The Joke That Is The War On Terror

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

- George W Bush, 5th August 2004, thanks to DubyaSpeak.

I can't believe people vote for this moron. At all. I can't believe he got one vote at all, let alone a few million. Although I did like his recent admission that the War On Terror is unwinnable (NBC Today, August 30). There will never be a victor.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't constant bombing of other countries, locking people up without trial, creating international hostility, and severely raping citizens rights away lead to an increase in terrorism instead of eradicating it?

Nobody seems to want to figure out WHAT CAUSES TERRORISM and solve the problem where it begins (I have a feeling foreign policies that involve killing people and crippling nations most likely has something to do with it), they'd just rather arrest people for making potential attacks.

In this post-September 11 world, terrorism seems to be everywhere in the media, yet the world looks pretty much the same as it always has, aside from stupid amounts of paranoia, leading to such incidents as this:

What really happened? My brother forgot to bring the fire extinguisher in from the shop where he works when it was closing time, where it was subsequently stolen, and the contents sprayed all over the place, including into a mailbox. Someone saw it, called whatever the fuck number is on those stupid fridge magnets, and Jack Bauer and friends from CTU rushed out to save the world from dried up fire extinguisher foam. The postie was scrubbed down (in the street, in the nude), quarantined, and held for something like 48 hours afterwards, all thanks to everyone assuming the worst. "Holy shit! A bag of flour just fell on the ground! Evacuate!"

I'm not saying completely ignore it when this happens, but seriously, how many million times have you read about instances similar to this in the past three years? Why do we always assume the worst these days?

Now... Was it September 11 that has put the constant fear of terrorism in our minds, or is it the media and politician's constant coverage and sensationalism of anything that has anything remotely to do with terrorism putting it there? The threat will always be there, just like it always has been. And I believe the only thing making the threat larger is people constantly trying to eradicate it by silencing opinions and dropping bombs.

The last ten billion times I've heard Howard refer to the threat of terrorism and that an attack on Australia (because apparently the rest of the world actually gives enough of a shit about us to hate us) is imminent (Bali was not an attack directed specifically at Australia), it has reminded me of a parent telling their kid to eat their vegetables otherwise the bogeyman will attack them in their sleep. It's a stupid, idle, empty threat designed to play on people's paranoia and lean them towards his pathetic excuse for a government.

Who believes this crap? I thought we were smart.