These demonstrations are all very nice, but how to they stop some future terrorist from attacking this or a similar place?
There has to be a way of stopping the terrorists before they strike, and I do not see a way to do that which does not damage our civil liberties.
mildlymagnificentsays
There has to be a way of stopping the terrorists before they strike, and I do not see a way to do that which does not damage our civil liberties.
The most important thing when dealing with terrorists of this kind is to show them that you refuse to be terrorised. It’s what the Brits did in the face of IRA bombings in their cities. Sure, they removed rubbish bins from streets and took a few other physical hygiene measures to cut down the number of places available to conceal bombs. By and large, the populace gave the IRA a symbolic ‘up yours’ rude hand gesture and went right on living their lives.
And that’s what these people are doing. One, they’re showing that whichever target you choose for your racism, Jews and Muslims are in this together. Two, they’ll keep right on going to mosques and synagogues in the face of the threats.
There’s a difference between being horrified at violence when it occurs and being so terrified of the possibility of violence that you allow yourself to be forced into living in fear. A population with heads held high above straight shoulders and backs might be risking the horror of violence and murder – you never know unless it happens. A population that shuffles about with downcast eyes, on the other hand, has already been terrified – intimidated by the possibility of violence even though you’ve never experienced it.
Dave Rickssays
Beautiful!
but how do they stop some future terrorist from attacking this or a similar place?
Maybe wishful thinking on my part, but I like to imagine this show of solidarity and love will help disrupt whatever narrative is recruiting people into committing attacks like Paris and Copenhagen.
One is to stop the terrorists from achieving their goals. That is primarily the (very difficult) job of the police.
The other is to stop people from becoming terrorists in the first place. And that is where yesterday’s demonstration enters the picture. If it make even one person rethink their plans to join the ranks of the terrorists, much has been gained. Also, having fewer terrorists ought to make the work of the police somewhat less difficult.
I would have thought this was obvious, but perhaps it is not.
opposablethumbssays
how to they stop some future terrorist from attacking
Attack plans already in hand are, as Harald says, the difficult job of the security forces – but the “future terrorist” can only be un-made by education, integration, security and a sense of really belonging to the same secular society (as Ophelia and commenters were saying in an earlier thread). We need to stop encouraging segregation (as we unfortunately do in the UK education system, for example) and encourage communities to mix and know that they are genuinely at home, not outsiders – and we also need not to be browbeaten out of criticising ideas and behaviours worthy of criticism, no matter who it is that’s perpetrating them. The Local Authority shenanigans in Tower Hamlets in London offer a nasty example of the worst of both worlds.
Definitely easier said than done, though.
I don’t care that Muslims are standing in front of a synagogue
Yeah, unless they’re all doing exactly what I think they should be doing, whatever is the point of an historic, grassroots movement of public solidarity?
Especially since everybody knows it’s impossible for more than one thing to happen at a time. If young Muslim women are standing with Jews at the synagogue, those young women, and other Muslims, can’t possibly be working behind the scenes to fight Islamism and anti-Semitism.
These demonstrations are all very nice, but how to they stop some future terrorist from attacking this or a similar place?
There has to be a way of stopping the terrorists before they strike, and I do not see a way to do that which does not damage our civil liberties.
The most important thing when dealing with terrorists of this kind is to show them that you refuse to be terrorised. It’s what the Brits did in the face of IRA bombings in their cities. Sure, they removed rubbish bins from streets and took a few other physical hygiene measures to cut down the number of places available to conceal bombs. By and large, the populace gave the IRA a symbolic ‘up yours’ rude hand gesture and went right on living their lives.
And that’s what these people are doing. One, they’re showing that whichever target you choose for your racism, Jews and Muslims are in this together. Two, they’ll keep right on going to mosques and synagogues in the face of the threats.
There’s a difference between being horrified at violence when it occurs and being so terrified of the possibility of violence that you allow yourself to be forced into living in fear. A population with heads held high above straight shoulders and backs might be risking the horror of violence and murder – you never know unless it happens. A population that shuffles about with downcast eyes, on the other hand, has already been terrified – intimidated by the possibility of violence even though you’ve never experienced it.
Beautiful!
Maybe wishful thinking on my part, but I like to imagine this show of solidarity and love will help disrupt whatever narrative is recruiting people into committing attacks like Paris and Copenhagen.
Good to see it’s all around the news.
There are at least two ways to stop terrorism:
One is to stop the terrorists from achieving their goals. That is primarily the (very difficult) job of the police.
The other is to stop people from becoming terrorists in the first place. And that is where yesterday’s demonstration enters the picture. If it make even one person rethink their plans to join the ranks of the terrorists, much has been gained. Also, having fewer terrorists ought to make the work of the police somewhat less difficult.
I would have thought this was obvious, but perhaps it is not.
Attack plans already in hand are, as Harald says, the difficult job of the security forces – but the “future terrorist” can only be un-made by education, integration, security and a sense of really belonging to the same secular society (as Ophelia and commenters were saying in an earlier thread). We need to stop encouraging segregation (as we unfortunately do in the UK education system, for example) and encourage communities to mix and know that they are genuinely at home, not outsiders – and we also need not to be browbeaten out of criticising ideas and behaviours worthy of criticism, no matter who it is that’s perpetrating them. The Local Authority shenanigans in Tower Hamlets in London offer a nasty example of the worst of both worlds.
Definitely easier said than done, though.
This is wonderful.
I don’t care that Muslims are standing in front of a synagogue
http://hurryupharry.org/2015/02/21/96015/
Yeah, unless they’re all doing exactly what I think they should be doing, whatever is the point of an historic, grassroots movement of public solidarity?
Especially since everybody knows it’s impossible for more than one thing to happen at a time. If young Muslim women are standing with Jews at the synagogue, those young women, and other Muslims, can’t possibly be working behind the scenes to fight Islamism and anti-Semitism.