2007/07/01 New York
The fight cannot stop
Too tired to lose
Shortly after arrival in New York I called my car service and went to Brooklyn to experience another night of poker. Unfortunately I was too tired to lose more than hundred dollars.
Of course the fact that the British authorities raised the level of alert to “critical” was briefly discussed.
Sometimes it seems that terrorists, whoever they are, give meaning to our lives. The former Israeli prime minister Barak commented during a wave of suicide attacks that still more people died in Israel because of car accidents than because of terrorism. This is called an inconvenient truth.
Well at least the enhanced security measures have one positive side effect. Unemployment is down among fairly uneducated workers.
From an economical point of view the fight against terrorism cannot stop, because then we are forced to close a whole industry.
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17 comments 
meaning
You suggest that terrorists give meaning to our lives. I don't understand what you are trying to say with that statement. I say meaning is being!meaning
You write here that it seems that terrorists give meaning to our lives, what do you mean by that? I say meaning is being!terrorism
There are indeed some very good side effects of terrorism. I read a couple of interesting books in which 9/11 figured as a background. You can say the same about World War II. It seems as if we need disorientation from time to time., in order to mobilise ourselves .I however regret that it's not the other way around. Things would be cosier.
Scufo
Maybe you should stop reading books for a while, that can be labeled a positive side effect as well.Scunfo
Have been thinking about it for a while, but somehow i seem to be unable to see the 'good side effects' of the terrorism that lead to WW I, that lead to WW II, please help me out, in this context, i only have pictures of mobilisation in mind that i can't possibly label as positive.Protection from the fairly uneducated
The question is not if the fight against terrorism can be won. babylon will not fall. The question is against what price. Being protected by the fairly uneducated is not an idea that makes me feel very save.Protection from the fairly uneducated
The question is not whether the fight against terrorism will be won. indeed, simply too tired to lose. The question is against what price; the idea of being protected by the fairly uneducated (undoubtedly well educated in their job) is not what makes me feel exactly 'save'.on positive side-effects
I once saw a great commercial. It started off as a black screen with a voice over telling great things about an anonymous man. As the telling progresses, the screen gets filled with white fillings, and the zoom out, zoom out, zoom out. We see dots and a picture to be, still the voice over is telling great things about one man. Things as "he created highways, he singlehanded helped 40 000 people get a job" (facts may be fictionalised). In the end we see whose picture it is, it's Hitler's. Obviously.It makes you think, I guess.
Here in Kusadasi, we've got enhanced securitymeasures as well. The last month the police (consisting of 700 men) has been doing car-checkups and pasportcontrols, since there were bombings in Ancarra, Izmir, Antalya, and another place. They only check cars with a licence that's not from Kusadasi, and pasports from tourists. As if a terrorist can be narrowed down that easily.
But the people must feel safe. I don't know what's better, doing controls, and showing the people that they're there, or not doing controls and leave the people in their ignorance.
As for that car service. I see that your tiny comfortzone only applies for bathrooms, and that it's the opposite for cars? Defining space, that's what scientists sometimes do, don't they,
@elke
I didn't mean good side effects lead to WWII, I just meant I wish only positive events (instead of negative ones) had positive side effects.Sorry I didn't make myself clear.
Joram & Scunfo
I don’t think meaning is being, otherwise a meaningless life would not be possible, and without the option of a meaningless life the opposite is also unthinkable.Scunfo, since you seem to have problems making yourself clear, why not take a break from leaving comments on this site? I know you can do it.
Somehow I have the impression R. Mehlman is back home. But what about Rebecca?
London
Next weekend I'll be in London; the Tour the France starts in London the next weekend. That is not the reason for me to be there.I hope terrorists like the Tour the France very much.
Just for security reasons I will be visiting a lot of people this week.
The funny thing is the appointments were made some time ago so I'm getting the feeling this is it.
I'm sure there will be some positive side effects.
M Dutoit
Mehlman didn't play poker -- don't confuse me with Mehlman.Too tired to lose more than a 100 dollars
Does that mean that you won more or lost less than a 100 dollars?Speaking about poker, I love watching Daniel Negreanu on television.
A good thing about commercial television is the abundance of Poker series airing after midnight.
I'm not confusing you with R. Mehlman. I was just using the comparison to indicate that I see the above story as a writers fantasy.
M Dutoit
The above is neither a story nor a fantasy. You might disagree with some of my comments, you might for example believe that terrorism is the greatest threat we face, this opinion is hard to back up by facts, but nevertheless you are entitled to your fantasies and opinions, the problem is that your last comment is not a convincing argument, not a funny joke and it’s hard to categorize the comment as a clever aphorism. I assume you have a toothache and your last comment was the written form of this toothache.Toothache, one might think that's derived from Gstaad, if one was that one commentator who thinks you're derived from written characters.
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