As I write this,
the city of Paris, France is still recovering from a huge attack.
The death toll was at least 140, with 300 hospitalized. It was a
cowardly, barbaric act. People were slaughtered in public places,
and some were killed inside a theater. The details are sketchy, but
ISIS took credit for the attack. Countries around the world are
rallying around France at this time. Another horrible hit to
civilization – the second one in France in a years time. The
Charlie Hebdo attacks took place in January, 2015. Questions arise
again. How can some people whom France has welcomed into its
borders, and fed and helped, turn around and do this kind of thing?
It is incomprehensible.
But the most
obvious explanation is fanaticism. Religious fanatics are
responsible for so many bombings and insane acts throughout the
world. Factions go after each other, like Shi'ites and Sunnis in
Iraq. The Islamics go after the Jews, and the Jews retaliate. It
is a never-ending cycle of violence, and that never seems to change.
What are we going to do, outlaw religion? Not very likely.
Eyewitnesses had
various stories to tell. One in a balcony above the Bataclan
theater, described people all getting down on the floor to avoid
gunshots, then being systematically slaughtered by two gunmen.
Another told of a restaurant, where she thought a car had been driven
through a window. It turned out to be more gunmen, shooting anyone
they could. Blood and bodies were everywhere. Survivors will be
traumatized for life. But one thing is for sure – these terrorists
have just signed a death warrant for many, many more of their own
people. Many Syrians and others in the Middle East will die in
retaliation for these murders.
Now the messages
of solidarity are coming in from around the world. People on
Facebook and other social media sites are filtering their names
through French tricolors and the Eiffel tower peace sign that has
been making the rounds. Messages of solidarity and peace. But
the horrors are on their way, as retaliation looms.
Before the Charlie
Hebdo killings, and those recriminations, there have been many other
terror acts. The most notable for people here in the US has been the
September 11, 2001 attacks. A Wiki site
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_%28non-state%29_terrorist_incidents
lists most of them, although it is unverified in places. There have
been bombings and assassinations from the 1860s in the USA all the
way up to the present time. A “Mad Bomber” in New York
terrorized residents for sixteen years, although he didn't do damage
comparable to present-day terrorists. But an attack on Wall Street
in 1920 killed and injured many, provoking much alarm. It has
happened over here, more often than we may realize. But most often
it is homegrown people with a local grudge of some kind. Ted
Kazinsky (the Unabomber) was mad at university professors who had
disdained his work somehow. So he mailed letter bombs, full of
explosives and shrapnel, and injured several. The obsession to hurt
or kill someone based on a grudge or beliefs is nothing new.
In the 1970's the most feared groups seemed
to be the Palestine Liberation Army or offshoots, and the Irish
Republican army (IRA), and offshoots. There was also violence by
JDL and Black Power groups, but this was on a smaller scale. Bombs
were placed on planes, or up against buildings. In some cases, a
lone gunman opened fire on a crowd somewhere. There were
appearances by the Weather Underground, Ulster Defense Forces and
others. In some cases large explosions were set off, killing or
injuring many. But it seems that when Al-Qaeda made their debut,
the era of large-scale terror attacks had arrived. No longer
content to kill one or two people, the attackers now killed dozens,
hundreds, or in the case of the Twin towers, thousands. IS seems to
just be upping the ante. Which will guarantee that the Western (and
Eastern) military organizations will be bogged down in warfare for
many, many years to come.
Many attacks originate in religious disputes.
For example, the forced settlement of Protestants in Catholic
Ireland caused much unrest. Or Israel's formation in Palestine, and
the resentment that caused. There are many, many more examples.
US, British and French occupations in the
Middle East over the last couple of centuries have surely bred
resentments. The Algerians gained independence from France, after a
bloody insurrection. There are even some Algerian Al-Queda members.
When Britain managed Palestine in the 1940's, there was a group
called the Irgun that attacked people, in the name of Zionism. The
KKK in the US was responsible for many lynchings, fire-bombings and
cross-burnings. So much so that they helped usher in a new
segregation that lasted until the 1960's. Resentment still festers
in some Southern US locales. Losers in any major conflict will hold
grudges, and some will lash out. Even during major invasions, such
as the Nazi-German invasion of France in WWII. Partisan resistance
groups formed, and carried out many attacks, despite brutal
retaliation by the Nazis. In Spain during the 1930's civil war,
battles between the rebels and the dictatorial government of Franco
raged. Rebellions of one kind or another have gone on for thousands of years.
When the rebels succeed in overthrowing a government, they are often
re-named “freedom fighters.”
One notable terror attack happened in London
in 1605, known as the gunpowder plot. Guy Fawkes and other
conspirators wanted to attack King James and the Parliament due to
ever-more-onerous restrictions on the Catholics. The plot was foiled
at the last minute, when someone sent a letter warning one MP to not
be there. Many conspirators were rounded up. This would have been
a large-scale disaster for British aristocracy if it had succeeded.
The mere fact that it was attempted shows that acts of terror are not
a modern invention. (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z3hq7ty)
It is not known exactly how many events that
fall just under the “terror” label have occurred. Some of these
have made the news, including an attempt by a Japanese group to
introduce Sarin gas into a subway system. Five did die, but many
more could have had the group been more competent. Or in the US,
there have been Highway or Freeway snipers caught. While it could be
said they spread terror of a sort onto our roadways, their damage was
comparatively slight. (Of course, you are the one being shot, it is
a horrific act in any case.) There have been pipe bombs left in
schools, and later detonated harmlessly by police.
There have been school shootings, riveting
national attention. Images of students evacuating a school, arms all
held in the air for some reason, resonate in our collective minds.
These are a relatively recent occurrence. In the past, someone
bringing a knife or handgun to school was a major infraction, and
grounds for expulsion. Terror in decades past at American schools
would have had a lot more to do with fistfights than automatic
weapons!
Oftentimes human nature seems to have violent
acts encoded within. A history of crimes of all kinds seems to show
that one group will attack another group simply for being different.
Thefts and vandalism go back to the beginning of recorded history.
So terrorists seem to be an outgrowth of human population expansion
and differentiation. As the human race expands, there are
ever-finer shades of difference in many aspects. One of these is
hatred and violence against others to achieve a purpose. The more
people there are, the more ways we will find to do mischief or worse
to each other.
The “Good” people of the world must
remain vigilant against those who would do harm. By “Good” I
mean the people who carry on with their lives, and do no harm to
others to achieve any ends. Vigorous competition in a team or
individual sport may be the furthest they go in gaining the upper
hand. Civilized people do not randomly do harm to each other.
Rather they raise their families, go about their business, pursue
their interests. The contrast between John Q. Civilization and Joe
T. Terrorist could not be clearer. For whatever reason, JT
Terrorist wants to spread terror and death throughout a population.
This seems to be a problem we are stuck with.
Just as with many other forms of “crime,” this one will be
around for a long, long time. It makes one wonder that if and when
Artificial Intelligences achieve a high mental capacity and begin to
form societies, what kind of 'terrorism' they will have to contend
with. Images of a robot sneaking around pulling the plug on another,
or a group, come to mind. But someday this could very well surface
as a real issue. Let's hope that we will still be around to view the
outcome. Can machines bleed all over the street? And will humans be
employed or forced to clean up the mess? We shall see. Yours in
solidarity with civilization, and thanks for reading.
Links for further reading:
- end
