Given the current story of terrorism linked to the radicalized student from London University, should Canadian Universities be worried about similar situations happening? Especially when there were several controversial allegations in the past of links to McMaster Unviersity. (search it up)

What are your thoughts?


(I know I'm going to get a lot of heat for this topic, so let's try to keep it civil)

Statistically, you're bound to find a couple crazy people in any university.

Especially with the kind of pressure put on students at mac.

Two years ago a few UW students were indicted for supporting the Tamil Tigers: considers a terrorist organization by the federal government.

In any case, terrorism is a worldwide problem. The best way to combat it is to be nice to all people.

Plus, there's nothing really to gain from attacking Canada.

Also, it's cool. I've almost beaten Modern Warfare 2 on veteran mode so I'm like... pretty much a certified anti-terrorist agent.

@deadpool:
seeing someone else hold a gun and tell you how to shoot is completely different from you holding it and trying to shoot

You should worry.

Terrorism, in general, is a good indicator of how well we are taking care of each other, the distance between the "have"s and "have-not"s, and the amount if extreme suffering on the planet.

Look at what "terrorists" are really against. If you move away from the immediate words, and look at what they are really trying to achieve, it is what will benefit society and all humans. They are against gluttonous consumerism, they are against severe inequalities in the distribution of resources, they are against vices that bring down societies if left unchecked, and corrupt governments that abuse other countries for the benefit of a very small number of people. The "terrorists" are just going about it in a way that is almost completely counterproductive. They are the product you get when you push people too far. It has never been a huge issue until the invention of technology that can put a lot of power into the hands of one person.

So yes, you should worry about terrorism. You should worry that you arent doing enough for others. You should worry that you might be contributing to something that pushes people to the point of crashing vehicles into populated areas, bombing busy marketplaces, and setting hotels on fire appears justifiable. You can play "good guys" and "bad guys", call them evil-doers until you are blue in the face, until you deal with the causes for terrorism you will never defeat the symptoms.

And if you dont care to make things better, then you better hope that you can p0wn at CS. Just remember, if you are in the middle of a terrorist attack, quickly switch to your knife, run for the exit and jump continuously.

Originally Posted by Rossclot

You should worry.

Terrorism, in general, is a good indicator of how well we are taking care of each other, the distance between the "have"s and "have-not"s, and the amount if extreme suffering on the planet.

Look at what "terrorists" are really against. If you move away from the immediate words, and look at what they are really trying to achieve, it is what will benefit society and all humans. They are against gluttonous consumerism, they are against severe inequalities in the distribution of resources, they are against vices that bring down societies if left unchecked, and corrupt governments that abuse other countries for the benefit of a very small number of people. The "terrorists" are just going about it in a way that is almost completely counterproductive. They are the product you get when you push people too far. It has never been a huge issue until the invention of technology that can put a lot of power into the hands of one person.

So yes, you should worry about terrorism. You should worry that you arent doing enough for others. You should worry that you might be contributing to something that pushes people to the point of crashing vehicles into populated areas, bombing busy marketplaces, and setting hotels on fire appears justifiable. You can play "good guys" and "bad guys", call them evil-doers until you are blue in the face, until you deal with the causes for terrorism you will never defeat the symptoms.

And if you dont care to make things better, then you better hope that you can p0wn at CS. Just remember, if you are in the middle of a terrorist attack, quickly switch to your knife, run for the exit and jump continuously.

As long as they don't get a 25 kill streak, we're okay.

Is that your cat as your avatar?

Because I sure did put my dog in a pot and take a picture of her on the stove.

Well Religious extremism and its links to terrorism is one of the topics I'm considering for my Socio thesis. I can write a long essay on it but its useless; what exactly were you trying to accomplish lux if I may ask? :S

Anyways without going into too much detail the Paul Williams guy is a bit of a sensationalist whose arguments are based too much on guess work/conspiracy theories and other nonsense. He has used sources in his book that he later goes on to call them "backpeddlars and mendicant" and the whole 180 pounds nuclear material was stolen from the reactor by students who registered under a fake alias(and presumably academic record? :S) and how people he calls Mac students were actually highschool students or never even went here and so on.

As Greg said, there will always be crazy people in every university according to law of statistics. There is nothing we can do to change their craziness.

All as Rohan said we can do is be "nice" and try not to stereotype anyone who fits into the description as being a terrorist or chastising them if their religious and more importantly cultural beliefs are different then yours.

Alot of this has to do with cultural tension, for example I'm not the biggest fan of the culture of alcohol and its effect on human behavoir(well mostly because I work nightshifts near a couple of Pubs) and the economic cost of hangovers etc.

However because I am in SocSci & Am constantly thinking about such stuff: I have come to realize the difference in my culture and the Canadian and I don't neccesarily see it as a inherent "evil" and moral decadence of the society like I was socialized to believe by my religion, media and parents back home.

There are other people however who haven't felt inclined to empathize with the culture of drinking and how for the west it is a "normal" thing. OR more likely their moderate sense of disgust over drinking has been used by their clerics or "friends" to instill into them the idea that the West & Its culture is "wrong" and they should make every effort to promote and make sure that their "superior" culture which bans drinking, gambling, theft, adultery with the strictist of punishments is something they should defend. They are also told that the current western society is also going agaisnt their own teachings of christianity etc etc and how profit mongering and interest speculation of the west is a cause of Third World suffering which does have "some" factual basis in the historic economic/trading relations of the western world with the developing world/Africa & how that ties with colonialism etc. Oddly enough a big source of motivating extremism has also to do with the Israel/Palestine conflict.

If you keep that perspective in mind, the west on the other hand sees alot of Islamic practices as unconstitutional and morally wrong(stoning, lack of women's rights etc) & their involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine etc is seen as them trying to "liberate" the old culture and instill their "moral values" onto their societies. Their "Jihad" is against that culture and not against the existence itself of people in the West. Jihad as a word is populary defined as "holy war", but in actuality it is proper definition is a "struggle against".
In other words, I don't drink for personal reasons, but had I refused drinking due to religious motivations that would be my "Jihad".

It's easy to dismiss the "terrorists" as irrational and people who should just be exterminated. But that isn't really a realistic outcome for the future of our world, you can't simply "exterminate" a group of people; more conflict will only increase the anger.

Hence one of the easiest solution to all of this is to be "nice"(as silly and simple as that sounds) and try and empathize with & respect each others cultural differences. This goes out to both sides not just Muslims or Canadian. We are allowed to disapprove of each others cultures, because that's just human nature! But still efforts can be made to keep that disapproval within us.

Ahh; andd In other news I had promised I'll keep it short :$

p.s: Rossclot seems to have a good idea of "why" we have terrorism. I only wish I had more people like him in my Polisci & Philosophy tutorials. People had usually the most myopic and selfish theories on why they do what they do :(

p.p.s: I also read somewhere that Alqaeda & other organizations have made their recruits watch MTV to "Show" them how the Western Society has become corrupted. I wouldn't be surprised if the recruits are shown Jersey Shore, Growing Up Gotti & Other Trashy Reality shows & The Latest Pimps & Ho's Hip Hop video & become disgusted at what they see & Compare it with their own economic struggles & Poverty to be honest!

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

p.p.s: I also read somewhere that Alqaeda & other organizations have made their recruits watch MTV to "Show" them how the Western Society has become corrupted. I wouldn't be surprised if the recruits are shown Jersey Shore, Growing Up Gotti & Other Trashy Reality shows & The Latest Pimps & Ho's Hip Hop video & become disgusted at what they see & Compare it with their own economic struggles & Poverty to be honest!

I'd be a terrorist if I was forced to watch MTV too.

Originally Posted by Rossclot

Is that your cat as your avatar?

Because I sure did put my dog in a pot and take a picture of her on the stove.

Lies. That was either from Daily Squee or Cute Overload about a week and a half ago.

I think that asians are very jealous of us white people. I mean, in all honesty, all developed and wealthy countries are predomiannately white even though the world's population is only ~10% white

Originally Posted by Steph Butter

I think that asians are very jealous of us white people. I mean, in all honesty, all developed and wealthy countries are predomiannately white even though the world's population is only ~10% white

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