NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm sure someone else has posted about this before but I've been thinking about it a bit lately. With the worldwide loss of resources becoming more evident, is this the the greatest risk to world stability? Terrorism is rooted in poverty and injustice. Is it more important to fight only with weapons, or to fight at the base of which is food and water. People will do anything to survive in most cases, at least the strong ones. War, terrorism, and hate are logical extensions of this problem. What do you think?

I personally don't care one whit what the supposed root of terrorism is. I see the enemy, I acknowledge the enemy, and I support the elimination of the enemy. Whether the terrorists come about due to social injustice, a perversion of Islam, or the inherent nature of Islam itself, is irrelevant. They threaten us, and thus, we should destroy them.
Just my two cents.

While large scale war can easily be (and often is) driven by necessity, terrorism is not. Rather, it is driven by a perception by middle-class and well-off individuals of a disenfranchisement of their cultural whole, whatsoever that may be. By and large, a sense of glory denied, power stolen or justice unserved drives individuals to terrorism. Not hunger or thirst.

The true war on terror is nothing more that trying to get defense contracts signed!

I'm sure someone else has posted about this before but I've been thinking about it a bit lately. With the worldwide loss of resources becoming more evident, is this the the greatest risk to world stability? Terrorism is rooted in poverty and injustice. Is it more important to fight only with weapons, or to fight at the base of which is food and water. People will do anything to survive in most cases, at least the strong ones. War, terrorism, and hate are logical extensions of this problem. What do you think?

I think that if want of food and water automatically led to bombs being set off to kill civilians, there would have been non-stop explosions since the technology became available. Poverty often provides the foot-soldiers for the terrorists, but it takes much more to perpetrate the act.

Terrorism? All I see are groups of armed men trying to protect there home. Testostorone has a problem with foreign nations invading there homes, calling them evil, blamig them for 9/11, and stealing their precious oil.

Poverty and hunger are excuses, but not causes. As with all conflict, the cause is political - some person or group wants power and is able to persuade enough people to do as he/they instruct. This is the root of imperialism, militant islam, fasism, and revolutionary socialism.

Before anyone starts in on the "revenge for the crusades a thousand years ago", Christianity didn't cause the crusades - it was bishops and "noblemen" who wanted power and were able to cloud their political ambitions with pseudoreligious hogwash and convince an illiterate population.

Before anyone starts in on the "revenge for the crusades a thousand years ago", Christianity didn't cause the crusades - it was bishops and "noblemen" who wanted power and were able to cloud their political ambitions with pseudoreligious hogwash and convince an illiterate population.

Yeah, but your average Arab peasant doesn't know that, and the intellectuals who provide the fundamentalist movement its leadership and framework don't care to acknowledge that, seeing only a massive foreign invasion in the guise of a "holy war" perpetrated by the western power structure.

The Crusades aren't as relevant as the botched attempts at modernization carried out by post-colonial leaders in Egypt and elsewhere in the ME, though. Massive income disparity, wide-spread oppression of the populace in the name of "development," a focus on high-profile wealth and projects like the Aswan dam and building up a modern military at the expense of the poor schmuck in the field and factory who has to sit and watch as all the nouveau-riche playboys strut around in their Mercedes -- this is what creates the view of Western culture as "decadent." Hell, western reformers have called our culture "decadent," so our being labeled thus by outsiders who have got the short end of the global stick really shouldn't surprise anyone.

http://www.militaryindustrialcomplex.com
Mo money! Mo money! Mo money!

When war becomes this profitable, your going to see more of it!

I think the best way to combat terrorism is for the western world, particularly the US, to first reflect back on the kind of direct and indirect genocides that they have committed all over the world in the name of democracy. Not to mention all those unequal treaty that the US force upon other countries in the name of free trade, or the amount of weapons we sold to dictators/terrorist groups in the name of human rights.

The true is there's no room to talk about peace when the western world continues to fund and promote it. Just look at all the terrorist groups and anti terrorist groups in the middle east and ask, "how much of them is, or had been, funded by the western world?" The western world need to stop being delusional about what great things their actions have done for this world before changes can be made.

One possible step to end terrorism is to stop spreading propaganda in the our mass media. With our news spreading hateful message toward the Arab world and China on a daily basis, what kind of peace do we expect to get? Even if we don't have enemy we will create one with that kind of mentality (just look at Saddam).

I got some simple answers here and a few interesting ones. That is NSG. My greater point was this... Terrorism is rooted in the loss of power and the need to overcome it by any means necessary. Think, when the food and water are under private control you are going to get some "terrorists" fighting back. People will not allow themselves to simply die. Terrorism and violent acts are somewhat synonymous, but they are divergent entities in a way. The desire to have what you cannot get (freedom, food, water, power, etc.) is what drives people to revolutions. Look throughout history for your references. Wars have been fought over resources for longer than America existed. What would you do if a cartel was keeping the items you need to live? They decide who lives and who dies? Would you rise up and fight for your life, or would you just allow yourself to be beaten, abused, and finally extinguished? I'm a warrior and I would rage against my oppressors.

I personally don't care one whit what the supposed root of terrorism is. I see the enemy, I acknowledge the enemy, and I support the elimination of the enemy. Whether the terrorists come about due to social injustice, a perversion of Islam, or the inherent nature of Islam itself, is irrelevant. They threaten us, and thus, we should destroy them.
Just my two cents.

I'm sure the terrorists feel exactly the same way about you. ;)

I'm sure someone else has posted about this before but I've been thinking about it a bit lately. With the worldwide loss of resources becoming more evident, is this the the greatest risk to world stability? Terrorism is rooted in poverty and injustice. Is it more important to fight only with weapons, or to fight at the base of which is food and water. People will do anything to survive in most cases, at least the strong ones. War, terrorism, and hate are logical extensions of this problem. What do you think?

Win the hearts and minds. Didn't work in Vietnam. Had LBJ just allowed Westmoreland to do his job, it would have been a military victory by the end of 1968. So this herts and minds thing may not work. The terrorism in the middle east is not from poverty(Osama Bin Laden was a very rich man before becoming a terrorist), it i from religous fanatcism.

I personally don't care one whit what the supposed root of terrorism is. I see the enemy, I acknowledge the enemy, and I support the elimination of the enemy. Whether the terrorists come about due to social injustice, a perversion of Islam, or the inherent nature of Islam itself, is irrelevant. They threaten us, and thus, we should destroy them.
Just my two cents.

Wow, just wow. This statement is just preciously ridiculous. You are either a soldier, an army brat or have the IQ of a dinosaur. Seriously.:rolleyes:

I personally don't care one whit what the supposed root of terrorism is. I see the enemy, I acknowledge the enemy, and I support the elimination of the enemy. Whether the terrorists come about due to social injustice, a perversion of Islam, or the inherent nature of Islam itself, is irrelevant. They threaten us, and thus, we should destroy them.
Just my two cents.

Which is only going to propagate the situation. There is not a finite amount of terrorism which can merely be disposed of. And I agree in part with the earlier sentiments that it is poverty and need that drive many terrorists. (Politics can often distort the truth however and direct this anger towards the wrong people- as much as the West has done to the developing world, the governments of the developing world must also often take the blame).

Prevention is often better than cure. Why fight hard if you can fight smart?

Win the hearts and minds. Didn't work in Vietnam.

It's difficult to win the hearts and minds of people when you've been dropping bombs on them and committing any number of atrocities for years, even if you stop doing it the next day and pretend to be saints.

I think that if want of food and water automatically led to bombs being set off to kill civilians, there would have been non-stop explosions since the technology became available. Poverty often provides the foot-soldiers for the terrorists, but it takes much more to perpetrate the act.

What it usually takes is a middle class educated person(or people) who oppose the current power structure in the country to convince and recruit working class people to their cause.

They do not care what happens to the working class, they are just pawns in the power struggle between the middle class people who think they should be in charge and the current people who are in charge.

I'm sure someone else has posted about this before but I've been thinking about it a bit lately. With the worldwide loss of resources becoming more evident, is this the the greatest risk to world stability? Terrorism is rooted in poverty and injustice. Is it more important to fight only with weapons, or to fight at the base of which is food and water. People will do anything to survive in most cases, at least the strong ones. War, terrorism, and hate are logical extensions of this problem. What do you think?

I think most terrorists come from a middle class background and therefore everyone should live in poverty so theres less terrorism.