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Skriven 2004-12-27 02:50:26 av FidoNews Robot (2:2/2.0)
Ärende: FidoNews 21:52 [02/07]: Editorial
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                            EDITORIAL
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                 Terrorism, Real World vs. Fidonet

This week's editorial will probably not fit well into the typical
Christmas spirit, but, after all, Christmas is over for this year,
maybe it can serve as a seed for anyone's New Year's Eve resolution?
After all, the next issue will be published next year -- if I manage
to make all the necessary changes to all the configs and batchfiles,
here at Snooze head quarters, that is.


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   Isn't it really strange? So many of us are parents. Many of us have
kids so old, we can look back at what we did wrong and what we did
right when raising them, right?

   Yet so many people today seem to have missed how to best handle a
spoilt kid, kicking and screaming for attention, i.e. simply ignoring
it until it behaves properly, and *then* give it all the attention it
wants and needs.

   This, I think, can easily be transferred to the way terrorists
should be treated. Imagine if all the media of the world agreed not to
mention any terrorist attacks with as much as one word, no matter
what. What then? Well, we all know that the terrorists strive for
attention and publicity. If that is not given to them, what good will
their actions do to them?

   And now over to the Fidonet terrorists. You know, those that sit
comfortably behind their keyboards, terrorizing the rest of the
Fidonet users, trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame by stirring
up as much mud as possible, with absolutely no concern for anyone else
but themselves and their own agendas.

   Now, imagine that not a single person would reply to anything those
Fidonet terrorists write, what then? Well, I leave the conclusion to
our readers...

   Oh yes, I, for one, know that it can sometimes be very hard not to
reply, but that's exactly what our terrorists want, so if you don't
want to play along with them, it's important not to take their bait.
After all, the terrorists will not listen to reasons, they are only
out to get the most attention possible.

   And the rest of us know exactly what you think anyway -- there's no
need to preach to the choir-boys. It's much better to spend your
valuable time on discussions with all the *good* people in the echo,
effectively telling the spoilt brats "Hush now, while the grown-ups
are talking!".

   One area that's extra attractive to terrorists are societies with
total freedom. This is, of course, because freedom is a complete
package, that also includes freedom to act like a jerk. A free society
simply must rely on everyone acting with responsibility and respect
for all other persons. There is no other way, unless you settle for
reduced freedom.

   The same goes, needless to say, for our Fidonet terrorists. Echoes
with freedom written into the "constitution", the echo rules, are
popular hunting grounds for them. That's why it's extra important that
the responsible and cooperative participants take extra care in those
echoes, not to respond to any terrorist attacks with anything but
total silence.


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