I’ve been listening to NPR pretty much non-stop for the past four days. (Hurray for live streams!) and every so often someone says something that just drives the point home regarding the events in NYC. Even with the live coverage on TV and pictures on the web (Yahoo! has excellent slideshows…) I don’t think the enormity and the gravity of the situation in NYC has sunk in yet. The pictures don’t convey it. But thinking about 110 stories times 2… 450,000 tonnes of debris… one can just wonder. I found one picture which really showed the scale when you think of the size of the rescue workers with respect to the mountain of debris that needs to be scaled.

This picture forwarded to me by my cousin says it all…

On Tuesday, the media was back to doing it’s job. On Tuesday the media was reporting news. Breaking news. But as I continue to listen to the coverage on the TV with anchors such as Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw (I don’t have cable…), or the stories on NPR and the Web, I can’t but help wonder at what point will the popular media go back to being the media instead of reporting the news.

The incidents at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and aboard each one of the hijacked planes are no doubt the worst acts of terrorism that we have seen till date. More than any other terroristic activity in modern times. They are deplorable, reprehensible, pathetic and a whole lot more than I can describe with even the choicest words. To watch the people on TV who are looking for their friends and family with continued hope of survival is painful for everyone that I’ve spoken to. So needless to say, everyone has an appreciation of the gravity of the situation…

What’s frustrating to me is that there isn’t much one can do about it. There is enough blood… unfortunaely, because it simply seems to suggest that there aren’t that many people alive to be able to use that blood. Blood doesn’t do any good when you’re already dead. There has been enormous amount of financial support coming in as well, starting of course with the $40B approved by the US Congress… an unprecedened amount. And of course all the financial assitance coming from donations being collected across the US and in other countries. I was pleased to see how easy Amazon, PayPal and CNET and other had made it to donate online.

Bush in his addresses seeks retribution. I have nothing against that. If the US can deterministically link certain individuals to this crime, sure… go right ahead and take them out (I’ve written before about bearing responsibility for your own actions and also darwinism…. the scum of the earth also need to bear responsibility for their actions and to support darwinism be eliminated). However, note that that is qualified by deterministically and also with individuals. But this is not an easy problem. In fact this is a problem which may not have a “solution” at all – one where we are constantly striving for a particular state of the world, which cannot be achieved because the problem itself is akin to having cancer or aids. Extricating tumurous cells from the body, or attending to the symptoms of aids only provides temporary relief – often welcome temporary relief. However, neither approach eliminated the root cause of the problem. And like a pernicious weed, as long as there is a root, it rears its ugly head again.

By no means am I chastizing any of the approaches any of the people in the position to adopt those approaches may take. My point is simply one that has been recognized by several people already, but bears to be repeated… This is a hard problem. Terrorism is a hard problem. Of course that doesn’t mean that we don’t try and solve it… we have after all been successful in in other hard problems. And the creativity, intelligence and determination of the sane half of the human race cannot be underestimated.

I’m sure by now everyone on the planet who cares has heard about today’s flurry of terrorist attacks which converted planes carrying passengers into guided missiles. I’m also sure that you’ve read and heard more about this than you would ever want to. But still, I figured I’d rant a bit about it… not about the massive chaos and destruction and loss of lives, but more so about the people who can be so depraved to do things like this.

All of these attacks, including the ones recently in the middle east have been done by suicide bombers – people who are convinced beyond all odds that their belief in their cause is the only thing that matters; people who are so brainwashed that they are willing to fly a plane into a building knowing that there is no way they will come out of their plan alive.

Recently, I read two books, both of which thankfully fiction, which were based on the premise of mass-destruction of human life by terrorists. One book was based on the threat of bio-terrorism. The other was based on chemical terrorism. (Ironic that just in the past week or so, I not only wrote about terrorism, but also about the Taliban – and what we hear on the news today is a mix of both…) In both cases however, and also in most of the real-life terroristic activities we have witnessed to date, the weakest link in the terrorists’ plans was the fact that they still valued their own life and cared to get themselves out alive. That appreciation for their own life, gives us a a chance. But as we horrifically witnessed today, when a terrorist crosses that line where their own life becomes secondary to the cause and the belief that controls their mind, then things are different. Very different. Frighteningly different.

I’ve always maintained that the greatest position of power is when you have nothing to lose. Because when you have nothing to lose, then you also have nothing to fear. When you are confronted with a hopeless situation, you begin to take chances which you would not otherwise consider. I’ve used that principle before, but I’ve used it to get myself out of bad situations or to improve my situation. But combine that with the level of brainwashing that religious fundamentalists, extremist groups, political organizations and even some organizations and institutions which are part and parcel of the everyday lives of the masses of the world population (in my opinion — which you are not obligated to subscribe to by any means — religion and belief systems are the biggest culprits for some of the major problems that plague the modern world from the middle east, to kashmir, to boznia, to ireland, to indonesia, to burma or any other major crisis area of the world… they all find their roots in religion)

The weapon for todays depraved and reprehensible acts of terrorism in NY and Washington was not just the hijacked airplanes, but as much so the belief in the heads of the terrorists who planned and executed this attack.

On a side note, the news has been reporting that one of the hijacked planes crashed just south of Pittsburgh — I bet the terrorists who masterminded this attack are watching CNN and wondering: “Where is heck is Pittsburgh!??”

I’ve been listening to the radio and hearing more and more noise about the Taliban in Afghanistan… just the stories that one can find on the Taliban are enough to make one wonder…

• Photos document destruction of Afghan Buddhas – CNN, March 12, 2001
  

• Taleban move to make Afghan Hindus wear ID Badges – CNN, May 22, 2001
  

• Taliban Orders Foreign Women to Stop Driving in Afghanistan – News.com, May 31, 2001
  

• Taliban kisses goodbye to lipstick, movies – CNN, July 19, 2001
  

• Internet latest target for Taliban – CNN, August 26, 2001
  

• Afghanistan bars Web use – News.com, August 27, 2001
  

The articles mentioned above are just the tip of the ice-berg. CNN has an excellent special report on the Taliban, which is really worth looking at to get a sense of the insanity that still prevails in some parts of the world.

Their “Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” has got to be the most ridiculous form of beaurocracy that I have ever heard of. In fact it puts the word beaurocracy to shame. Because this is not just government meddling in people’s live, but it is a clear and outright suppression of basic human rights. Come on… banning the Net? How can anyone live without the Net!! …okay, bad joke, but seriously…

What is happening in Afghanistan is akin to what happened in Germany prior to the World War II. In fact, in some ways it seems even more extreme. but since Afghanistan is one of those countries whose economy has been decimated over the past 20 years of stupidity and insanity that has prevailed in that nation and therefor it has little to no impact on the global economy, you don’t hear much about it at all. There is all this talk about human rights abuse in China, but very little with regards to what is happening in Afghanistan. Because China has an impact on the global economy and Afghanistan doesn’t matter.

Unimaginable that in this day and age, things like this can still happen. But then again, if Adolf Hitler could convince so many people to follow his screwed up belief system, what’s preventing some Islamic fundamentalist in Afghanistan from doing the same?