the real terrorists

i've complained before about mass media and sensationalism being responsible for painting an ugly picture of a much more balanced world, but yesterday while i was talking to my mother we talked about the most recent high school shooting and what it means.

nobody ever remembers the victims! for the shooters it's an easy way to achieve the holy grail of modern society: being the news. journalists of all sorts are responsible for glamorizing murder; why is oscar pistorius famous? because of his athletic achievements? is his crime really more meaningful than all the other crimes not reported on the news?

sensationalist journalism is all about covering the bad news, the news that shows the dark side of humanity and that causes people to fear more than they love. the news that inspires people to avoid strangers and behave selfishly.

what is terrorism? what is the function of terrorism?

terrorism is acting in a manner that will induce fear. for example, who's responsible for the fear that americans feel when they travel by air? is it al qaeda, the bastards who attacked america twelve or thirteen years ago? or is it the american government and the press that follows their lead?

this world is full of beauty, of magnificent benevolence and kind-hearted people. it's full of love, and caring strangers. following things like ted and upworthy is a good start to seeing that, and tuning out from things like cnn and bbc is just as important.

yes, there are bad people. yes, one has to be reasonably careful. but "reasonable" does not equate to paranoid. use your judgement, but never stop trusting. because an inability to relax - and trust - is precisely the point at which the terrorists have won. and if you're too scared to leave the house you're never going to make the world outside a better place! it kinda needs your presence for that.

life is a gamble; don't let others place your bets for you.