re: weapons of mass panic

From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Wed Feb 26 2003 - 09:20:51 MST

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    Spike:
    >Nova, the science and technology TV program, has demonstrated to the
    >entire world some relatively easy and cheap ways to spread radiation
    >using any metropolitan subway.[...]

    >Some months ago I speculated similarly, that a terrorist could
    >easily obtain some type of legal and harmless radioactive material
    >such as Americium from smoke detectors, power it, spread it using
    >ordinary commerically available fireworks, then watch the proles
    >panic.[...]

    >I have never seen it used as an argument against mass transit, but
    >we should consider that especially subways are so vulnerable to
    >terrorists they might already be considered a very bad investment of
    >public funds. spike

    What is going on here? Perhaps your report is true, but isn't it too
    much? Haven't you reached a point where you say to yourself: 'enough
    is enough'? For me that point, was 1 1/2 years ago.

    Shall we live in underground bunkers, fearful to breathe, fearful to
    walk, fearful to think ...? We hear 'War on Terrorism' used in the
    same fascist way as the 'War on Drugs' and now 'Weapons of XXXXXXX'
    (fill in your latest fear) in the same way! Now on the transhumanism
    lists are people speculating endlessly about how a handful of
    extremists can bring on the extinction of our species and we should
    greatly change and alter our lives, accordingly, based on that fear.
    The Grand Security Theatre is doing a fine job at promoting that fear.

    Apparently, I'm not 'getting the message' that many of you are
    getting, because I find myself more and more frustrated and sad to
    see people's obsession with fearful thoughts. This is *your life*.
    Do you really want to spend it this way?

    I won't change my life for the latest government / media report of
    the scare-of-the-week, because it looks like more Paranoia-Ville.
    and I refuse to buy into that.

    To save my typing fingers I'll paste what I wrote to the wta-talk
    list a few days ago on the same topic.

    Amara

    ----------22 February 2003

    Subject: Re: Re: Magic duct tape

    I am not sure if the topic here is self-defense or security, but
    regarding security, I am very sad that so many people's lives are
    absorbed with the (false) notion of 'safety'. And I am very angry
    that a few people in control-happy and and power-hungry governments
    have seized on (and taken advantage of) people's fears from
    September 11 to massively build up (what did already exist) the
    Security Theatre and the Military Machines that we are experiencing
    in the world today. There's an enormous amplifying feedback loop
    monster in place now. This monster is the collection of human
    violence, fears, anxieties, hatreds, suspicions, which was present
    before, but emerged in a new form. I had a fleeting hope after
    September 11 that government entities and a large number of people
    would reflect on their actions and work to understand what happened
    to diffuse the monster. But instead of diffusing that monster,
    foreign and defense policies (especially those of the United States
    government) are amplifying the fears to a WWIII.

    There have always been and there always will be extremists at the
    boundaries of societies and cultures. You (general "you") have
    choices. You can choose to live your life motivated by your own life
    or you can choose to live your life motivated by others, including
    those extremists.

    If you choose the first, then what are some things that might happen
    as you are life-propelled? In that case the extremists are actively
    ignored, they might direct their deathist wishes on each other, and
    eventually they will die. Along the way, your actions might serve as
    an example of the good things possible. And even if those 'better'
    ways are not understood by others, leaving them alone to their
    choices shows respect for other people, places, and cultures.

    For the latter, those that want to wipe out the extremists have to
    expend something and there are aftereffects. How much attention,
    (money and time) is it worth to one's life to making your life
    'safe' (safe: what an weird concept!) from those extremists? Is it
    worth 50% of your life? 70%? 90% ? Your whole life? Your progeny's
    lives? What if the aftereffects are that the number of extremists
    increases exponentially?

    In my opinion, these are the questions what every person should be
    asking themselves.

    (What to do about existing large rogue governments is yet another
    topic.)

    Amara

    -- 
    -- 
    ********************************************************************
    Amara Graps, PhD          email: amara@amara.com
    Computational Physics     vita:  ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt
    Multiplex Answers         URL:   http://www.amara.com/
    ********************************************************************
    "Stupidity got us into this mess, so why can't it get us out?"
      -- Will Rogers
    


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