chas@ihuxe.UUCP (Charles Lambert) (06/29/85)
[ This is in response to an article in net.general ] > This is my personal view: Terrorism seems to have two goals, the first > is, of course, to accomplish their goals ( in this case, the freeing of > the 700 or so Shi'ite prisoners in Israel. The second is to atract > the wworlds attention to their plight. There is a third goal, more insidious, which we must not overlook. Terrorism strikes a feeling of insecurity in the society which is its victim. As the outrages continue, this feeling of insecurity becomes a feeling of distrust in the competence of our governments and protectors. Thus a wedge is driven into the "target" society. The pathology goes further. Governments, in desparation to combat the terrorism, enact ever more stringent security measures. These measures infringe, to greater or lesser extent, the individual rights of the innocent society. This is subtly manipulated by propaganda organisations covertly connected with the terrorist groups and the schizm between government and governed becomes more bitter. In the logical conclusion, the society is weakened or destroyed by internal dissent and becomes an easy prey to the political wing of the terrorising group. This is, for instance, the principal strategy behind the Irish Republican Army's bombing of civilian targets in England. They can hope to win no public support that way and have not the military strength to overthrow the English establishment. Instead they play cleverly on the infringements of civil liberty caused by the British government's measures to combat the carnage. I can offer no simplistic solution to the problem of the TWA hostages but I have a word of caution to those who advocate bloody and cathartic action. The hidden threat here is to the credibilty of our (yours or mine) democracy. React with careless rage and you have delivered the terrorists the coup that they will prize most - your visible and humiliating abdication of reason. "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword." applies to the agrieved as well as the aggressor. Charlie Lambert @ the Death Star, IL.