Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA17159 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 28 Sep 2001 12:31:18 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3102A6D042@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: state of memes Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 12:26:48 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Hi Scott,
<I don't think that anybody rejoicing in the tragedies of Sept 11
deserves
> much if any respect. Will these same people rejoice if the next terrorist
> attack wave is unleashed possibly replete with chemical and biological
> agents? Would this just be another "lesson" we would need to learn while
> others rejoice in our sorrow?>
>
I agree completely with the sentiment here that rejoicing in
people's deaths is abhorrent.
I do wonder though whether the current wave of concern about
chemical and biological attacks from terrorists is a little misplaced (OK I
know those japanese cultists used sarin, and were experimenting with
anthrax; and the hijacker was asking about crop dusting planes). After all
one cannot seriously justify extending nuclear missile defence schemes, or
stringent security measures, if your enemy is going to use domestic planes
as bombs, no, you need to persuade people that an equal or larger threat
exists from ABC attacks. It's a little like British Airways using the
downturn in flight bookings to get rid of its loss making but politically
sensitive Heathrow to Belfast service, or Boeing to cut 30,000 jobs. in
other words stretching the events' consequences to legitimate actions
otherwise difficult to have got away with. Let's not forget that the
biggest stockpilers of chemical and biological weapons are the USA and
Russia, and that European nations used chemical weapons widely in World War
I, and continued to research with them for decades after they were
officially banned from use (e.g.at Porton Down in the UK).
Vincent
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