What do we do now? (was: RE: [thechat] Palestinians)

[Bill]

WARNING -- VERY VERY VERY VERY LONG MESSAGE BELOW...READ THIS ONLY IF YOU
LOVE PAIN AND HAVE A DESIRE TO EXPERIENCE EXTREME EYESTRAIN:


> there will literally be no end to this until
> we can improve on descriptions like "freaky-wiedy madmen" for our
> aggressors.

Okay, okay - you got me. BUT --- you're spelling of "wierdy" was incorrect.
Please refrain from such gross error in the future.

[but seriously...]

You are correct, and I was sorely mistaken. They are certainly not mad, and
in fact are more likely clear-headed and quite intelligent to have
coordinated and pulled this thing off. However, it is more than tempting to
associate such extreme passion with a loss of sanity. Especially when we
REALLY DON'T KNOW what their true motivation is, as you adeptly pointed out.


> We need to walk in their shoes (nod to Erika) and attempt to
> understand their perspecitve.

I'm scared to try such a thing, but indeed it will be the best way to
understand and then as immediately as possible, stop them.

We are taught as Americans, from an early age, (in the immortal words of
John Belushi, and I guess someone more important than him before that if
that's possible) that "when the going gets tough, the tough get going". In
the face of destruction and death on our own soil, we know only how to keep
going by simply not stopping. So it's easy to immediately begin looking for
someone to blame and punish, often at the expense of digging a deeper hole.
But then, that's how we grew so fast, isn't it? Isn't that how we got where
we are? By sheer strength, determination and a little Yankee ingenuity?
Maybe the time for all of that is over, but I'm simply afraid of what will
happen if we back off.

> And I worry it may escalate. It will be hard now to pull off another
> devastating attack on this scale, but we may be seeing the beginning of
> a period of unrelenting terrorist activity if no new ideas come out.
> More suffering, more deaths - and we'll still not know why.

I know. I worry, too.

Okay, so what do we do. I mean, really...WHAT DO WE DO NOW??? As I said, I
can't simply sit back and hope and watch and hope. There must be something
we can do besides the obvious like giving blood and fighting and shooting
and stuff. I mean, in the future, starting now, what do we do?

The members of this list are sitting at the desks of some of the key
communication points on this planet. In the past, our "internet" thing has
been a great way to make money, and oh btw send email and stuff. Is it
possible that the many great minds that have crawled out of hiding to take
over the net are now available to actually do some good on a greater level?
Can't we find a way to do something with this great system that we, with our
own hands, have built over the last (very few) years?

Any ideas? Am I falling down gracefully?

There must be something, right? Screw E-commerce, let's use our
multi-national, self-created society here to do something. Nobody wants it
for anything else anymore, right? Certainly BANNER ADS, aside from seeming
incredibly insignificant right now, aren't worth a damn. You know the
internet was destined for something better than it's accomplished up until
now. We're too smart to sit back and make intelligent comments about
international policies and hope that POLITICIANS do something right! What do
they know? We're the ones that are directly tapped into the world's most
incredible communication system.

Okay, I have no ideas, but I give a great speech, right? I understand that I
am a big silly-head with an incredibly naiive mentality about the world and
too much idealism. But if I'm not who will be?

Consider that bizarre (if somewhat misplaced) message on [thelist] earlier
today about the Nostradamus thread on Google Groups. Did you read that?
Scary stuff. Some guy actually sounds like he knew something. Who knew? Who
said anything until it was too late? Imagine what you could do with what you
know about protocols and ip's and servers and shit.

We are the ones who are tapped into the heartbeat. So how do we get
involved? Come on geeks...

blah, blah, blah...no one will ever chat with me again...

BH