±
"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty." 
Toward FREEDOM
Posted on 06/22/2004 11:44:53 PM PDT by jennyp
Science thread PING? Badly-mixed-metaphors PING?
Certifiable insanity ping, perhaps?
You canNOT make up stuff like this!Cells deconstruct either by necrosis or apoptosis. In necrosis, their membranes are breached and their contents leak out into surrounding tissue. Unfortunately, in the case of a viral infection, this serves to spread the disease. Not a happy outcome. In death by apoptosis, however, the cell self-destructs by collapsing into itself. All within is nicely contained.
As a metaphor for fighting terrorism, necrosis is the equivalent of infiltrating and exploding a terrorist cell. Terrorists who are killed would very likely qualify as martyrs. ...
Apoptosis, however, causes collapse from within. Nothing leaks out. Infections don't spread. What would this look like in the fight against terrorism? Encounters between terrorists and those willing to engage them would mix ideas, ideals and values. They would oscillate and resonate with one another.
Those who dialogue with the terrorists might begin to understand the frustration and alienation that drives them to operate outside the system. They might be moved to intervene on behalf of those who have no voice and no power. They might be willing to work toward more equitable distribution of resources. No matter what the outcome, the openness to another that dialogue requires is a powerful force for overcoming isolation and alienation.
Well, maybe there is something to it: we have a sort of an infection, and a big abscess. Surely it is time to lance it and squeeze the pus out.
±
"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty." Toward FREEDOM
Yo' liberals! You don't 'dialoge' with rabid dogs, you shoot them!
Yeah. I liked his description of antibodies as unthinking matchmakers. But one thing he missed entirely in his description of the immune system: As I understand it, once the immune cells release their antibodies to "establish a relationship" with the foreign cells or virii, don't both of them get flushed out of the system, or broken down by killer enzymes, or something? It would be analogous to, ah, western peace activists wearing flourescent T-shirts emblazoned with "HUMAN SHIELD" covering the terrorists with their bodies, all the while American sharpshooters roam the neighborhood on the lookout for masses of bright fluorescent T-shirts...
Yep. This guy understands neither the war against radical Islamists nor the immune system. When people try to talk about one topic they know nothing about, they sound stupid. When they try to talk about two things they know nothing about and tie them together, they end up sounding twice as stupid.
A good analogy is in my tagline =>
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
If you are on a hijacked plane, what should you do?
LIBERAL ANSWER: "engage in dialogues about the foundations of civilized society -- civil liberties, an independent judiciary, representation, a voice in government policy, equality, justice."
CONSERVATIVE ANSWER: "Let's roll."
So we should reuse the molecules of terrorists by...eating them?
I hate it when people pull up short on their own analogies.
Hence, we should quarantine all known or suspected carriers of the Islamist disease, which includes all Muslims who do not take active and affirmative measures to demonstrate they are not infected. Isolate them in their countries or remote areas outside of civilization to see if the pathology develops or not. Wherever it appears, we need to eliminate it and disinfect the area. Fire, if hot enough, will kill most pathogens.
Thanks for the ping!
At the risk of sounding twice as stupid, I think there is merit in thinking about the terrorism conundrum in biological terms. I liked the squeezing-the-puss-out-of-the-boil analogy. LOL
In three easy steps:
1. Kill terrorists.
2. Feed terrorist corpse to pig.
3. Eat pig.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.