Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Domodedovo

By now, news of the terrorist attack at Domodedovo Airport (the airport I flew into back in September, and where several of my friends have passed through and where my parents have been planning to fly into in May) has spread around the world.

I'm not a political analyst, I've had no firsthand experience with terrorism before, I'm not Russian or Chechen (I'm not saying that it was the Chechens who were behind this act, I don't think anyone has claimed responsibility yet). So I'm definitely not qualified in any way to comment on this tragedy except to say that my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by terrorism around the world. Hate, ignorance, extremism in any form all NEED to be eradicated. Stepping up security just seems to be putting a bandaid on the problem, especially in a country like Russia where there already is increased security in malls, arenas, the metro, etc. But what else can we do?? This devushka has no idea.

8 comments:

  1. The kernel for this idea came from the movie Password Swordfish, great movie btw, and oddly enough it makes a compelling argument if you read between the lines, however scary that argument is.

    So essentially the problem faced here is extremism. Under the extremist view you're looking at things from a "I'm right no matter what perspective" so a morally relativistic standpoint. Relativism = Nihilism, and from a moral/ethical view it = anything goes. Government/society/anything that wants to stay in existence runs on absolutism - universal rules/laws/regulations.

    What you therefore have is one group of people (the terrorists) who will not following any moral guidlines/laws/principles/etc while the other group of people (governments/security/etc) will. The terrorists can therefore do anything and everything they want, while we are severely encumbered and ultimately can't do anything without breaking our own rules and thus can't really do anything.

    P.Swordfish takes this idea and says, well what if we became just as extreme? Quoted from the movie:

    "Gabriel: Anyone who impinges on America's freedom. Terrorist states, Stanley. Someone must bring their war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb ten. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourists, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that it becomes unthinkable to attack Americans."

    In a weird way, there is a scary logic to it isn't there? What else can you do?

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  2. The guys who are behind this will eventually get caught and punished because they crossed the line. Why would someone need to bomb an airport, metro whatever. These guys have no future. Its only Bin Laden who is still hiding, all North Caucasus terrorists who I remember were killed or caught. No more please.

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  3. But the problem isn't a specific group, it can be anyone, it doesn't matter. The problem is the notion/act of terrorism. Putting every terrorist cell in jail right now or putting a round through the cranium would not solve the problem. Another one(s) would just pop up and you would continue to have the same problem.

    Time to play devil's advocate;

    It can be argued that terrorism is however needed, that its a sort of check/balance of society. One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. The people that enact terrorism, or at least the ones that plan and control the acts are not stupid, crazy and misguided probably, stupid no. There is a logic to it, and maybe its us (our society/system) that is the problem?

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  4. I find Loshkins' argument flawed, and agree with the Devushka. History proves that violence only begets more violence, and nobody deserves that.

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  5. Violence does not always beget more violence, and often times violence is the most efficient solution to a problem - but lets keep that debate aside for now. The discussion is about the act of terrorism and how to deal with it, to that end your proposition is...?

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  6. I love the Gandhi quote, "An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind." It may be incredibly naive and idealistic of me, but I think the first step towards dealing with terrorism is by trying to eradicate extremism and ignorance throughout the world. Let's see more interfaith committees in universities, let's see more diversity in schools, in neighbourhoods and communities. Let's see an overhaul in education, let's see girls going to school, orphans, children who come from low-income homes. Small steps, but important ones. Because if we can start inspiring individuals around the world to love and accept their fellow human beings, then we can only hope that these voices of moderation and peace will eventually overstrengthen the voices of dissent, hate, and terror. It starts with US. How we live our daily lives, the messages we give out through our words and actions.

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