RSS FeedHow to deal with Terror
I’ve been to the German Bakery with old friends many times over the course of my time in Pune. I haven’t been there recently but I drive past it virtually every day. Yesterday terrorists planted a bomb there and it killed (at last count) 8 people, and injured several more. So, this is terrorism close to home. Reactions from the social networks (which always have the drama dialed up a couple of notches) are along the lines of “I can’t believe this would happen in my city” or “The cops failed miserably”.
Really? This is the reality of living in the world today. While you’re not so likely to be killed by, oh I don’t know, the Bubonic Plague, you could be attacked by a terrorist. If you expect the police to catch every terror plot that some sick mind dreams up, you would live in a police state. You would lose the freedoms you hold dear and the same people clamoring for the police to do more would be the ones screaming that they have too much power. The balance between security and freedom is precarious and swings both ways. I think we (India) do a pretty good job of balancing those two ideals. The cops were there quickly and seem to be far better prepared than we give them credit for. The government has moved swiftly and clearly the lessons of the Taj have not been forgotten. I call that progress.
Any place in the world worth living in is a place worth targeting. The reason these places are worth living in is because they value an individual’s freedoms. Removing those freedoms makes the people sad and hands victory to the terrorists.
The other prevalent sentiment in everything I have read on the TwitBook (or Faceter, if you prefer) is one of helplessness. “Is there anything we can do besides post empty words on social networks?”. Yeah, you could go out and celebrate Valentine’s Day. If you genuinely want to help defeat terror and terrorism the answer is simple. Don’t get terrorized. For a terrorist to succeed, he must deliver terror. If you don’t get scared he is impotent. By being afraid we are all willing contributors to terrorism.
The likelihood of dying (especially in Pune) from a road accident is several orders of magnitude higher than getting blown up by a bomb. One could even argue that a few bus drivers have malicious intent. Yet we don’t call them terrorists, because we don’t get terrorized. The unfortunate truth is that if you’re unlucky enough to be there when this sort of thing happens, you will die. Is your need for safety greater than your need to enjoy your life?
A life you don’t live is still lost.
Tags: 13/2, india, police, pune, terror