NOTE: The Moderate Voice frequently runs Guest Voice posts from people who either don’t have weblogs or have something they wish to say here. Guest posts do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV or its cobloggers.
Alex Hammer ran as independent candidate for governor in 2006. He has an excellent blog Politics 2.0. He has had some 30 op-ed pieces published in Maine and for 10 years was editor/publisher of his online 5 division publishing company, HSC Media.
Terrorism Thwarted – Effectiveness in Regard to Both Short Term and Long Term Approach
By Alex Hammer
When being effective in regard to combating terrorism, the methods that one employs, and the outlook that one harbors, relates in no small part to a short versus long term perspective that one has on the nature of threat.
From a short term perspective, self-protection and active defense are paramount. The danger is real and deadly. There is an external destructive threat that needs to be neutralized and overcome. Military or police force, coupled with detainment of actual and legitimately perceived threats are tools for insuring survival.
From a longer term perspective, one does also need to substantially win hearts and minds. The cycling of revenge, especially with those feeling that they have less or little to lose, means that for the number of terrorists killed, a larger number may be created or join the fight.
Some talk of “total victory” and see political measures as indicators of weakness that embolden the enemy.
Most see, whether it be primary or secondary, some role for financial, infrastructure and other support or rebuilding mechanisms.
Hearts and minds are important in the long term because it is the masses that will determine whether terrorists are actively or subtly encouraged, tolerated, or rejected.
I believe that a basic function of human nature, and thus society, is competition. Capitalism runs on competition, although one idea, if you like to think of it this way, is that via public education and other means even if there is not ever total equal opportunity that there will be a basic opportunity for all people to succeed. People have always come to America, “the land of opportunity” for the “American dream”. And it’s not just material success, but economic success can help to lay a foundation.
In America, failure and disappointment can also be channeled through divorce (and remarriage), job change, lawsuits, psychotherapy, antidepressants, parole and other means. These are available safety nets, many solidly institutionalized, that prevent one in the vast majority of cases from becoming (or staying) despondent and depressed.
It has been said that “the best social policy is a job” and that “terrorism is the poor man’s AK-147”. In America when we have gone soft on crime we have paid a high price. We lost approximately 3,000 individuals in 911 in an unprovoked attack. There should be accountability for this horrific event.
And we need to be tough to be safe.
But this is also an issue that is going to be passed down onto our children. Many kinds of wars and conflicts have existed throughout history. In modern times we have the capability to both blow ourselves off the face of the earth, and to kill each other totally or in large numbers in other ways.
They say also that the easiest crisis to deal with is the one that never occurs. While keeping both eyes open and not being naive, we need to learn to evolve our means of stepping back from the brink, individually and collectively, to the same degree that we have developed our weaponry and ability to be of threat to each other. Short term survival is needed to get us to the long term. And long term survival means using our heads, not only our brawn.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.