Saturday, November 21, 2009

What drives Terrorists?


This post was featured on BlogBharti.com
Today I saw the film New York (I know I'm a little late but I only go to watch films in the cinema if I'm really interested in watching it.)
I didn't have very high expectations for the film but surprisingly, I liked it! I guess it was mainly because of the alternative view of terrorism in the film. Too many of us (including me) just tend to condemn the perpetrators of terrorism. But do we think about what drives them to take such drastic steps? That sometimes circumstances, & people drive them to do it?
I've often wondered, how can terrorist kill so many people? So many innocent people?
But, so many people, mostly Muslims are illegally detained by the US government & the FBI, usually on very little or completely false charges, & are tortured. (Stripped naked, chained in standing position for days together, confined in tiny spaces, peed on etc.) More than 95% of them are innocent. Then what justifies the heinous torture that they're put through? Keep in mind that the torture here is not carried out by militants or terrorists but by police men & FBI agent. What justifies that?
The answer is simple- Enemies are faceless. To the terrorists, any member of a western country like USA, UK etc. is the enemy. And to the law enforcement agencies, any Muslim man is a terrorist. Terrorism seems like this terrible vicious cycle that's showing no signs of stopping any time soon. Rather, it's just gaining momentum.
Any time a member of the Taliban abducts & kills anybody from the western countries like a journalist, photographer, whomever, it always makes international news. What about all the people who are illegally detained & tortured, their only crime being their Muslim name/surname & sometimes their nationality? I think it's everyone's duty to see both side of the coin.
And it's time that law enforcement agencies change their methods, somehow. Because now, in the name of protecting people, they're creating terrorists. (And it's not the first time, either. Read this article to find out how the US created Osama bin Laden.)





By Magali at 9:52 PM
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8 views/opinions shared:

  1. USA has been trying to control everybody all over the world.Now that they are at the receiving end they just do not know what to do.So the only option is trying to make every persons life miserable if they doubt they have any terrorist links.And many a time innocent people are troubled because of this.So may God give strength to all these innocent people to bear injustice that is meted out to them .
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  2. Circumstances make people do it? How ridiculous an excuse is that? Don't they have a mind of their own? Yes, they do and yet they let themselves be overpowered by the "real" culprits to put vicious things in their minds. I know I am sounding a little unrealistic, but it is the truth that even after God has bestowed everyone with a mind we really do not use it where we should. And this goes to the law enforcement officials who perpetrate such heinous crimes on innocent people as well. How ridiculous an excuse is that the person is a Muslim and must be a terrorist? Oh, good Lord. Please. This is intolerable.

    Finally, I would like to differ just a little bit on the last statement made by your mom. May God give strength to all those innocent souls to stand up to the injustice.
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  3. Probably before yesterday, I too would have had a very similar reaction. But after seeing the film New York, my viewpoint has changed. I mean, I know it's a big budget film & is just a work of fiction.
    You really must see the film. A man, totally innocent is caught just because he is a muslim & another silly reason (he happened to have clicked pictures of the WTC & booked a plane ticket.) He is not given a chance to get a lawyer, or meet anybody on the outside. He is put through unmentionable torture that not any creature, forget human beings, should be put through. There he meets a real terrorist who gives him a chance to 'fight for his dignity' & those 8 horrible months of torture are what drive him to become a terrorist. Few come out of such places alive, & if they do, they are NEVER the same people that went in.
    Yes I totally agree with you about the law enforcement agents.
    They are never given a chance to fight for their rights. They are treated so badly when i jail, that they suffer from stress, depression etc. They are mostly unable to hold a job after that or even have a family. Psychotherapy doesn't help much either.
    I am aware that this is a controversial subject. Till yesterday I was against any Muslim extremist. But now I see it from their side too. For them, it seems like the only way to get justice, however warped that sounds.
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  4. I see what you mean. But I still do not agree to the point that any such tragedy should provoke anyone to kill innocent people. But the mind does not work in such a dignified, logical and simple way, does it? It is quite complex. Perhaps that is the beauty of life on earth.
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  6. If u ask with any terrorists why they had chosen the way of fighting to fulfill their needs i think 95% of the terrorists will say that the due to painful activities of other humans on them they became the terrorists, that's why they had chosen this way of living not to gain anything just to give what others had given them but a little more,

    "Terrorist is nothing just the peoples who have been discarded from communities & those who didn't find their way of living but have courage to live."

    If we want to stop terrorists we want a change of little in our thoughts.

    Great post magali,
    when i watched this movie I was also came up with this thought but that time i am not a blogger.
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  7. Do you think this is limited only to US. Haven't you read news about how Kashmiri youngsters are detained in their very own country, India just because they are from Kashmir? Don't we have same kind of law in India, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act?
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  8. Do you think this is limited only to US. Haven't you read news about how Kashmiri youngsters are detained in their very own country, India just because they are from Kashmir? Don't we have same kind of law in India, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act?
    ReplyDelete

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