New York and New Yorkers have a reputation of being tough. Whether it stems from dealing with horrendous traffic jams or the constant crush of people everywhere I am not sure, but they do seem a rather resilient lot. This came out clearly today in the wake of yet another terrorist attack. I was staying […]
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I was a teenaged terrorist
When I was in first year of high (secondary) school – grade nine as we call it (why is it that I cannot get a BareNaked Ladies song out of my head?) – I did something really stupid. I was about to bus home from a Friday night dance when I decided that it would […]
Was Charles Manson a terrorist?
The word ‘terror’ is a very powerful one that tries to describe, insofar as language can, a very powerful emotion. Terror is ultimate fear, a heightened sense of threat to oneself that can freeze one’s ability to react and cloud one’s ability to use reason to get out of a highly dangerous situation. It is […]
And so the debate continues. Arguments range from the alarming view that those who fought with terrorist groups like Islamic State will return to wreak havoc and death on an epic scale to an Alfred E. Newmanesque ‘What me worry?’ response. As with pretty well everything in life reality is somewhere between those two extremes. […]
Are we in the West suffering from collective naivete? Are we ignoring an obvious threat to public safety? Are we failing to understand that there are citizens among us who can do real harm? I am referring of course to the phenomenon of ‘foreign fighters’, Westerners who left of their own free will to join […]
Anyone who has flown on an airline since 9/11 knows it is not fun. Those ads from the 1950s that show the glamour and luxury of international travel are dated curiosities of yesteryear. Whether it is the increased nickle and diming of ever more services – checked bags (leading to the competition for overhead bin […]
This blog appeared in The Hill Times on November 13, 2017 (http://www.hilltimes.com/2017/11/13/real-impact-terrorism-shattered-lives/125186) In the aftermath of a terrorist attack we all go through a typical laundry list of questions. Who is behind this act and did he act alone? Are there others out there? What will he be charged with? What can we do to […]
I am fairly certain that I have mentioned on more than one occasion that I really enjoy the humour of Monty Python. One of the sillier skits – not that it is easy to choose just one – was when John Cleese plays a drill sergeant trying to teach recruits how to defend themselves against […]
As a parent I know what it is like to worry about my kids. I still worry about them, even though they are all in their twenties and doing very well, since that is what being a parent is all about. After all, you want what is best for them, even when they do really […]
I suppose that in many ways none of this should be unexpected. Its obviousness does not make it right, however. There are lots of things that we do not question that are nevertheless the wrong way of looking at things. I am referring here to the belief that we are at ‘war with terrorism’. The […]