I agree with Doug that the police cannot stop all acts of terrorism, and that understanding the motives is important for prevention. However, I also believe that the motives of the actions in question are rooted not in ideology and politics, but rather in the dysfunctional male psyche - its reliance on subjugation/domination collective arrangements (sports teams, the military, corporate hierarchies, and of course street gangs) and wanton aggression to define itself. As such I do not think it can be prevented, or at least not by civilized means. The best we can hope for is to identify the affected individuals and confine them to social circumstances where their aggression can find alternative, less destructive, expressions.
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I'm sorry, what was that?
So, to aid prevention efforts we should try to understand motives but, since we already know the motives spring from male pathologies alone (with zero political weight...which begs the question, since we know what are we trying to understand?), the only method of "civilized" prevention possible is isolation of "affected individuals."
Let's imagine how this exciting idea might fire up in real life.
Perhaps there could be a federal Department of Pre-emptive Incarceration (modeled after the fictional Wash DC "Precrime Division" featured in Speilberg's "Minority Report").
It's mission would be to identify men with an excess of "subjugation/domination" fixations -- an early warning sign would be too great a love of team sports -- and an attraction to terrorist ideas. These unfortunates would be forcibly relocated to walled communities where they could enjoy "less destructive" pursuits (perhaps painting and gardening).
Wojtek, this is the second science fiction movie script treatment you've inadvertently written since I've been spending time here (the first was that bit about computer users being like apes -- mindlessly manipulating screen icons like Koko demanding, via symbolic interfaces, a banana or time with her favorite kitten ).
I'm sure this seems like grimly serious analysis to you -- the hardest of hard boiled realism -- but it's so terribly over-the-top and so rich in killing-the-patient-to-cure-the-disease implications it swiftly crosses through the looking glass into tragi-comedic territory.
Then again, the world's full of exquisite perversities so you may get your Department of Pre-emptive Incarceration after all.
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Seriously now sir, do you write this sort of thing -- almost guaranteed to attract a strong negative response -- because you know it will upset the beliefs and assumptions of a good many list-members and you like upsetting these beliefs and assumptions?
.d.
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