A series of quotes from something I just watched:
History has shown us that strength may be useless in the face of terrorism…
These aren’t people we’re dealing with here. They’re animals. Fanatics, who kill without remorse or conscience…who think nothing of murdering innocent people.
I guess the event that really opened my eyes took place only a few days after my arrival. A terrorist bomb destroyed a shuttlebus…sixty school children. There were no survivors. [They] claimed it was a mistake. That their intended target was a police transport. As if that made everything all right. That day I vowed to put an end to terrorism…. And I will.
Don’t you know? A dead martyr’s worth ten posturing leaders.
That shuttlebus I told you about…the bomb was set by a teenager. And in a world where children blow up children…everyone’s a threat.
“…the difference between a general and terrorist is only the difference between winners and losers. You win, you’re called a general. You lose….”
“You are killing innocent people! Can’t you see the immorality of what you’re doing? Or have you killed so often, you’ve become blind to it?”
“How much innocent blood has been spilled for the cause of freedom in [your] history…? How many good and noble societies have bombed civilians in war? Wiped out whole cities. And now that you enjoy the comfort that has come from their battles, their killing, you frown on my immorality? …I am willing to die for my freedom. And, in the finest tradition of your own [history], I’m willing to kill for it too.”“…it appears that terrorism is an effective way to promote political change.”
“I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows from the barrel of a gun….”
“In most instances, you would be correct. But there are numerous examples where it was successful…. Then, would it be accurate to say that terrorism is acceptable when the options for peaceful settlement have been foreclosed?”
“…we cannot condone violence.”
“Even in response to violence?”
“These are questions that [we have] been struggling with since creation.”“They’re mad.”
“I don’t know any more. The difference between a madman and a committed man willing to die for a cause…it’s begun to blur….”…there’s a hint of moral cowardice in your dealings…. You do business with a government that’s crushing us. And then you say you aren’t involved. But of course you are. You just don’t want to get dirty.
“You didn’t have to kill him.”
“As a prisoner he would have been a focus for violence as his followers tried to free him. Now, he’s a martyr, but the death toll may be lower — at least in the short term. An imperfect solution for an imperfect world.”
All of these quotes are from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The High Ground“, in which the kidnapping of Dr. Crusher by a terrorist group provides for a lot of debate on the tactics and reasoning behind terrorist acts, and the responses and responsibilities of those who interact with them — be they allies, enemies, or third parties.
Lots of questions, and few answers, but it provided for a lot of brain food for someone living in today’s world. With the one year anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks just a couple short months away, news report after news report of further suicide bombings in the middle east, and the continuing “War on Terrorism”, this episode may be more topical now than when it was first broadcast in 1990.
Answers? I sure don’t have them. But it all sure bears thinking about.