long as we're the proverbial top dog, terror will for us.
superstring01
Moderator
Seriously!
I thought the same thing. Like, why the hell go for the most protected targets. I'm sure I'm not the only genius thinking of this, but there's an Amtrack line that runs East-West right north of my town. It's rails are unprotected. What would it take to derail it? That thing flies at about a hundred miles an hour. A well placed series of explosives, in several areas, would surely do the trick.
Schools, as yet, are very un-protected. Colleges, Malls and Hospitals, much the same.
I told my dad, that I'm concerned about the sorry state of affairs of modern terrorism. Were I of the mind, I'd have the ability to strike serious fear into the hearts of Americans and I wouldn't even need to martyr myself. These guys need to go back to Terrorism 101.
~String
you can do as much or more damage in Australia with a match at the moment concidering how dry the country is. THATS what im really afraid of, bush fires. Between bush fires and car crashes terrorists dont even make my top 10.
"...same or greater effect..."? You think a little fear and anxiety is the same as what the nation's people would feel with the deaths of hundreds of innocent people on that or another plane?
Asguard, you don't value American people very highly, do you.
Then there's no need for you to worry or be concerned. But I don't think that Americans should listen to advice about terrorism from a Aussie who can barely write English grammar!
Baron Max
Sin and debauchery
You're thinking even more directly than I am. Hell, I was just thinking about Friday night on the town. Fifteen hundred people in a poorly-lit club, and lax security? I walked into Husky Stadium for the season opener one fine Saturday afternoon, and all they were worried about was that I left my beer in the car. Should I even mention megachurches on Sunday morning?
It's times like this that I almost hope DHS is actually paying attention. Not that there is much they can do about it, but the only thing that will surprise me when it finally happens is that Al Qaeda took so goddamn long to think of it.
(To the other, it might be that some clubs are safe. A terrorist might be willing to die for the cause, but be seen in that getup?)
Superstring01 said:
You're thinking even more directly than I am. Hell, I was just thinking about Friday night on the town. Fifteen hundred people in a poorly-lit club, and lax security? I walked into Husky Stadium for the season opener one fine Saturday afternoon, and all they were worried about was that I left my beer in the car. Should I even mention megachurches on Sunday morning?
It's times like this that I almost hope DHS is actually paying attention. Not that there is much they can do about it, but the only thing that will surprise me when it finally happens is that Al Qaeda took so goddamn long to think of it.
(To the other, it might be that some clubs are safe. A terrorist might be willing to die for the cause, but be seen in that getup?)
I'm more worried about fellow Americans mugging me in a shit area of a large American city than "terrorists". As a matter of fact, I've never felt any worry in the least about terrorist on planes. As for my fellow Americans, I have had guns pointed at my head on 3 separate occasions. Now THAT was terrorizing!
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I'll bet that the passengers on that plane had said the same thing ...BEFORE... the incident happened to them.
But, Michael, many people say the same things about mugging. I mean, why be worried about muggings? Hell, muggings always happen to the other guy, right? So, you should stop worrying about getting mugged.
Wasn't terrifying to me. What's the big deal, those guns against your head didn't bother me at all, so why are you worried about it? Shit, how is some American accosted with a gun to his head? Hell, it might even be less often than a terrorist attack?? So, ....why worry about it?
Baron Max
Mrs.Lucysnow
Valued Senior Member
This new regulation about toilets close to landing is new after the last attempt. As for the rest a foiled terrorist attempt amount to tax dollars being diverted to something else, like conventional war in Afghanistan. We are wasting out time and money trying to 'fight them there'.
point taken.
Then maybe we should go on statistics. There's a minuscule chance of a terrorist attacking me personally so WHY should I be hammered with it in the daily news DAILY? How about it's commented on as much as a local mugging?
Not as much as they care about demonstrating that they breached airport security. Terrorist attacks these days seem to be about largely symbolic stuff (see also, attacks on cartoonists).
Well, I'm in agreement about that news issue, for sure. The news media has hammered us continually about such things, and horrific crimes, and horriifc accidents, and ....well, anything that they think will sell advertising.
It's my personal opinion that the average citizen has no business knowing any of that crap ...it does nothing but cause him problems without providing anything like solutions. Ditto with crimes ...why do we need to know that some jerk murdered some other jerk yesterday? What good does it do us?
And I'll say the same for the wars ...the average citizen knows so little about how to fight wars that to give us daily updates is not only senseless, but it's harmful to us!
Okay, the suicide bomber almost blew the plane up and killed a bunch of people. Okay, now that we know that from the news, what good is it to know that? ...other than to argue here on the Sciforums about it.
Why do we need to know? Please explain that to me.
Baron Max