http://www.studentdoctor.net/bookstore/shop.php?k=Essentials+of+Terror+Medicine&c=blended

“WM doesn’t understand that terrorism is deplorable not because of how many deaths occur, but the nature of the act itself.”

I completely agree that terrorism is deplorable. However, is getting drunk and killing someone with a car much better than misconstruing religious teachings and killing someone? Perhaps so…

“Car accidents will always happen, as long as people drive cars.”

I disagree on both points. If you make everyone drive 1 mph and insist on a 30-ft distance between each car, no accidents would occur. It’s just a matter of what *liberties* we’re willing to sacrifice for our convenience. The same is true of terrorism.

“Terrorism, however, is entirely preventable.”

In what world? The only one I can think of is a 1984 style world where the government has access to our homes and everywhere else at all times so that there’s no place for terrorism plans to be laid. Awesome world to live in.

“Think about it in terms of medicine…”

This example doesn’t make any sense to me, except from the standpoint that our axioms are completely different, and thus we’ll just argue straight past each other. I’m saying terrorism is not preventable and a minor threat. You’re saying terrorism is preventable and a major threat. Thus, the example works for you and doesn’t for me. Anyway.

“Terrorism is a real threat, and catastrophes even greater than 9/11 could occur without vigilance.”

Well, I’m glad we agree on something. I agree with both these thoughts. However, I think we just disagree on how major a threat and what should be sacrificed in order to hopefully prevent another attack.

“Let’s see what your views are when a loved one is on a plane that terrorists crashed into a WTC tower. Scare tactic anymore?”

Yes! Don’t you see how your first sentence is a total scare tactic? You’re vaguely threatening my family with death! “Watch out! You could die next!” That’s what this message is saying. Let the librarians turn in your check-out list to the government; let the NSA listen to your phone conversations, otherwise you or your family could die at the hands of crazy, Islamic jihadists who want to drink your blood!

This is also completely beside the point that you don’t have to experience something to have a reasonable, worthwhile opinion on it. I don’t ignore anyone who has thoughts on homelessness unless they themselves have been homeless. I don’t ignore a doctor’s advice on my asthma just because she doesn’t have the condition. To say I need to have had a loved one die in a terrorist attack to have a valid opinion is bunk.

“You just can’t empathize with others.”

Ad hominem attack. Good last resort. I can empathize just fine thank you.

“Try telling me, and thousands of others, that terrorism is just a scare tactic and nothing worthy of addressing.”

I’m totally not saying that. Terrorism is totally worth addressing, and even spending millions of dollars on. If a terrorist group gets a hold of a nuke, it could be f-ing catastrophic. I just wish we could discuss the pros and cons of warrantless wiretapping, etc. *before* it happened, instead of telling anyone who protests that they’re unpatriotic/stupid/love the terrorists. That’s all I’m asking. If the Administration had run a nation-wide poll asking, “Can we start a warrantless surveillance program on your family to protect everyone from terrorism?” and it passed, I’d be pretty upset, but have no claim to injustice. As it is, I think we’re in a very dark time right now because any questions like this are labeled as bad and dangerous to our safety.

Fallacy alert.

A terrorist ACT may perhaps be preventable (though even this is questionable), but terrorism?

You can take the rosy view that we will all always agree, that we’ll never get angry with eachother, we’ll never feel hostility towards one another, etc but as we’re human beings and while those things are nice, they are also inhuman. Human history tells us that we will always find ways to hate/kill eachother, so your claim that terrorism is preventable is not plausible.
Terrorism will always exist as long as people are born un-identical in thought, feeling, and physical sense.

Further, if my loved one died on a plane, not much I could do about it… me being aware that botulism is a potential terrorist weapon does not help them on that plane, does it?

What healthcare personnel need to study in some depth is epidemiology- let the FBI figure out whose poisoning who. Let the doctors figure out how to stop the poison in the victims and prevent its sperad to others.

This seems a bit extreme to me. How many medical personnel have actually responded to a medical terrorist attack? Other than the 2001 anthrax attacks, how many of these possible agents have ever been used in the US? To me, terrorism is such a scare tactic. Compare how many people die annually in car wrecks vs. terrorism in the US.