Cut off the head, another grows
Right. Few of you can have missed that the USA are crowing mightily about having finally, after nearly ten years and however many millions/billions of dollars spent, bumped off The BogyemanOsama Bin Laden. I have one or two thoughts about this (and related things) - they may not be fully coherent, or indeed even consistent, but here's my tuppence worth.
Will his death change anything? I *highly* doubt it. I think his "influence" as a protagonist in "the war on terror" has been grossly overstated by the US & UK gubmints, in need of scapegoats/someone to blame it on/Bogeymen. (Notwithstanding - exactly how does someone wage war on an idea, a concept, with conventional military forces?)
Was the celebration of his demise justified? I found it all rather distasteful. Celebrating the death of another human (regardless of how much of a bastard they are) is quite sad, I think, and reflects just how pathetic society is these days. I'm not sad that he's dead, but I am sad that people felt that dancing in the streets was appropriate.
We then have David Camer-hoon telling us that because OBL's been bumped off, there's a greater chance that the UK will be attacked in some way shape or form. Excellent. Another nebulous claim that we're all walking around with targets painted on our backs, and another chance to ratchet up the rhetoric of fear, and persuade the sheeple that we should concede yet more of our rights & freedoms to the state, and allow them to give us privileges in return, and they'll look after us all. My fucking arse they will - they'll look after themselves and to hell with the rest of us.
On the subject of "the terrorist threat" though - I have posted something on this before, and you know what? I think the terrorists are winning. I don't see how anyone can think otherwise. The gubmint will crow that the "anti-terror" measures have meant that [insert made-up-number] of lives have been saved and blah blah blah. However. People now jump at the slightest of things. People get worried when they see people with brown skin looking at their watches. People get arrested for making sarcastic remarks on their twitter account (if I had one of those, I'd be doomed. My default setting is sarcasm!). You now have, in certain locations, either to have naked photographs taken of you, or be groped by a stranger. You can't take liquids through airport security, despite the fact that you can buy the exact same ones on the other side. You are watched by CCTV far more than you realise. You can't take photographs of anything without running the risk of being stopped by the police. Everything is logged, recorded, indexed, databased, cross-referenced, anything odd is to be suspected, anyone who doesn't act like a sheep is to be feared. I am sick of this, heartily sick.
I recommend that you all read this essay. The author writes about this far more eloquently than I could do just now.
Will his death change anything? I *highly* doubt it. I think his "influence" as a protagonist in "the war on terror" has been grossly overstated by the US & UK gubmints, in need of scapegoats/someone to blame it on/Bogeymen. (Notwithstanding - exactly how does someone wage war on an idea, a concept, with conventional military forces?)
Was the celebration of his demise justified? I found it all rather distasteful. Celebrating the death of another human (regardless of how much of a bastard they are) is quite sad, I think, and reflects just how pathetic society is these days. I'm not sad that he's dead, but I am sad that people felt that dancing in the streets was appropriate.
We then have David Camer-hoon telling us that because OBL's been bumped off, there's a greater chance that the UK will be attacked in some way shape or form. Excellent. Another nebulous claim that we're all walking around with targets painted on our backs, and another chance to ratchet up the rhetoric of fear, and persuade the sheeple that we should concede yet more of our rights & freedoms to the state, and allow them to give us privileges in return, and they'll look after us all. My fucking arse they will - they'll look after themselves and to hell with the rest of us.
On the subject of "the terrorist threat" though - I have posted something on this before, and you know what? I think the terrorists are winning. I don't see how anyone can think otherwise. The gubmint will crow that the "anti-terror" measures have meant that [insert made-up-number] of lives have been saved and blah blah blah. However. People now jump at the slightest of things. People get worried when they see people with brown skin looking at their watches. People get arrested for making sarcastic remarks on their twitter account (if I had one of those, I'd be doomed. My default setting is sarcasm!). You now have, in certain locations, either to have naked photographs taken of you, or be groped by a stranger. You can't take liquids through airport security, despite the fact that you can buy the exact same ones on the other side. You are watched by CCTV far more than you realise. You can't take photographs of anything without running the risk of being stopped by the police. Everything is logged, recorded, indexed, databased, cross-referenced, anything odd is to be suspected, anyone who doesn't act like a sheep is to be feared. I am sick of this, heartily sick.
I recommend that you all read this essay. The author writes about this far more eloquently than I could do just now.