Little Acts of Mindless Terror
I meant to get to what follows sooner, but a broken tooth made me feel like Dustin Hoffman doing the Q&A scene with Laurence Olivier in “Marathon Man” the last few days. You know the scene: “Is it safe?” “What?” zzzz! “Is it safe?” zzzzzz! “Is what safe?” zzzzzz! “ARRGH!”
Even if you’ve never seen the entire movie, chances are you’ve seen that clip. It’s taught in film classes as a perfect example of horror deriving from the mundane.
That’s a good segue into the real point here. I was feeling particularly truculent when I composed my last muttering. The latest act of terrorism in Iraq, coupled with the sectarian violence, worldwide “cartoon riots”, and the lack of reasoned response from the so-called Muslim leaders, had me more disgusted than usual. I issued a rhetorical challenge from the safe haven of Scorpion Hill, a real place in north Georgia. I’m the easiest guy in the county to find; all you have to do is stop by the sheriff’s department and ask for my street address.
Someone signing in under the ubiquitous moniker “Anonymous” posted some gibberish in Arabic script in the comments section on the last post. Before I even had time to run the comment over to Alta Vista’s Babel Fish online translator, my pal Camojack [see links for “Uncommonly Sensible”] had decoded the comment as nothing more than a cut-and-paste of some mundane news story about Dr. C. Rice.
“Anonymous” in this case is not as anonymous as he’d think. My presumption is that the posted comment, initially incomprehensible to someone not literate in Arabic, was intended to provoke fear and paranoia in me as a response to my belligerence. The implied threat of violence, via a fatwah, was supposed to make me feel remorseful, and prompt an apology for calling the Islamofascists out. Sorry, Liger, it ain’t happening. I am too unimportant for a team of assassins; besides, they prefer women, children, and the unprepared.
Like the bombing of the Golden Dome mosque in Samara, it was another act of terrorism. The scale of the terrorism is a matter of degrees, not intent. Al Qaeda paints upon a large canvas; a juvenile Leftist sociopath can do no better than screwing around on a semi-private blog. Al Qaeda has a worldwide theocratic agenda; the Arabic poster here, whom we’ll assume is Liger, has no better purpose than to attempt to provoke someone of his parents’ age, out of the usual adolescent growing anxieties of “look at me!” Okay, kid, I was provoked, but not in the way you intended. I thank you for provoking me to think beyond the sophomoric cuteness of your little jibe. You, and those you support, and support you, have become the terrorists. Let’s look at this:
The purpose of terrorism is to create terror. You don’t need a Master’s degree in political science to know this; it’s that simple…really, it is! When people are fearful, or at least uneasy, in their everyday lives, they are much more amenable to proposals from those who would otherwise be dismissed as crackpots. This is how entities like Al Qaeda and the Democrats flourish. Discontent is nectar to the bozos on those buses.
The best way to create resonant, long-lasting terror is to strike at the mundane; to make people feel uneasy in their everyday activities. Was there anything of nationwide import on 11 September 2001, before the first jetliner struck? Those people at the Pentagon and in the World Trade Center were at work, drinking coffee, or lighting up their computers, or whatever, when their world effectively ended. The coming nuclear event will catch thousands more engaged in the course of their everyday activities. The best way to paralyze the American behemoth is to make its denizens afraid to go to work, or to the grocery store, or to leave the kids in day care. The terrorists know this. The Super Bowl was safe, not only because of its intense on-site security, but because it’s an annual event, not an everyday activity. There might be immense propaganda significance to a mass slaughter at such an event, but in real-world terms of long-term effect, such an event would be meaningless. It would not paralyze the national economy, it would not reduce the infidel population by any meaningful degree, no land is captured, as of old, and as horrible as such an event would be, the most likely long-term effect would be a galvanization of America as a whole against this psychopathy. Admiral Nagumo, right after the attack on our naval base in Hawaii, was right about awakening the sleeping giant. We sensed this once; not since Pearl Harbor has America been so outraged. What has happened to our national attention span? Is 9/11 now nothing more than a commercial re-development plan, with a PC "Hate America" museum thrown in for the $8.00 hamburger profit?
No; small acts of terrorism, striking horror from the mundane, are much more efficacious. If I’m afraid to take the subway, because someone blew up the subways a while back, then the terrorists win. If I’m afraid to go in to my job in a skyscraper, because the terrorists blew down some skyscrapers a while back, then the terrorists win. If I’m afraid to fly, because the terrorists used jetliners to blow down those skyscrapers, then the terrorists win.
If I become afraid to post my thoughts on the internet, because the terrorists might want to silence me as an infidel opposing my dhimmitude, then the terrorists win.
A hallmark tactic of Those People is to silence their opponents through intimidation by any means necessary. Silence is truly golden to those who have no alternatives of their own to propose. When the current administration fails to respond quickly and firmly to its critics, it is playing into their hands. I was raised on the Southern tradition of the source not being deemed worthy of reply, but in the wider world, that isn’t viable.
My mutterings here are by no means a scheduled routine, although they have become a comfortable part of my life as an emotional response to the mundane input of the world spinning ever more rapidly around me. In my mind’s ear, I hear Don Henley singing his take on Dylan Thomas: “I Will Not Go Quietly.” The point here being, in spite of disparities of Christian teachings, I do not want to interfere with or dictate terms of other people’s faith, expressions of opinion, or way of life. The truly beautiful part of democracy in the wider sense, and the thing that makes all people yearn for it, is the inherent right to be left alone by everyone else, if that’s what we desire. If I want to hang on a tree limb over the Grand Canyon screaming “Give me all the nuts or I’ll kill you!” that is my right. If I want to do this every day, then the folks at the diner will become accustomed to it, and look out every morning saying “There goes Possum to do his screaming.”
If a bomb lands in the middle of town, or a bunch of jihadists leap out of a van and hose the diner with automatic weapons screaming “Silence the possums or else!”, then the town will live in fear and tell me collectively to shut up. I’ll hole up on Scorpion Hill and start cleaning the Remington and the shotguns. The routine is disrupted, and the folks in town might consider Osama to be “reasonable” when his limo pulls up and he says he can make everything better if only…
An act of terrorism does not have to be as overt as blowing down a building, or blowing up trains in Spain. Part of the terror tactic is inducing silence where the everyday is concerned. If opposing voices can be silenced, then radicalism sounds reasonable. The blogosphere has changed everything, but if even a little tiny blogger can be silenced, then the terrorists are one step closer to winning. If a normal routine of life can be disrupted or altered by an act of terror, then the terrorists win.
There are no more retractions at United Possums International. I made a few in the past; the past is just that. If I’m wrong, I’ll say so. Admitting I’m wrong is getting harder by the day—having other people who can’t find their butts a flashlight and both hands tell me I’m wrong don’t make it much easier, either. Nevertheless, if I’m way off, by my lights and conscience, as it’s called, I can be had.
Being a cripple, I still ride my lawn tractor to the mailbox, a quarter-mile away, in good weather. I don’t carry .40 Mr. Browning with me, although a public issuance of a fatwah might change that routine. I will not change what I say, nor will I alter the constricted routine of my life, because of the implied nonsense of some terrorist wannabe. The pranks of children carry no weight, unless it’s cleaning toilet paper out of the trees.
When some child posts a cribbed bunch of Arabic gibberish here in an attempt to make me alter my opinions, or solicit an apologetic response, then that child needs spanking, and what the commies called “reeducation.” That child has become nothing more than a common terrorist.
There are enough acts of mindless terrorism in the world. There is a horror tale about Palestinians strapping a murder belt onto a mentally-challenged 14-year-old child a while back, and telling him to walk across the border into Israel. (The border police thankfully defused this kid, and took him into merciful custody.)
I am digressing, as is customary. The short version: I will not shut up. I will not go quietly. To attempt to shut me up is futile, and the act of attempting it is an act of terrorism, even if it’s just a Stupid Kid Trick. As for the fear and paranoia part: I don’t scare easily. Not heroic; I’m too old… I don’t care. That trumps heroism and martyrdom every day. A guy who doesn’t care is the most dangerous thing in the world, next to a hungry father who needs to feed his children.
Environmental and situational awareness should not be ignored for everyone else; neither should our normal lives be affected by that constant notion that there are people out there who'd rather see us dead. Abnormalities should be monitored and reported to proper administrative authorities; overt acts of violence should be met with overmatching response from ordinary citizenry. Terror breaks terror. If every average citizen carries a sidearm, and burns down a terrorist with a -47 before they can storm the mall, then we win. Don’t shoot Reverend ____ in the back, but arming America ain’t an unworkable idea. Half of us have guns already, and the rest can find one in fifteen minutes.
Nonetheless, the daily routine, whether it’s taking the kids to day care, going to your job, or just picking up the prescriptions and groceries, should not be altered or abandoned because there are sinister psychopaths and their myrmidons out there who want to kill or enslave us. A prank will not dissuade me from mouthing off, but I strongly suggest that ["Anonymous"—Liger? That you, kiddo?]—consider the implications of abetting terrorists by being a wannabe, no matter how small or thoughtless. Ignorance of the law isn’t an excuse in court. The small stuff adds up. And, going back to my Confederate tradition, if some terrorist says “Shut up!”; consider the source. Don’t be a little terrorist, like one of those ‘50s kids wanting to be an overbaked baby on ‘50s TV: (“Gee, mama, terrorism is cool! I want to die before I’ve lived!”) Live in the 21st century, and see your parents for what they are. Better still, look out at the big, bad world sneaking up behind to bite you. I am the Wizard of Oz: “Pay no attention the that man behind the curtain.” We wanted better for you...
There is no monopoly or certainty of righteousness here. As my cooler peers used to say so many decades ago: “Party on!”
Don’t be a little terrorist. Remember what Queen Victoria said: “… I don’t care…don’t do it in the road, and frighten the horses.”
Even if you’ve never seen the entire movie, chances are you’ve seen that clip. It’s taught in film classes as a perfect example of horror deriving from the mundane.
That’s a good segue into the real point here. I was feeling particularly truculent when I composed my last muttering. The latest act of terrorism in Iraq, coupled with the sectarian violence, worldwide “cartoon riots”, and the lack of reasoned response from the so-called Muslim leaders, had me more disgusted than usual. I issued a rhetorical challenge from the safe haven of Scorpion Hill, a real place in north Georgia. I’m the easiest guy in the county to find; all you have to do is stop by the sheriff’s department and ask for my street address.
Someone signing in under the ubiquitous moniker “Anonymous” posted some gibberish in Arabic script in the comments section on the last post. Before I even had time to run the comment over to Alta Vista’s Babel Fish online translator, my pal Camojack [see links for “Uncommonly Sensible”] had decoded the comment as nothing more than a cut-and-paste of some mundane news story about Dr. C. Rice.
“Anonymous” in this case is not as anonymous as he’d think. My presumption is that the posted comment, initially incomprehensible to someone not literate in Arabic, was intended to provoke fear and paranoia in me as a response to my belligerence. The implied threat of violence, via a fatwah, was supposed to make me feel remorseful, and prompt an apology for calling the Islamofascists out. Sorry, Liger, it ain’t happening. I am too unimportant for a team of assassins; besides, they prefer women, children, and the unprepared.
Like the bombing of the Golden Dome mosque in Samara, it was another act of terrorism. The scale of the terrorism is a matter of degrees, not intent. Al Qaeda paints upon a large canvas; a juvenile Leftist sociopath can do no better than screwing around on a semi-private blog. Al Qaeda has a worldwide theocratic agenda; the Arabic poster here, whom we’ll assume is Liger, has no better purpose than to attempt to provoke someone of his parents’ age, out of the usual adolescent growing anxieties of “look at me!” Okay, kid, I was provoked, but not in the way you intended. I thank you for provoking me to think beyond the sophomoric cuteness of your little jibe. You, and those you support, and support you, have become the terrorists. Let’s look at this:
The purpose of terrorism is to create terror. You don’t need a Master’s degree in political science to know this; it’s that simple…really, it is! When people are fearful, or at least uneasy, in their everyday lives, they are much more amenable to proposals from those who would otherwise be dismissed as crackpots. This is how entities like Al Qaeda and the Democrats flourish. Discontent is nectar to the bozos on those buses.
The best way to create resonant, long-lasting terror is to strike at the mundane; to make people feel uneasy in their everyday activities. Was there anything of nationwide import on 11 September 2001, before the first jetliner struck? Those people at the Pentagon and in the World Trade Center were at work, drinking coffee, or lighting up their computers, or whatever, when their world effectively ended. The coming nuclear event will catch thousands more engaged in the course of their everyday activities. The best way to paralyze the American behemoth is to make its denizens afraid to go to work, or to the grocery store, or to leave the kids in day care. The terrorists know this. The Super Bowl was safe, not only because of its intense on-site security, but because it’s an annual event, not an everyday activity. There might be immense propaganda significance to a mass slaughter at such an event, but in real-world terms of long-term effect, such an event would be meaningless. It would not paralyze the national economy, it would not reduce the infidel population by any meaningful degree, no land is captured, as of old, and as horrible as such an event would be, the most likely long-term effect would be a galvanization of America as a whole against this psychopathy. Admiral Nagumo, right after the attack on our naval base in Hawaii, was right about awakening the sleeping giant. We sensed this once; not since Pearl Harbor has America been so outraged. What has happened to our national attention span? Is 9/11 now nothing more than a commercial re-development plan, with a PC "Hate America" museum thrown in for the $8.00 hamburger profit?
No; small acts of terrorism, striking horror from the mundane, are much more efficacious. If I’m afraid to take the subway, because someone blew up the subways a while back, then the terrorists win. If I’m afraid to go in to my job in a skyscraper, because the terrorists blew down some skyscrapers a while back, then the terrorists win. If I’m afraid to fly, because the terrorists used jetliners to blow down those skyscrapers, then the terrorists win.
If I become afraid to post my thoughts on the internet, because the terrorists might want to silence me as an infidel opposing my dhimmitude, then the terrorists win.
A hallmark tactic of Those People is to silence their opponents through intimidation by any means necessary. Silence is truly golden to those who have no alternatives of their own to propose. When the current administration fails to respond quickly and firmly to its critics, it is playing into their hands. I was raised on the Southern tradition of the source not being deemed worthy of reply, but in the wider world, that isn’t viable.
My mutterings here are by no means a scheduled routine, although they have become a comfortable part of my life as an emotional response to the mundane input of the world spinning ever more rapidly around me. In my mind’s ear, I hear Don Henley singing his take on Dylan Thomas: “I Will Not Go Quietly.” The point here being, in spite of disparities of Christian teachings, I do not want to interfere with or dictate terms of other people’s faith, expressions of opinion, or way of life. The truly beautiful part of democracy in the wider sense, and the thing that makes all people yearn for it, is the inherent right to be left alone by everyone else, if that’s what we desire. If I want to hang on a tree limb over the Grand Canyon screaming “Give me all the nuts or I’ll kill you!” that is my right. If I want to do this every day, then the folks at the diner will become accustomed to it, and look out every morning saying “There goes Possum to do his screaming.”
If a bomb lands in the middle of town, or a bunch of jihadists leap out of a van and hose the diner with automatic weapons screaming “Silence the possums or else!”, then the town will live in fear and tell me collectively to shut up. I’ll hole up on Scorpion Hill and start cleaning the Remington and the shotguns. The routine is disrupted, and the folks in town might consider Osama to be “reasonable” when his limo pulls up and he says he can make everything better if only…
An act of terrorism does not have to be as overt as blowing down a building, or blowing up trains in Spain. Part of the terror tactic is inducing silence where the everyday is concerned. If opposing voices can be silenced, then radicalism sounds reasonable. The blogosphere has changed everything, but if even a little tiny blogger can be silenced, then the terrorists are one step closer to winning. If a normal routine of life can be disrupted or altered by an act of terror, then the terrorists win.
There are no more retractions at United Possums International. I made a few in the past; the past is just that. If I’m wrong, I’ll say so. Admitting I’m wrong is getting harder by the day—having other people who can’t find their butts a flashlight and both hands tell me I’m wrong don’t make it much easier, either. Nevertheless, if I’m way off, by my lights and conscience, as it’s called, I can be had.
Being a cripple, I still ride my lawn tractor to the mailbox, a quarter-mile away, in good weather. I don’t carry .40 Mr. Browning with me, although a public issuance of a fatwah might change that routine. I will not change what I say, nor will I alter the constricted routine of my life, because of the implied nonsense of some terrorist wannabe. The pranks of children carry no weight, unless it’s cleaning toilet paper out of the trees.
When some child posts a cribbed bunch of Arabic gibberish here in an attempt to make me alter my opinions, or solicit an apologetic response, then that child needs spanking, and what the commies called “reeducation.” That child has become nothing more than a common terrorist.
There are enough acts of mindless terrorism in the world. There is a horror tale about Palestinians strapping a murder belt onto a mentally-challenged 14-year-old child a while back, and telling him to walk across the border into Israel. (The border police thankfully defused this kid, and took him into merciful custody.)
I am digressing, as is customary. The short version: I will not shut up. I will not go quietly. To attempt to shut me up is futile, and the act of attempting it is an act of terrorism, even if it’s just a Stupid Kid Trick. As for the fear and paranoia part: I don’t scare easily. Not heroic; I’m too old… I don’t care. That trumps heroism and martyrdom every day. A guy who doesn’t care is the most dangerous thing in the world, next to a hungry father who needs to feed his children.
Environmental and situational awareness should not be ignored for everyone else; neither should our normal lives be affected by that constant notion that there are people out there who'd rather see us dead. Abnormalities should be monitored and reported to proper administrative authorities; overt acts of violence should be met with overmatching response from ordinary citizenry. Terror breaks terror. If every average citizen carries a sidearm, and burns down a terrorist with a -47 before they can storm the mall, then we win. Don’t shoot Reverend ____ in the back, but arming America ain’t an unworkable idea. Half of us have guns already, and the rest can find one in fifteen minutes.
Nonetheless, the daily routine, whether it’s taking the kids to day care, going to your job, or just picking up the prescriptions and groceries, should not be altered or abandoned because there are sinister psychopaths and their myrmidons out there who want to kill or enslave us. A prank will not dissuade me from mouthing off, but I strongly suggest that ["Anonymous"—Liger? That you, kiddo?]—consider the implications of abetting terrorists by being a wannabe, no matter how small or thoughtless. Ignorance of the law isn’t an excuse in court. The small stuff adds up. And, going back to my Confederate tradition, if some terrorist says “Shut up!”; consider the source. Don’t be a little terrorist, like one of those ‘50s kids wanting to be an overbaked baby on ‘50s TV: (“Gee, mama, terrorism is cool! I want to die before I’ve lived!”) Live in the 21st century, and see your parents for what they are. Better still, look out at the big, bad world sneaking up behind to bite you. I am the Wizard of Oz: “Pay no attention the that man behind the curtain.” We wanted better for you...
There is no monopoly or certainty of righteousness here. As my cooler peers used to say so many decades ago: “Party on!”
Don’t be a little terrorist. Remember what Queen Victoria said: “… I don’t care…don’t do it in the road, and frighten the horses.”
posted by Robert at 11:16 PM
8 Comments:
A little loquacious, but well said.
You might want to consider adding sitemeter to your blog, as I have; it tracks the location, IP address, etc. of people who access your blog...so by noting the time something gets posted, you can know who did it.
Cool, or what?
توصل الرئيس الأميركي جورج بوش ورئيس الوزراء الهندي مانموهان سينغ إلى اتفاق بشأن التعاون النووي لأغراض مدنية اعتبر ركيزة شراكة إستراتيجية جديدة بين البلدين. وتم التوصل إلى الاتفاق الذي وصفه الرجلان بالتاريخي، بعد محادثات مكثفة في العاصمة الهندية تناولت العلاقات الاقتصادية الثنائية. وشدد نجاد -الذي يزور كوالالمبور حاليا- على حق إيران بامتلاك برنامج نووي موجهة لإنتاج الطاقة الكهربائية. كما اتهم قوى الغرب بمحاولة السيطرة على موارد الطاقة والنفط في العالم، وخلق مناخ من الخوف لحمل الدول على السباق نحو التسلح. وجاءت تصريحات نجاد بعيد فشل المفاوضات الأخيرة في موو لحل الأزمة النووية الإيرانية في تحديد موعد جديد للجولة القادمة من المباحثات بين الطرفين.
كما يأتي ذلك في وقت أعلنت فيه طهران عن اتصالات مع الأوروبيين لما يمكن أن يكون الفرصة الأخيرة قبل بحث الوكالة الدولية للطاقة الذرية للموضوع الأسبوع المقبل
وقال كبير المفاوضين الإيرانيين علي لاريجاني إن موسكو وطهران لم تحددا موعدا جديدا لاستئناف المباحثات بشأن تخصيب اليورانيم, إلا أنه أضاف أن مفاوضات بشأن الموضوع نفسه ستجري مع كل من بريطانيا وفرنسا وألمانيا
وتسبق مباحثات الترويكا الأوروبية مع إيران اجتماعا مهما للوكالة الدولية يعقد الاثنين القادم. وقالت مصادر دبلوماسية في فيينا إن وزراء خارجية بريطانيا وفرنسا وألمانيا سيلتقون غدا الجمعة في العاصمة النمساوية كبير المفاوضين الإيرانيين لإجراء
Possum, you have to stop surgar coating things and let the folks know how you really feel.
Is the post before me a chicken salad recipe? I'm pretty sure it is but oregano? That seems a little over the top
Hey Possum... Well said indeed... and "Party on!" BTW, word of the day is "lolwiz". I guess that means 'laugh out loud at the Wizard of Oz'? Hmmmm... don't think so.
Here we go again; "quick and dirty" translation of dip Shi'ite, er, Anonymous' comment:
Attained President American George Bush and the Indian Prime Minister Singh considered a new strategic partnership pillar between the two countries to an agreement regarding the nuclear cooperation for the purpose of a civilization. And reaching occurred to the agreement and which the two in historic men aligned, a intensifier conversations distance took the bilateral economic relations in the Indian capital.. And strengthened an upholsterer - which visit now - on Iran entitled for the electric power production in nuclear program possessing sent.. The west forces accused the control on the race towards the armament on the energy resources and the oil in and a climate creation the world of the fear for the countries burden in an attempt also.. And came statements upholsterer a failure the last negotiations solved the Iranian nuclear crisis in a new appointment identification for the coming tour of the discussions between the two parties in .
Announced Tehran with the Europeans of communications in him as that comes in a time for what can is the last chance accepted the International Atomic Energy Agency research for the topic the week next .
And big said the Iranian negotiators Ali Moscow and Tehran not be defined regarding the fertilization for the discussions resumption a new appointment, except added negotiations will happen regarding the topic with. All from Britain saved.
Ah well, you can get the gist. What do you want for nothin'?
Thanks, Jack. I got a similar result over at Babel Fish.
"Silence the possums, or else!"
Silence Pogo™?...never!!
I didn't realize those Muslims had such a good sense of humor. That is one of the funniest things I've read all day.
You are so right Possum .America cannot be defeated,but America could defeat itself. I'm not really worried about that though,With George Bush ,Our Military and the sort of folks that post here ,we will never lose. Poor little Raghead up there has already lost.
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