Car ploughs pedestrians outside natural history museum.

[ianh]

And if it's quiet again next year, then what? Will you see that sometimes there are just anomalies and you can't call things too early?

Why do some posters (not specifically aimed at you Vonhelmet) feel an all consuming need to "force" people to agree with their views rather than understanding it's allowable for people think differently?

Anyway, in reply to Vonhelmet, I wish next year is much better but something in the future doesn't make what is happening in our current "times" any less sad to me. However it's fine if you believe differently, as I said previously, I'm not forcing what is my own opinion onto anyone so disagreements are to be expected. I have simple stated what I believe without arguing that those who believe differently are incorrect and must be questioned.

 

[Hotwired]

I'm sure the same posters before this year were saying how we are living in good times as far as terrorism is concerned. After all historically low number of casualties right for multiple years right?

Oh wait, I bet pessimists are always pessimists.

Yes and no.

Better to phrase it as bad news being more worthy of attention.

We haven't had wars fought in the uk for a while, it's important, its good, its not interesting to hear someone say it.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Why do some posters (not specifically aimed at you Vonhelmet) feel an all consuming need to "force" people to agree with their views rather than understanding it's allowable for people think differently?

Anyway, in reply to Vonhelmet, I wish next year is much better but something in the future doesn't make what is happening in our current "times" any less sad to me. However it's fine if you believe differently, as I said previously, I'm not forcing what is my own opinion onto anyone so disagreements are to be expected. I have simple stated what I believe without arguing that those who believe differently are incorrect and must be questioned.

It's misuse of statistics that irks me, is all. Yes, this year has been terrible. Is it part of an upward trend? Will next year be twice as bad? The year after four times worse? It's possible if you choose to extrapolate in that way. Or maybe this year is just a blip. It's too early to say.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Becuase these terrorists are religious nuts, so not very smart to begin with.

You think pulling off 9/11 didn't require immense intelligence? Ok...

 

[Angilion]

You think pulling off 9/11 didn't require immense intelligence? Ok...

I don't. It required some ability to plan, some people willing to die for a cause and for a fairly small number of people to keep their mouths shut about the plan. None of that requires immense intelligence.

 

[dowie]

You think pulling off 9/11 didn't require immense intelligence? Ok...

of course it didn't, it just required some people prepared to do it.... you don't have to be particularly smart to fly a plane into a building!

it isn't a novel idea the Japanese airforce adopted similar tactics in WW2

 

[Vonhelmet]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on what constitutes intelligence. Planning and successfully orchestrating 3000 deaths is pretty smart, whether we approve of the end result or not.

 

[dowie]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on what constitutes intelligence. Planning and successfully orchestrating 3000 deaths is pretty smart, whether we approve of the end result or not.

I don't think the end result is a good measure of whether it was smart

I mean some dumb people win millions on the lottery - the result isn't a good indicator

 

[Vonhelmet]

I don't think the end result is a good measure of whether it was smart

I mean some dumb people win millions on the lottery - the result isn't a good indicator

Winning the lottery isn't an enormous logistical feat, unless you manage to find some intricate way to scam the system and pull it off without being caught, though that wouldn't be something any old dumb person could do. It also doesn't have near global repercussions for decades, so the results aren't really comparable either.

 

[dowie]

Winning the lottery isn't an enormous logistical feat, unless you manage to find some intricate way to scam the system and pull it off without being caught, though that wouldn't be something any old dumb person could do. It also doesn't have near global repercussions for decades, so the results aren't really comparable either.

it was illustrating a point as your argument centred on the result (which was flawed), crashing a plane into a building isn't a huge logistical feat either... neither is, for example, shooting at people from a Vegas hotel room

 

[Kol]

Thread has run its course and gone wildly off topic again. That’ll do for now.