Back To School... Term Eight
Well, school is back in session after 11 days of rest... riiiight.
Im excited about this term as they all deal with terrorism. This subject has been an increasing interest to me for quite a while now, before the events of 9/11 but more so since then and especially now with more recent terror attacks in London last week.
The first class Im taking is being taught by retired brigadier General Fred "Nick" Halley who has much experience in investigating terrorism. My second class I am happy to say is with an instructor that I got on well with in another Criminal Justice class Criminal Investigations. This class continues in the field of investigations of terrorism. And my third class is on World Conflict. All very similar but different in a way. I hope I can come up with enough ideas for my project thesis for each class.
What I found interesting in my second class, investigating terrorism, is the amount of people who are so short sited when it comes to terrorism and who terrorist are. One of our discussion questions this week is to name "one" major terrorist group. Some named the obvious Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, however the majority went for white supremacy groups from Hitler in WWII to modern Nazi organizations and white supremacy groups like the KKK, Aryan Nations, National alliance, WAR, Church of the Creator and NSDAP.
Its like people have tunnel vision and refuse to see that terrorism and racial organizations are not just Muslim or White! They forget about the Nation of Islam, Jewish Defense League, IRA, PLO, PKK,... I mean the list goes on and on, with every nationality, race, religion and belief from animal rights, eco-terrorist and anti-abortionists!
Where were these peoples minds when the IRA set off car bombs killing and mutilating those marching and horses in England, shoppers during Christmas and commuters going to and coming home from work? Why didn't they comprehend the murderous slaughters of Kurds in Iraq, or white farmers in Zimbabwe? These people used acts of terrorism against groups of people they didn't want around. But no one ever "talks" about those atrocities or acts of terrorism.
We all define terrorism they way we believe. The way our own governments and religious leaders want us to see it. One mans act of rebellion is another mans act of terrorism. A war to one government is seen as a terrorist attack by the country being attacked.Some day perhaps we will be able to have a specific definition of terrorist or terrorism. But we need to focus on why people will go to such lengths to commit such horrible atrocities against innocent people.
One writer, Simon Jenkins of Times Online UK put it in a way that I strongly agree, "A wise general keeps sight of his enemy's objective. The terrorist's objective is not to kill but, by doing so, to publicise a cause and incite a violent and repressive response. Blair said on Thursday that "the purpose of the terrorist is to terrorise". True. But why then the stomach-churning media hyperbole that surrounds these incidents? It is one thing to report, another to wallow in grief pornography as if the bomb itself were a celebrity. Such massive publicity feeds terror's first objective and incites its second" (Jenkins, 2005).
Think about it....
Im excited about this term as they all deal with terrorism. This subject has been an increasing interest to me for quite a while now, before the events of 9/11 but more so since then and especially now with more recent terror attacks in London last week.
The first class Im taking is being taught by retired brigadier General Fred "Nick" Halley who has much experience in investigating terrorism. My second class I am happy to say is with an instructor that I got on well with in another Criminal Justice class Criminal Investigations. This class continues in the field of investigations of terrorism. And my third class is on World Conflict. All very similar but different in a way. I hope I can come up with enough ideas for my project thesis for each class.
What I found interesting in my second class, investigating terrorism, is the amount of people who are so short sited when it comes to terrorism and who terrorist are. One of our discussion questions this week is to name "one" major terrorist group. Some named the obvious Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, however the majority went for white supremacy groups from Hitler in WWII to modern Nazi organizations and white supremacy groups like the KKK, Aryan Nations, National alliance, WAR, Church of the Creator and NSDAP.
Its like people have tunnel vision and refuse to see that terrorism and racial organizations are not just Muslim or White! They forget about the Nation of Islam, Jewish Defense League, IRA, PLO, PKK,... I mean the list goes on and on, with every nationality, race, religion and belief from animal rights, eco-terrorist and anti-abortionists!
Where were these peoples minds when the IRA set off car bombs killing and mutilating those marching and horses in England, shoppers during Christmas and commuters going to and coming home from work? Why didn't they comprehend the murderous slaughters of Kurds in Iraq, or white farmers in Zimbabwe? These people used acts of terrorism against groups of people they didn't want around. But no one ever "talks" about those atrocities or acts of terrorism.
We all define terrorism they way we believe. The way our own governments and religious leaders want us to see it. One mans act of rebellion is another mans act of terrorism. A war to one government is seen as a terrorist attack by the country being attacked.Some day perhaps we will be able to have a specific definition of terrorist or terrorism. But we need to focus on why people will go to such lengths to commit such horrible atrocities against innocent people.
One writer, Simon Jenkins of Times Online UK put it in a way that I strongly agree, "A wise general keeps sight of his enemy's objective. The terrorist's objective is not to kill but, by doing so, to publicise a cause and incite a violent and repressive response. Blair said on Thursday that "the purpose of the terrorist is to terrorise". True. But why then the stomach-churning media hyperbole that surrounds these incidents? It is one thing to report, another to wallow in grief pornography as if the bomb itself were a celebrity. Such massive publicity feeds terror's first objective and incites its second" (Jenkins, 2005).
Think about it....
Hehe, like ive said before, i always get a kick out of you being so eager to start school - especially as i know in a few weeks you will be begging for a break and end of term, then during break you will begging for school to start again :P
Best of luck honeybuns, i know you will do as well as you always do.
Posted by
Wolfsglen |
2:19 PM
hehe you are right for the most part, I get bored I guess, or maybe stress, I dunno. But this term seems so exciting already that I can't wait for the next week to start to start a new debate.
Especially in my terrorism today class where we are in two teams debating against other.
Thank you for your confidence in me hehe ... I need it *Huggles*
Posted by
Rena~ |
12:02 PM
Pfft Darlin' all YOU need is confidence in yourself, and you should have plenty of that by now with the way you are destroying schoolwork with great scores ;)
Posted by
Wolfsglen |
1:53 PM
Ive had a couple great teachers in the past six years and none were in school until recently. *winks*
Posted by
Rena~ |
7:40 PM
That or you really know how to cyber those online Professors for good grades! ;)
Posted by
Wolfsglen |
3:15 PM
OH yes yes yes! hehehe Shoot if I could do that then I would have a perfect 4.0 GPA instead of just a 3.67 *SMILES*
*reminds self to work harder*
Posted by
Rena~ |
12:48 AM