Let's Fight Terrorism

This is a repost from one of my very first blogs. I was brought back to it in the discussion on Mai's blog about Hamas. Premise: Terrorism works because people refuse to act rationally in the face of fear. Weapons are not necessary to the movement of Terrorism. You are your own worst enemy in the War Against Terror. Bystander apathy is another weapon we give Terrorists. Recently, In India, close to 200 people were killed because of a human stampede that occurred at a temple celebration. There were around 12,000 people gathered for a festival. Rumors of a bomb began to circulate, and panic began to stir. In a mad collective state of terror, people began to rush, trying to leave the overcrowded temple., thus killing over 160 people. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/asia/01india.html?em http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=115037&d=1&m=10&y=2008 Not long ago, in Canada, a man on a Greyhound randomly began stabbing another man repeatedly, then Decapitated him with a knife in front of dozens of other passengers. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080731/Manitoba_bu... I am sorry, but on this one, I have to say I do not sympathize with those other people sitting on that train watching that happen and not doing anything. I have managed to disarm a 220 pound psychotic 17 year old of a 9 inch piece of glass he obtained by putting his fist through a window. He was holding it at his throat first, and then mine. I did have the help of four men in containing him after that, although taking him down on a floor covered in shattered glass and blood was not fun. I have also taken down a different 200 pound kid who had his hands around one my worker's throat. I had the help of one other tiny Fillipino nurse. If i can do that, I am certain that if 3 or 4 people on that train had looked around at each other and winked, they could have contained the man before he would have had the time to decapitate a person. Remember 9/11. Those planes were taken down by people holding box cutters. Bombs were not necessary to cause the worst damage this country has felt since Pearl Harbor. These incidences prove that terrorists don't need actual bombs or elaborate schemes to be effective. All they have to do is instill terror. The threat creates fear, and fear disables people. If Americans really want to fight the war on terror, we should start examining fear itself. Collective fear is more dangerous than individual fear, and it spreads like wildfire, as the India incident shows. We would save more lives if we taught people how to react appropriately in the face of fear, rather than trying to kill all those terrorists out there. No matter how many we get rid of, we will never be safe until we learn to stay in control in the face of our own fear.