New standards of global terrorism seem to spread like a cancer of global society - but this parallel is based on model of society of pressure and revenge instead of understanding and tolerance. It’s power has grown as well as the power of modern military milieu, and it’s position in it is not marginal – in many ways the power they use is more than ever far reaching, not only technologically. The “War against Terrorism” proclaimed few years ago speak to that. Terrorists of 21st century know very precisely what they are doing, they make their long term strategies and plans which they are bound to execute are backed up by obviously large funding and advanced military technology. They are no longer acting as avengers, partisans and “fighters for justice and deliberation” of any kind, they are no longer representing a group of victims of oppression, discrimination and misjudgement, since the whole world has declared against it, too. No, they don’t represent anyone nor anything being only what they are – a global threat.
Being funded from private sources, modern terrorists are not poor any more, that’s one of keys of their power, and it’s a very sad fact that there are many countries (of so called third world) today that can not even slightly compare to funds and equipment of organized terrorist group. New concept of terrorism is much more committed to destruction of other people's lives and their psychological (but also material) safety and structure, than to revenge any victims that it’s obvious that special and advanced military forces are needed to fight against them. Besides, no one can be sure today that any military army is seriously preparing and training its special forces the way that terrorists prepare their actions. We can measure their power by the overall scope of their action. Knowing that they have to start from infiltrating in people’s brains first, doing research, spreading the word and gathering funds, then penetrating in vital structures of social protection and defence – through military and administrative work espionage – and finally getting into the “muscles”, brainwashed, impassioned, de-humanized individuals and their corrupted helpers in the role of executors of mass slaughter and any act of destruction.
Just recently we’ve learned that there is a special medical discipline dealing with so called "non-infectious epidemics" referring to high cholesterol, serious heart condition, cancer, diabetes, obesity as the most frequent non infectious sicknesses of our times. In that context we may explore what are psychological and mental disorders that could be listed as prevailing in our time, where, I believe, we might discover some new ones like "being prone to terrorism" meaning showing in daily behaviour the signs of "overall enhanced aggressiveness" or "destructiveness". No matter how they would be called there’s no doubt that these forms of misbehaviour should be added to the black-list and treated preventively and clinically as mental disorders before they get the dimensions of "non-infectious epidemic" which can happen very soon, or maybe even has already happened?
We should not underestimate the imitative behaviour of us humans, in last decades of the 20th century were overflowed by the worst examples of aggressiveness and destructive behaviour shown from movies, books, and media and especially through content targeted to youth becoming part of their subculture through widely spread computer games. Like malnutrition and exposing a sound organism to radiation and toxic chemicals can slowly influence our bodies and cause dramatic damages, these "messages of aggressive behaviour" targeting our social responsiveness but also our imitation oriented brains can intoxicate our sense of humanity, our ethic, our soul and mind much faster.
The whole world may come to the streets to protest to any individual destruction - that doesn't mean these awful and useless bloodsheds would not happen any more. There would be at least a few, committed, funded and organized, bloodthirsty aggressive and in one word - SICK - persons as a group that can kill thousands using any (or many) items of modern technology of destruction. The protests of decent citizens would only put actual government(s) under pressure to create more appropriate protection for them as individuals and as a society. In reverse, the average level of aggressiveness of normal people would be raised, little by little, by each terrorist action they witness, and where their friends might be involved as victims. The more pressure they get - the more they become furious, even bloodthirsty themselves.
The situation of war or civil war is depicting that stage of total prevail of terror, killings and destruction on all sides - and we know how many people are actually living in that environment of war, military pressure, everyday killings and destructions are reported. Opening a "new stage" in new territory which remained untouched until then is just proving and repeating the model from previously used "old stage" that people easily forget or even get used to, like we got used to situation in Kosovo where everyday people were killed, houses burned and monuments of culture destroyed - and hundreds of examples like this in Africa, Asia, South America, where suddenly a country, part of it or a whole society wake up in the "state of war".
The point is more in reverse psychology - terrorism and people behind it (from their founders, their funding bodies, their strategic operation, espionage to operative "units" of desperate "soldiers of fortune") they are all focused not only on actions, which are thoroughly prepared, but also on effects of their actions.
Stealing our peace, they are making us (us – normal living people, societies, groups, governments, countries or parts of countries) more aware that "what's happening to the others today could happen to us tomorrow", that is - frightened by modern life itself and worried for future, they are making us feeling aggressive and wanting revenge, they are making us become more and more like them when we start thinking that "people must be evil when they can do things like this" or even much worse - "people are worthless, they deserve to die if they can not organize to protect and defend themselves" or the worst " this is the most effective thing one can do with the small risk in this world without consequences - destroy unselectively like a stroke of thunder" These thinking is changing ordinary persons' minds into minds of potential terrorists.
Potentially, people treated by aggression too much and extending that treatment on them too far can forget about everything human relatively quickly. It takes less time than getting cancer, diabetes or form of serious heart disease, obesity etc. There is a saying "blood has blinded them". The truth is that their brains have not only been brainwashed but transformed into chemical factories of hormones of evil and destruction, so to speak. With no further question nor any sound human and moral judgment, they may join any group for this or that reason (either regarded as holy or bestially trivial) or just go with the flow and join their "bad company" in the moment of despair of pure boredom. The same way like people are drawn into the sect, even not noticing their deviation until it become their true determination in life, someone has carefully (or randomly) selected them and prepared them to do that.
When we say life is short we think of beauty of the flower and joy of spring. When a terrorist thinks life is short - he thinks of the life of others and its own life as a fuse which burn to end in explosion - that's why they will orient their life in building more and more destructive behaviour, like normal people will build their lives gathering around beauty, love and harmony.
Is harmony achievable in society wounded by terrorism? Of course! We are here, where we used to be for centuries, we are just being more inspired to fight evil being more aware of it. And no evil can destroy the harmony of the Universe, being only a small, invisible part of its eternal flow. What a single person can do is to feel compassion, help others in trouble and love life, feeling its beauties and challenges and fulfilling the role of creating something valuable and not harmful to others, no matter how small it may be.
The secret that terrorists do not realize, and that is to be revealed as the ultimate “weapon” against their sick model of behaviour is their awareness that creation and not destruction is a natural way which can really free them, and that it’s easier than destruction. It’s not true that to destroy is easier than to create! The creation is easier because it’s our natural way of living. The tiniest creation is so much more releasing and powerful than the most catastrophic destruction. Each creation is unique, arising always new associations and all destructions are the same, leaving nothing but bad feelings behind. That's the simple healing secret - the smallest pill of awareness that turns back any "infected destructive terrorist" into normal and healthy person again - the person capable of loving and sharing joy of creation! But, this can be and has to be learned, too.
What we can do now is to fight by our own creation – our deeds, works, thoughts, and words not forgetting communication, meditation and prayer - learning compassion and exercising to transform both the consequences and the very causes of the acts of destruction, pain and suffering into creation, love and joy by the power of human inter-creation coming from our hearts.
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Text is dedicated to victims of Madrid terrorist attack, to their families, friends, neighbours, to the people of Spain and the world.
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