Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Thinking only men commit mass killings and terrorism is a big mistake.

please read previous post.
I ended up in a debate with a group of women on Facebook regarding men and violence. The belief shared by this group is that all mass killings and terrorist actions are conducted by men. If the intelligence and anti terrorism community operate just on that belief we are screwed. I know for a fact that they do not, or at least most do not.
I am someone that doesn't believe in absolutes when it comes to human behavior. Why? Because we are complicated. To say all people of a particular gender, race, religion or any other group is guaranteed to act a certain way all the time is wrong. To take on such a narrow outlook leads to sexism, racism, and stereotyping. What is funny about the group of people taking the stance that men are responsible for violence is that if you were to make a similar comment about women they will come at you with the "sexist " guns a blazing. You see to them women are equal to men but share none of the same faults.
It is a given that men have committed more violent acts than women, but that is not the same thing as saying men are responsible for violence. When it comes down to it, women can be as brutal as men. I was pointing out that it would be a mistake to believe women would never commit and act of terrorism or mass killings. Every time I tried to get the point across that it is the philosophy, the belief system, that determines the if a person would commit an act of terrorism I had the recent Manchester attack and 9/11 thrown at me. I am a student of history and I know of  incidents in the past where women committed acts of terrorism so I pointed this out. What happened? I was told to go back and read up on history. Apparently they need to do that. Maybe I made the mistake of using examples from the '60s and '70s. Yes, I used female Vietcong, the Red Army Faction that had women members who conducted terrorist acts. I even pointed out female suicide bombers in the Middle East. No, to them it's an all male terrorism club and men are responsible for violence. No logical point would get through the "men have to stop violence." When logic meets the immovable illogical wall the best move is to walk away. It became very apparent that these women did not like men and blamed men for all the worlds problems. My answer? Eye roll, sigh, unfollow and block. I have no room for people who claim to be open minded but turn out to be as closed minded as the people they claim are closed minded.
I am correct that it is a mistake to think women do not commit acts of terrorism. Women have done so in the past and will do so in the future. The problem is women are more likely to be overlooked as terrorists and therefore trusted by the people they are targeting. In Iraq, Syria, Turkey and other places women have carried out suicide attacks. In 2004, Debra Zedalis of the Army War College wrote a paper that examined the female suicide bomber and their danger. ( I sent the leader of the Twitter Discussion a link to Zedalis's paper before I blocked her. I hope she enjoys that read.) I pray that those in charge keep the paper in mind when they plan out anti-terrorism strategies. While women have yet to conduct an attack on the scale of 9/11 and more recent attacks to say they are not capable or will not carry out such an attack will end up costing lives, tens, hundreds, or even thousands. My point was not to defend men, it was to shed light of a danger lurking under sexist ignorance.

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