Suicidebombing in Germany

[Elheru Aran]

I don't think anybody is saying we're at an 'utopia point'. Presumably said utopia would include world peace, international brotherhood, post-scarcity, and free chicken and waffles for everybody. Obviously, that's not the situation now.

[Thanas]

Why are you all going on a huge tangent and gloriously misunderstanding statistics for half the thread?

Stay on topic

[Broomstick]

Is the world "much better than at any point in history"? Why the hell should this "utopia point" be now? We're living in a sick, miserable world where fates of powerless billions are decided by a tiny sick psychopatic elite of botox-filled politicians and oligarchs who simply live in a different reality. Which is an improvement over a world war hell or the purgatory of the Middle Ages, but it seems like it's getting more sick, not less sick, compared to some 30 years ago.

Arguably you are correct in that the "utopia point", if that's what you want to call it, was actually a decade or two ago and we're now on a downturn.

Yes, it's true there is overall less disease, less starvation, and less war in the world than at most points in history but that doesn't mean we're disease, starvation, and war free. We're not. And the recent terror attacks and pockets of anarchy show that while the average might be decent it is punctuated without warning by some really horrific things like night club massacres, people being run over by trucks, and a virus that causes microcephaly. Just to name a few things.

[Thanas]

Is the world "much better than at any point in history"? Why the hell should this "utopia point" be now? We're living in a sick, miserable world where fates of powerless billions are decided by a tiny sick psychopatic elite of botox-filled politicians and oligarchs who simply live in a different reality. Which is an improvement over a world war hell or the purgatory of the Middle Ages, but it seems like it's getting more sick, not less sick, compared to some 30 years ago.

Arguably you are correct in that the "utopia point", if that's what you want to call it, was actually a decade or two ago and we're now on a downturn.

Yes, it's true there is overall less disease, less starvation, and less war in the world than at most points in history but that doesn't mean we're disease, starvation, and war free. We're not. And the recent terror attacks and pockets of anarchy show that while the average might be decent it is punctuated without warning by some really horrific things like night club massacres, people being run over by trucks, and a virus that causes microcephaly. Just to name a few things.

Mod posts warning about staying on topic of a suicide bombing in Germany. Of course Broomstick disregards said warning because she is too dumb to read what was the last post in the thread before she posts. And that is the charitable interpretation.

It was in HUGE GREEN LETTERS you simpleton. How the fuck did you miss that?

[K. A. Pital]

My apologies for veering off the track.

However, I do feel that with this series of attacks in Germany, and the string attacks in France, a general discussion of the security situation in W. Europe (or perhaps just Germany) is well justified. But it should certainly be done in a separate thread - the suicide bombing itself offers little to no room for this discussion.

[Broomstick]

It was in HUGE GREEN LETTERS you simpleton. How the fuck did you miss that?

My sincere apologies. The only explanation I can offer is that it was on the page after the post I was quoting so I truly had not seen it until AFTER I hit "post". I do not always read every single last post in a thread prior to replying to one. I will say no more about the topic in this thread.

[FTeik]

It is not as if we hadn't had terrorism and increased security-efforts in Europe before: IRA, ETA, RAF, Red Brigades ...

I wish our politicians and media would concentrate as much on our Nazis as they are doing on immigrants and islmic nutcases.

[Dartzap]

Reports of an explosion near a migration centre in Nuremberg appearing. Dunno if it's worth a new thread, or just have a European terrorism megathread at this point.

[K. A. Pital]

It is not as if we hadn't had terrorism and increased security-efforts in Europe before: IRA, ETA, RAF, Red Brigades ...

I wish our politicians and media would concentrate as much on our Nazis as they are doing on immigrants and islmic nutcases.

Suicide bombings, however, have not been a major feature of IRA or ETA activity. I am also wondering if the terror attacks are becoming more random, less targeted.

And yes, might be worth it to make a "European terrorism upsurge 2015-2016" thread or something like that.

[FTeik]

It is not as if we hadn't had terrorism and increased security-efforts in Europe before: IRA, ETA, RAF, Red Brigades ...

I wish our politicians and media would concentrate as much on our Nazis as they are doing on immigrants and islmic nutcases.

Suicide bombings, however, have not been a major feature of IRA or ETA activity. I am also wondering if the terror attacks are becoming more random, less targeted.

Look at it this way: If I die in a terrorist-bombing, I might get at least the small consolation, that the asshole killing me also blew himself up.

And of course the attacks are becoming "more randon, less targeted" - the majority of the guys commiting them have mental problems and radicalize themselves via the Internet. They are looking for a way to leave this world and their shitty life behind and want to go with a bang. Their targets are rarely carefully selected and more targets of opportunity (as long as they are in the mood and have the courage to pull their despisable deeds through).

[Elheru Aran]

It is not as if we hadn't had terrorism and increased security-efforts in Europe before: IRA, ETA, RAF, Red Brigades ...

I wish our politicians and media would concentrate as much on our Nazis as they are doing on immigrants and islmic nutcases.

Suicide bombings, however, have not been a major feature of IRA or ETA activity. I am also wondering if the terror attacks are becoming more random, less targeted.

Look at it this way: If I die in a terrorist-bombing, I might get at least the small consolation, that the asshole killing me also blew himself up.

And of course the attacks are becoming "more randon, less targeted" - the majority of the guys commiting them have mental problems and radicalize themselves via the Internet. They are looking for a way to leave this world and their shitty life behind and want to go with a bang. Their targets are rarely carefully selected and more targets of opportunity (as long as they are in the mood and have the courage to pull their despisable deeds through).

It also contributes that there are fewer *active* organized terrorist groups now than there were in the 60s-80s. Certainly some of those guys are still around, but they're mostly political groups now from what I understand-- in a sense they've become *legitimized*.

But now the only active terrorist organizations we have laying around (active in that they're actually conducting attacks) are al Qaeda, who have largely been marginalized by ISIS, which is in the strange position of a terrorist organization trying to become a nation-state. And I mean, I'm sure there are other groups out there, but those are the main two I can think of at the moment... so yeah. Radical left wing stuff like the Red Brigade, radical right wing stuff like ETA and the IRA, have largely died down.

[FTeik]

Suicide bombings, however, have not been a major feature of IRA or ETA activity. I am also wondering if the terror attacks are becoming more random, less targeted.

Look at it this way: If I die in a terrorist-bombing, I might get at least the small consolation, that the asshole killing me also blew himself up.

And of course the attacks are becoming "more randon, less targeted" - the majority of the guys commiting them have mental problems and radicalize themselves via the Internet. They are looking for a way to leave this world and their shitty life behind and want to go with a bang. Their targets are rarely carefully selected and more targets of opportunity (as long as they are in the mood and have the courage to pull their despisable deeds through).

It also contributes that there are fewer *active* organized terrorist groups now than there were in the 60s-80s. Certainly some of those guys are still around, but they're mostly political groups now from what I understand-- in a sense they've become *legitimized*.

But now the only active terrorist organizations we have laying around (active in that they're actually conducting attacks) are al Qaeda, who have largely been marginalized by ISIS, which is in the strange position of a terrorist organization trying to become a nation-state. And I mean, I'm sure there are other groups out there, but those are the main two I can think of at the moment... so yeah. Radical left wing stuff like the Red Brigade, radical right wing stuff like ETA and the IRA, have largely died down.

That might be true, but would the feeling of being threatened to die by bomb have been really that different then, to what it is now? Independent of the motives behind the actions of the terrorists?

On the other side, considering, that the Western World had to endure/deal with the attacks of those terrorist-groups and the world is still standing there should be no reason to panic or engage in hysterical activism. The only way the current crop of terrorists will win will be, if we allow them to fuck up our way of life (and yes, I'm aware, that there are a lot of things to critize and improve about that).

[K. A. Pital]

I have little to fear from targeted terror attacks - I am insignificant and not involved with or against IRA or other groups like them. But being randomly blown up or hacked to death by islamists is way more probable, if still not very likely. Of course, way less probable than just dying in a car crash.

[cosmicalstorm]

There is a tribal logic at work that ignores risk of death type statistical analysis. It's being amplified by modern communication technology.

The attackers and those who motivate them know they have the chance to drive a wedge between different populations by creating a spiral of violence. Soon someone will walk into a mosque in Berlin or Paris and start shooting livestreaming it on periscope.

Some jihadi guys in Norway were planning to walk into a daycare center with a knife when security got them the other year.

[Thanas]

Simon's idiocy split to HoS.

Anybody else not staying on topic gets more serious consequences.