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Who Needs Radio?
DragonMagic writes "MSNBC asks what many /.ers have been asking: Who needs the radio anymore? Rather, it goes on to really ask, who needs the RIAA anymore? With online music distribution sources, television, and the internet itself, how much longer will it be before the radio, and the RIAA, will be an obsolete means to promote artists?"
who needs the RIAA anymore?
Ask any filesharer and I'd imagine their answer would be "not me".
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
To me, it's obvious. I don't know why the rest of the news media doesn't recognize the obvious.
Because there are plenty of mean evil nasty people in the world that kill others and don't kill themselves. They still maintain a sense of self preservation.
Meanwhile, the people who kill themselves in the process are a bit rarer and most likely fanatically insane. This stands out and is more frightening to the general population because this person knows know boundaries even for him/herself.
True, "suicide bomber" does not spell out that this individual is killing other people (although it is assumed). A "bomber" is destroying something.
On the flip-side, a "homicide-bomber" does not spell out that the individual is killing him/herself in the process. And their have been plenty of bombers in the past that have had at least enough intelligence not to kill themselves in the process.
Bottom-line is that neither term can explicitly state the full details of the destruction that an individual has done. For something that combines both details you will have to make up a new word. And good luck in getting that implemented. It would probably be as successful as trying to get everyone to say "suicide-homicide bomber". It's too complex when we already have a term whose definition that most people already agree on.
Your problem with the "suicide bomber" term is that the groups promoting that type of activity have tried (& for some segments of the world population have been successful) to attribute the term with qualities of nobility, martyrdom & self-sacrifice while deemphasizing the human toll they take on other innocent people who have not chosen to be part of their cause.
A true martyr never takes his or her own life on purpose nor takes other innocent lives with them. These people can make more choices! There are always many other ways an individual or group can make a statement or attract attention. This is not one that is well respected by those who don't follow the cause.
I don't advocate this by any means, but groups that admire & support suicide bombers will probably continue to do so until they are afflicted by the same terror and have a chance to realize what a senseless waste of innocent human life it is. Again, I don't believe and decent sane human being should ever resort to such a horrific act. What I wouldn't do for a Gandhi or Martin Luther King of the Middle East.
Without a Gandhi figure in the Middle East (or at least one that is able to live long enough to make a change, and given that all ranges of mediation steps have already been tried (some with success but all eventually falling back into the same spiral of death and destruction), I think there is one step left untried. I say it's time to take a leap of blind faith. Take a big step. I say go ahead and give Palestine their own state. I think most people all agree this is where we ultimately want to end up. The big problem for Israel is that once a move like that has been made, it makes it more difficult to make police actions in a fully sovereign nation without bearing the wrath of the international community. So what. It's not as if anything else that has been tried has brought either party any closer to their goals. It's a big step. We don't know if it will work. But it hasn't yet been tried. Doing so would provide a clear sign that Israel is willing to take a big chance to make thing right. It would greatly deflate the popular support for the suicide bombers. Would it end it completely? Probably not. But I think by ending their popular support it would be easier for governing figures to crack down on their activities. Give the people what is right, give them something to live for, give them something to lose. All Isreil has to lose is the status quo
Sorry for the rant. Feel free to call abortion on us now.