kcasper
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- Nov 26, 2005
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This question should be as fun for all of you as it is for me the write it. Could we be helping terrorists by spending so much time ranting against them?
It has always bothered me that our politicians spend so much time ranting about terrorists despite the relatively low number of people that die by terrorism compared to just about any other cause of death. But I had alot of trouble pinning down why it bothered me that they were more or less shouting to the wind. After all if you spent 200 billion on preventing auto accidents, it would likely save more lives than preventing another 9/11 would.
Or is it bothering me because of a more serious idea. It goes like this:
A scientist when asked about a subject he doesn't consider credible, often he won't respond. Most definitely won't rewrite a statement disproving a Discreditable idea for the reason that many people will take the discredited idea slightly more seriously than they would have otherwise.
If a company like Wal-Mart wants to get more customers, what they won't do is mention a competitor that is providing the same service. "Don't buy there" or "We do it better than" ads would almost certainly cause their own sales to decrease due to causing loyal customers to remember the other service. No company that holds a large chunk of any market would mention a competitor.
What private markets avoid doing the government seems to be going out of its way to do. Our president himself, not quoting exactly, has said that terrorism probably can't be defeated and they are a threat to the US. Someone who doesn't like the US is going to hear out of that " terrorist can't be defeated and can distroy the USA". I remember a poll from 2003 that said 90% of arabs in the middle east don't like us.
All of this attention to terrorists has caused people in the US to spend a huge about of time casually talking about our vulnerable points, detailing them in books, articles, blogs and forums like this one. Doing much research that could be valuable to terrorist planning.
Our politicians seem to have decided that they will spend so much time ranting that it is certain that if anyone calls themselves a member of a terrorist originization then they should be competed over by news organizations to see who can publish the story quickest with the most publicity. Considering that publicity is the general goal of a terrorist, this can't be a good thing.
Does anyone here seriously think that terrorist haven't thought of this either and are not using all of this to their advantage? Or am I an idiot? Well everyone is but it is fun to ask.
It has always bothered me that our politicians spend so much time ranting about terrorists despite the relatively low number of people that die by terrorism compared to just about any other cause of death. But I had alot of trouble pinning down why it bothered me that they were more or less shouting to the wind. After all if you spent 200 billion on preventing auto accidents, it would likely save more lives than preventing another 9/11 would.
Or is it bothering me because of a more serious idea. It goes like this:
A scientist when asked about a subject he doesn't consider credible, often he won't respond. Most definitely won't rewrite a statement disproving a Discreditable idea for the reason that many people will take the discredited idea slightly more seriously than they would have otherwise.
If a company like Wal-Mart wants to get more customers, what they won't do is mention a competitor that is providing the same service. "Don't buy there" or "We do it better than" ads would almost certainly cause their own sales to decrease due to causing loyal customers to remember the other service. No company that holds a large chunk of any market would mention a competitor.
What private markets avoid doing the government seems to be going out of its way to do. Our president himself, not quoting exactly, has said that terrorism probably can't be defeated and they are a threat to the US. Someone who doesn't like the US is going to hear out of that " terrorist can't be defeated and can distroy the USA". I remember a poll from 2003 that said 90% of arabs in the middle east don't like us.
All of this attention to terrorists has caused people in the US to spend a huge about of time casually talking about our vulnerable points, detailing them in books, articles, blogs and forums like this one. Doing much research that could be valuable to terrorist planning.
Our politicians seem to have decided that they will spend so much time ranting that it is certain that if anyone calls themselves a member of a terrorist originization then they should be competed over by news organizations to see who can publish the story quickest with the most publicity. Considering that publicity is the general goal of a terrorist, this can't be a good thing.
Does anyone here seriously think that terrorist haven't thought of this either and are not using all of this to their advantage? Or am I an idiot? Well everyone is but it is fun to ask.