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Yes, looks like terrorists are winning... They made everyone's life to be worse, that was basically their goal. In the name of fight against terrorism power-hun

Yes, looks like terrorists are winning... They made everyone's life to be worse, that was basically their goal. In the name of fight against terrorism power-hungry politicians propose mind-boggling useless and awful measures, and people don't stop them, because "how can you be against fight on terrorism?" So sad.

userbinator 9y ago
and people don't stop them, because "how can you be against fight on terrorism?" I would bet that if they tried, they might be considered terrorists too. It reminds me of this old Thomas Jefferson quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
zabana 9y ago
Terrorism is probably the best ally western governments have found to advance their authoritarian agenda. The sad thing is people are actually falling for it. You just have to look at the way the UK Government complained that they didn't have a backdoor to whatsapp's infrastructure because the "terrorist" was able to plan his attack using their service. What is it going to be next ? "London Horrified after Uber Driver blows up his car in Leicester Square. Theresa May to force Uber to share user's personal data with the government". I hate to sound Alex Jones-y but you've got to admit that there's a pattern here.
- Silhouette 9y ago
  In an interview during the Nuremberg war crimes trials, Hermann Goering, the founder of the Nazi Gestapo, was discussing whether normal people ever want to go to war. He answered that obviously they do not, but that the leaders make the decisions and can drag the people along with them. When the interviewer suggested that in democracies the people have a say through their elected representatives, Goering countered that "The people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them that they are in danger of being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." Sadly, it appears that little has changed in the intervening 70 or so years.
  - TomMarius 9y ago
    I think this works because of how the human mind works in its very basics.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- shams93 9y ago
  Exactly for a lot of wealthy people they live in terror of the regular people they are gradually starving to death. As we enter a post human economy we will see more and more mass internment more and more concentration camps. As machines eliminate more and more work the totalitarian state will simply eliminate the surplus humans.
  - pishpash 9y ago
    Astute point. Terrorists, at least the foot soldiers, are just the riffraff of the globe. To wealthy people, all the plebes look the same.
    - ajmurmann 9y ago
      To poor people apparently all the wealthy people look the same as well...
- etrautmann 9y ago
  "Never let a good crisis go to waste"
  - arethuza 9y ago
    “Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.” Milton Friedman
Banthum 9y ago
Well, terrorists are winning. But the goal of terrorists is not to make "everyone's life to be worse", it is to force political changes. In the case of the Islamic terrorism, their goal is to spread the authority of Islam. So, for example, since the Charlie Hebdo attack, nobody will publish any image of Mohammed. We are now all following that part of Islamic blasphemy law, because we're afraid of their enforcement squads. So in that spot they succeeded.
- justavoice 9y ago
  Yep, and people get downvoted for pointing it out...
swayvil 9y ago
The terrorists were invented to justify this shit. The name of the game is putting the whole population into a juice-press. Always was, always will be.
- anigbrowl 9y ago
  No, there are actual terrorists and have been for ages, though they used to be called anarchists. Attacks on targets by Northern Irish terrorists were a Real Thing. It's the scale and scope of the response that are disproportionate, not to mention the moral vacuity of same.
  - swayvil 9y ago
    Calling them anarchists makes them less invented? Calling them Northern Irish terrorists makes them less invented? No. It works like this. You are a rich fucker who wants to mug a country. To do that you need an army. So first you locate some traumatized people. Feed them money and motivational ideology. Point them at your target. Profit. Voila, you have invented a band of terrorists.
vidarh 9y ago
The Tories are winning. Their agenda has been authoritarian and nationalist for a long time. Terrorism is only a convenient excuse.
- soVeryTired 9y ago
  To be fair, I don't think this is a partisan thing. The Labour government were getting pretty authoritarian towards the end of their tenure too. Remember the ID cards debacle?

userbinator 9y ago

and people don't stop them, because "how can you be against fight on terrorism?" I would bet that if they tried, they might be considered terrorists too. It reminds me of this old Thomas Jefferson quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

zabana 9y ago

Terrorism is probably the best ally western governments have found to advance their authoritarian agenda. The sad thing is people are actually falling for it. You just have to look at the way the UK Government complained that they didn't have a backdoor to whatsapp's infrastructure because the "terrorist" was able to plan his attack using their service. What is it going to be next ? "London Horrified after Uber Driver blows up his car in Leicester Square. Theresa May to force Uber to share user's personal data with the government". I hate to sound Alex Jones-y but you've got to admit that there's a pattern here.

Silhouette 9y ago
In an interview during the Nuremberg war crimes trials, Hermann Goering, the founder of the Nazi Gestapo, was discussing whether normal people ever want to go to war. He answered that obviously they do not, but that the leaders make the decisions and can drag the people along with them. When the interviewer suggested that in democracies the people have a say through their elected representatives, Goering countered that "The people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them that they are in danger of being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." Sadly, it appears that little has changed in the intervening 70 or so years.
- TomMarius 9y ago
  I think this works because of how the human mind works in its very basics.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
shams93 9y ago
Exactly for a lot of wealthy people they live in terror of the regular people they are gradually starving to death. As we enter a post human economy we will see more and more mass internment more and more concentration camps. As machines eliminate more and more work the totalitarian state will simply eliminate the surplus humans.
- pishpash 9y ago
  Astute point. Terrorists, at least the foot soldiers, are just the riffraff of the globe. To wealthy people, all the plebes look the same.
  - ajmurmann 9y ago
    To poor people apparently all the wealthy people look the same as well...
etrautmann 9y ago
"Never let a good crisis go to waste"
- arethuza 9y ago
  “Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.” Milton Friedman

Banthum 9y ago

Well, terrorists are winning. But the goal of terrorists is not to make "everyone's life to be worse", it is to force political changes. In the case of the Islamic terrorism, their goal is to spread the authority of Islam. So, for example, since the Charlie Hebdo attack, nobody will publish any image of Mohammed. We are now all following that part of Islamic blasphemy law, because we're afraid of their enforcement squads. So in that spot they succeeded.

justavoice 9y ago
Yep, and people get downvoted for pointing it out...

swayvil 9y ago

The terrorists were invented to justify this shit. The name of the game is putting the whole population into a juice-press. Always was, always will be.

anigbrowl 9y ago
No, there are actual terrorists and have been for ages, though they used to be called anarchists. Attacks on targets by Northern Irish terrorists were a Real Thing. It's the scale and scope of the response that are disproportionate, not to mention the moral vacuity of same.
- swayvil 9y ago
  Calling them anarchists makes them less invented? Calling them Northern Irish terrorists makes them less invented? No. It works like this. You are a rich fucker who wants to mug a country. To do that you need an army. So first you locate some traumatized people. Feed them money and motivational ideology. Point them at your target. Profit. Voila, you have invented a band of terrorists.

vidarh 9y ago

The Tories are winning. Their agenda has been authoritarian and nationalist for a long time. Terrorism is only a convenient excuse.

soVeryTired 9y ago
To be fair, I don't think this is a partisan thing. The Labour government were getting pretty authoritarian towards the end of their tenure too. Remember the ID cards debacle?