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> If we continue policing as we do now, terrorism will increase, up to a point where the terrorists take over and are the new rulers. I hate to be this guy, b

> If we continue policing as we do now, terrorism will increase, up to a point where the terrorists take over and are the new rulers. I hate to be this guy, but with enough knowledge about our ancestors going far into the past, how do we know similar acts did not take place?? Look at USA alone - they were asian tribes that got wiped by indians with arrows. Indians got wiped by whites with guns.. whoever comes for us now... I say... let it be! We will of course arm to teeth and defend, but if its written somewhere in stars that we are doomed to fail, no amount of policing will change that. Whatever will happen today, it will happen and those living in year 2,500 would not see it any other way. Just as empires fell before, who says Isis or other ideology will not fail similarly one day? > Oh AIDS just affects a few gays and needle-sharing heroin addicts Correct me if I'm wrong but that's still the case today, no? Unless I have unprotected sex with multitude of partners (stats shows homosexuals tens to spread AIDS more than hetero) and won't inject stuff with borrowed needles, my chances of getting AIDS are still super drastically slim. I mean sure I can be a virgin and never even smoke a joint, and get affected by riding a subway with infected person who happened to touched a pole with their bloody finger and I happened to touch it after him/her with open wound in a short period of time before the virus dies given there was enough blood to get affected in the first place. But again chances are probably the same as walking in random park in a random European country at a random day and being blown up into peaces by a random person, who happens to randomly stand next to me and turn out to be a terrorist. I sure take my chances.

mafribe 10y ago
how do we know similar acts did not take place?? We are pretty sure that many pre-democratic changes of political power did come about in this way. Revolutions and other political power-struggles have been studied very carefully e.g. [1], the Marxist tradition is pretty full of such studies, e.g. [2, 3]. but that's still the case today, no? Yes, precisely because of the intense counter-measures taken to prevent AIDS from spreading further. Need-sharing has mostly disappeared, at least in western Europe, because taking Heroin has been effectively decriminalised. Moreover, free Methadon substitution for addicts, and the provision of free needles (and space to shoot up) are all reactions to the AIDS epidemic. So the fact that "that's still the case today" is a great success of not going whatabout-flu-and-traffic-deaths when AIDS arrived. [1] E. N. Luttwak, Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook. [2] Võ Nguyên Giáp: People's war, people's army. [3] S. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals.
Twisell 10y ago
Please don't start on AIDS, you can find studies that say one thing and the other about which population is more exposed to risk. It's really far from trivial and they already have been several comparatives critical studies about theses studies. Only 2 fact are undeniable: 1.AIDS can biologically affect anyone even if odds are low 2.If you use condoms (before you and you partner get tested), you'll never have to worry about it. Otherwise is just betting with odds and trusting strangers, do as you wish but don't complain later on, nor shall you encourage others to be careless.

mafribe 10y ago

how do we know similar acts did not take place?? We are pretty sure that many pre-democratic changes of political power did come about in this way. Revolutions and other political power-struggles have been studied very carefully e.g. [1], the Marxist tradition is pretty full of such studies, e.g. [2, 3]. but that's still the case today, no? Yes, precisely because of the intense counter-measures taken to prevent AIDS from spreading further. Need-sharing has mostly disappeared, at least in western Europe, because taking Heroin has been effectively decriminalised. Moreover, free Methadon substitution for addicts, and the provision of free needles (and space to shoot up) are all reactions to the AIDS epidemic. So the fact that "that's still the case today" is a great success of not going whatabout-flu-and-traffic-deaths when AIDS arrived. [1] E. N. Luttwak, Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook. [2] Võ Nguyên Giáp: People's war, people's army. [3] S. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals.

Twisell 10y ago

Please don't start on AIDS, you can find studies that say one thing and the other about which population is more exposed to risk. It's really far from trivial and they already have been several comparatives critical studies about theses studies. Only 2 fact are undeniable: 1.AIDS can biologically affect anyone even if odds are low 2.If you use condoms (before you and you partner get tested), you'll never have to worry about it. Otherwise is just betting with odds and trusting strangers, do as you wish but don't complain later on, nor shall you encourage others to be careless.