more on A very interesting question on news from the UK

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brad Templeton <btm () templetons com>
Date: August 11, 2006 2:43:28 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] A very interesting question on news from the UK

On Thu, Aug 10, 2006 at 09:32:40AM -0400, David Farber wrote:
> And so the question:  To foil plots like these, what would IPers do?

If we secure the planes, they will, as we've seen, blow up the trains.

If we secure the trains, they will, as we've seen, blow up the busses.

If we secure the busses, they will, as we've seen, blow up the  
nightclubs.

Even the level of security is Israel can't stop it, though I'll credit
it slows down some attacks and stops some.  Even the archetypical
security in WWII Germany couldn't stop resistence fighters from
attacking targets.   Nothing will stop determined killers, ready to
kill themselves for their cause, from finding crowds to kill.   Not
even Big Brother level surveillance.


There is, like it or not, only one way out.   Take the "determined"
out of the sentence.   Don't do things that make them feel so
strongly, so deeply, so violently, that they are being oppressed by
us.   Even when their fears are irrational.

To stop doing those things would curtail our freedoms, of course.

Which freedom do we cherish more?   The freedom to perform certain
activities overseas?  Or to live in a free country ourselves?  I
wish we didn't have to choose.   But it appears we may have to.

It gets worse when we consider the non-deliberate things we do
that make them feel oppressed, namely the cultural imperialism
of Hollywood and the commercial imperialism that comes from being
rich and wanting to do business.   However, my feeling is that
these things, while bothersome to the murderous radicals, are not
sufficient to drive what we're seeing, nor will they recruit many
to just fight western cultural imperialism.

In Israel, they don't have this choice.  They probably can't stop doing
the things that drive the terrorists, since the terrorists say they
will be satisfied with nothing but the elimination of Israel.
But the west has the choice.

Is this giving in?  Is creating a police state giving in?


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