 |
How to Stop
Terrorism
What was your reaction to the massacre of over 350 children
in the Russian School?
Were you horrified an appalled by the incredible thuggery of
these people?
I am sure you were. So was I. It is, surely, the only sane
response if you have any shred of humanity in you.
Did you also cry out for more security measures and stricter
controls so that this can never happen again?
Wrong answer.
OK, hear me out on this because what I am about to say will
probably blow your mind. Even so, I think it needs to be said,
and spread, before this world becomes so dangerous that we cannot
even step outside. What I am about to say will sound crazy,
stupid, and just plain wrong - yet I believe it is the only way
that we will ever stop these terrorists.
"First" (it wasn't of course, but let's start there) we had
9/11. Then the Bali bombing, then the Spanish Train, and now the
Russian School.
That there will be a "next" is as certain as the Pope being
Catholic. It certainly does seem that the world is becoming
increasingly dangerous for ordinary people, like us, trying to
live ordinary lives in "peaceful" countries.
This despite the increase in security worldwide.
Or maybe I should have said BECAUSE of the increased security
worldwide.
You see, if we are going to stop these terrorists, we have to
understand why they do what they do. Once we understand that, we
can change their behavior.
Now, if you have read my book, the GOOD CHILD Guide
( www.good-child-guide.com )
you will already know what I am about to say:
People do what they do BECAUSE IT WORKS.
The goal of a terrorist is to create terror - to create
widespread panic, to disrupt the economy, to make the lives of
his enemies miserable. Why does he want to do that? Because
either:
1) He just hates the west and wants us to be miserable, or
2) He wants us to give in to his demands, and uses force, threats
and fears as his coercive tools.
There have already been endless debates about why they hate us so
much. But that is completely missing the point, since each
terrorist probably has a different reason.
The real point is that his goal is to create FEAR and TERROR. In
this he is identical to the bully boy in the school playground:
First of all, who does he pick on? The most defenceless, of
course. Then, he uses intimidating tactics at unexpected times
to make the poor kid's life totally miserable.
Now the key here is: the more that he sees the kid reacting -
screaming, trying to fight back, running away, crying, the
happier the bully is. His goal is to create terror - so the more
terror he sees, the more he knows his tactics are working, and
the MORE he will do it.
When we travelled to Panama last month we had to pass through
Houston on the way. We had a 1 hour stopover in the USA to
change flights. In most other countries, we would have sat in a
transit lounge. Not in the US. Instead we we had to go through
immigration and security, which was so slow that on the way out
our baggage did not make it onto the next 'plane, and on the way
back we missed our connection entirely.
We were not happy. Nor was everyone else in that long queue for
literally 2 hours.
This was extra security that Bush had put in place in reponse to
the Terrorists actions.
What do you think the terrorists thought about that? Just a few,
well placed attacks, and they have disrupted the lives of
millions of westerners at a cost of millions of dollars. Wow! I
think that counts as a victory for the terrorists, don't you?
But did it make flying any safer? I very much doubt it.
Let me give you some examples - you are not allowed to take on
board a pair of tweezers or scissors, as they might be a
dangerous weapon. But you are allowed to take on board a glass
bottle of rum. Now which do you think is the more dangerous
weapon, a pair a tweezers, or a glass bottle broken over your
head???
So, since we are talking about dangerous weapons - what about a
shoe lace (garrotte), a pencil (great for stabbing), bare hands
(if trained in martial arts). There is always a way around for
someone who is determined enough.
But even that misses the point. Supposing we strip search every
passenger, remove every potentially dangerous item, and then
allow only one person to be standing at any one time - will that
prevent acts of terrorism?
Of course not.
If airplanes become too difficult to target, they can always
target a train instead - or maybe a night club, or a school, or a
theatre, or football stadium, or shopping mall, or...
Get it? You cannot have total security everywhere. It is
impossible.
Not only that, the more we react to these events, the more we
respond with "A War on Terrorism", the more we implement security
measures (each one of which is a limit on personal liberty and
privacy) the more we ENCOURAGE the terrorists.
We make it worse rather than better.
Like with the bully in the playground the best (but hardest) way
to fight back is to DO NOTHING. To not respond or react. To
show you don't care. Then, at the same time, if you can, you try
to remove the bully, but you do it in a way that results in no
glory, bravado, or kudus to the bully.
As I said in my book, the only way you can change people's
behavior is to change the set-up so that what they are currently
doing no longer works, and so that something else works better.
In the case of terrorists, it is quite clear to any terrorist
that, at present, trying to scare people DOES work - and even if
you might die in the process, you will achieve great fame and
honor among your own people. Those are powerful reasons to keep
blowing people up.
On the other hand, if the event was mourned by us, but resulted
in no change of policy, no additional security measures, no
widespread fear, panic, and disruption, and all that happened was
an SAS hitman came and took you out in the middle of the night,
there would be a lot less attraction to the whole idea.
20 years ago the "in thing" was to hijack an airplane and make
demands. Quite correctly, governments took a strong stand on
this - "we don't negotiate with terrorists". Very rarely did the
hijackers get their demands met, and usually they ended up dead.
Not very good odds.
And the result? After a while, hijacking ceased. It didn't
work, so they stopped doing it.
So then they thought, "How can we up-the-ante, raise the stakes,
so that they HAVE to listen and give in to us?" Today we see the
results. And it seems to me that there tactics are working.
So, counter-intuitive though it may seem, if we want to decrease
instead of increase terrorism, this is what we need to do:
1) Undo all these ridiculous security measures - all they do is
encourage the terrorists and divert their activities towards
different targets.
2) Quietly and efficiently remove known perpetrators and
agitators. Follow due process of law (not like Bush's illegal
detainments in Guantanamo Bay, and lock them up or execute them
for treason (the latter prevents attempts to have the released).
3) Make it crystal clear that if the terrorists are unhappy
about something, then we are very happy to negotiate and talk
about it - but only if they renounce violent means - until then,
if possible, we will do the OPPOSITE to what they want.
4) Have open and honest debate about what it is about western
society or actions that so upsets so many people in other
countries. Maybe their grievances against us are well placed.
(If you listen to what Ben Laden actually says about the West -
especially the US - a lot of it does make sense.)
If we did all this, what would happen?
The first thing is that it would get worse. Their goal is to
provoke. If we don't respond, then they will try to provoke
harder. (Again I talked about this in my book).
If, and only if, we can remain firm then, in time, they would
discover that their tactics don't work, and they will come to the
negotiating table.
It did, finally, happen in Northern Ireland, perhaps it could
also happen in Israel, Chechnya, Iran.
My fear is that we will do the opposite - we will spout off
"Tough on Terrorists!" while we actually get tough on ordinary
citizens. Maybe soon we will have airport-like security at every
school, every train, every theatre, every bookstore, every
bridge, every tunnel, every bus station, every ... And every
terrorist will shout with glee... "Glory to our Cause!"
Is that what we want?
I don't.
_________________________________________________________________
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥ Copyright (c) 2004 Noel Swanson ¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Agree or disagree with this article? Why not pass this on to
your friends and then visit the debate at
www.7stepstofreedom.com/forum
and make your thoughts known!
Dr. Noel Swanson is a Consultant Psychiatrist and author of "The
GOOD CHILD Guide" ( www.good-child-guide.com
) and "7 Steps to
Freedom" ( www.7stepstofreedom.com ).
This article may be freely
distributed provided this copyright notice remains attached and
unchanged (you may add your affiliate codes).
|
