Do Terrorists Really Have More Fun?

[sockz () email com (sockz loves you)]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gobbles " <gobbles () mail com>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 09:02:21 -0500 
To: full-disclosure () lists netsys com
Subject: [Full-disclosure] Do Terrorists Really Have More Fun?


> Enter the terrorist.
>
> Men and women who become terrorists, I imagine, are pretty bored. 
> Terrorism is not about being poor or a victim of injustice. That's 
> the narrative of selfjustification, but it's never the whole story. 
> Terrorists come from all walks of life. They usually share low self-
> esteem, a hunger for stimulation and high risk, aggression and 
> resentment. Resentment is the essence of spiritual maladjustment 
> because it presumes we are owed something by others instead of 
> owing everybody everything out of simple gratitude for being alive.

hmm...  how is this known?  has richard or yourself ever met a terrorist?  are you yourself a terrorist?  i question 
the basis for 
the writer's judgement here.
 
> Resentment scours the inner landscape of the self-obsessed like 
> acid rain.  It's the precondition of payback as a way of life.

he has to be talking about school-yard terrorists yeah?  didn't we
all learn how to deal with resentment in primary school or is that
just me?  in many cases, terrorism is employed as a tactic used to
change society to meet the revolutionary's ends.  the 'terrorist'
wants to see something change in society, so they employ terrorism as
one tactic to help bring about the demise and consequent change of the
'system'.  if that's resentment, then resentment is the wrong word.

> Along comes someone offering an identity that makes sense of those 
> demon energies, offering support and community, offering a reason 
> to exist, a part to play in a cosmic drama. Instead of being nobody 
> particular, we are - somebody. We are soldiers in the armies of 
> righteousness.  Our hunger for action finds an outlet.

what identity?  most terrorist groups prefer to be covert.  this is
why you dont see people walking around with badges saying "Daniel 
Mills, Terrorist for the HAMAS."  (incidently that name was picked 
out of a hat, any relation to real life persons is purely 
coincidental, if there is a terrorist called Daniel Mills then we can 
attribute that to my psychic abilities and nothing more).
 
> No longer boring, the world presents a challenge: How can I kill as 
> many people as possible? How can I stick in my thumb and pull out a 
> plum and say oh, what a big boy am I?

richard is so very wrong here.  he should stop playing counterstrike.
the 'terrorist' seeks to change society.  in many cases this involves
questions like "how can we overthrow the government and still keep the
favour of the people?"  "what are our plans for national organisation
once we have taken over the govt?"  "what can we do that can make a 
big impact and force people to sit up and pay attention to the real
issues here?"
 
> It is much more fun to play that game than to walk the perimeter 
> hour after hour in a dead patrol. The night watchman on his rounds 
> does not have fun. The one hidden in the shadows waiting for him 
> has a heart on fire.

wow, he's talking about less than 1% of a terrorist's job here.  
believe it or not, terrorists do just as much boring work as counter-
terrorists.

> When we watch escape movies, we identify with prisoners outwitting 
> the system, not the guards. Goodness is boring. Plotting and 
> blowing things up, that's exciting. Bloodshed is exciting. How can 
> low-paid work in some obscure corner of the world compete with that 
> rush?

they're just movies... not real life... if ppl want to be that kind of
terrorist, become a movie star or a stunt man.  richard misses the
point by a long shot.

thanks for posting this here.  it was a perfect example of how stupid
writers can sound when they base their story on the demonisation of
a mythical enemy, and no research or any move to understand that
'enemy' at all.

<3 sockz
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