World Trade Center Attack
Thank You Gun Control
by Francois Tremblay (e-mail: FTremblay@liberator.net) [November 19th, 2000]All the fans of force and violence and enemies of voluntary action and capitalism celebrated on September 11th. The death of more than seven thousands in the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center is a symbol of everything that the enemies of capitalism and freedom stand for: disrespect for human lives, as well as hatred of pride and abundance.
The concrete reasons for the attack, however, are more controversial. It doesn't seem too difficult to conclude that American imperialism has a part in this. We could also discuss religious intolerence and fanaticism. Certainly no one can escape responsability for this tragedy. However, there is one and only one factor which allowed the attacks on New York to happen.
Gun Hypocrisy
Americans still have not learned what is perhaps the most fundamental lesson in philosophy : ideas have consequences. One cannot ignore reality for very long before being on the receiving end of disaster. One cannot evade harsh facts forever, hiding under the bed sheet of political or religious doctrines.
American imperialism and the establishment of an american empire is perhaps the pride of the United States, but it has severe consequences. One of them is hatred at the intervention of a country that is uninvolved in local conflicts, except to finance their sworn enemies. The example of Palestine and Israel comes to mind. This is a simple action-reaction phenomenon. The american army also maintains bases all over the world, which bring nothing except crime.
And what does such a foreign policy of blatant interventionism bring ? Nothing. Peace initiatives from any organisation has never brought any good to the world. Conflicts cannot be resolved by the force of arms alone. There is no praise to be given to american soldiers - they are backed by their whole government and army to kill others. At least the terrorist has no such resources.
But perhaps this is hammering too hard on a relatively irrelevant point. Yes, there are a lot of factors that contributed to the hatred behind the World Trade Center attacks. However, there is only one such factor that gave terrorists the opportunity to execute the attacks.
This factor is called victim disarmament - the real term to designate the slave-driving known as "gun control".
During the Vietnam War, 58 000 american soldiers died. During the New York attack, presumably around seven thousand people died in less than an hour. What's the difference between the two ? In Vietnam, the soldiers got to shoot back. Unfortunately, this is not a sick joke, but cruel fact.
Why exactly are we surprised at this terrorist attack ? When one shoots at a neighbour and then opens the door of his home wide open, should he expect no retaliation ? When we leave our children and teachers defenseless, we should not be surprised at school shootings, and the same is true in this case.
There is only one easy and benevolent solution to stop terrorists from hijacking planes, and libertarians have been saying it forever - to end the insanity of victim disarmament. No need to create new money-sucking bureaucracies, or more anti-freedom laws. Just give to every pilot and co-pilot an advance on their Christmas gifts, a frangible-ammo gun.
When terrorists can take over a plane with boxcutters and knives, we are not in a first-world country. The United States has proven itself to be nothing more than a rich third-world country, and its people are first to be blamed for their retarded mentality. The responsability for the attacks on our freedom is not to be attributed to terrorists. Terrorists do not pass laws. Terrorists do not get the FBI to assault peaceful people. Terrorists do not elect socialists. Only the citizens do. Shame on you, America.
It is a sad statement to the moral corruption of victim disarmament that seven thousand people could have stayed alive without it.
War Traitors
Because of this, we must soundly condemn the horrible and heretical hypocrisy of the politicians - especially George Bush himself, the chief of the FBI, and many others - which have praised the courage of the passengers who crashed the flight in southern Pennsylvania. The deaths of these passengers, and indeed all the victims of the terrorist attacks, must be blamed on them also. To attempt to gain political capital from these events, and not even acknowledge one's responsability, is a disgusting heresy.
Some, of course, would deny that the libertarian solution is the best way to deal with the problem, and argue that sealing the cockpit doors would be a better solution. This solution has even been proposed as law. What an incredible idea that people would willingly put all the passengers at risk, just to evade the presence of guns. What a manifestation of contempt towards the common people.
This may seem a harsh statement, but I have no sympathy for the victims of the New York attacks. They have reaped the consequence of their ideas. What do we expect, that hardened criminals, fanatic believers in hatred, are going to come up to the pilot's cabin, knock and ask "hello sirs, could we take over your plane please ?".
George Bush and his cabinet are traitors to the civilized world for declaring war on terrorists and the freedom of their own people, instead of putting forward real solutions to real problems. In the same way, the media, sports leagues, and many other organisations deserve to be pointed out as traitors. The victim-syndrome propagated by the media is undignified and anti-patriotic.
Certainly, the events in New York are horrifying and deserve all our hatred. However, the victims are dead - neither you nor me can do anything about it. Calls to charity are nice, but do little, and deserve no respect - anyone can give to a charity. You are not any more productive or courageous because you have given money to a charity. By refusing to continue "life as usual", and indeed expressing contempt for people who said that "life must continue as usual", people have bowed down to the goal of terrorist - terror and social paralysis.
And it is this same terror that is making people accept once again the premises of victim disarmament, without question, in the wake of the Sept. 11 events. And of course no one is asking the real question. How can one of the richest and freest countries in the world be taken over by a bunch of thugs with knives and boxcutters ? It is a sad statement to the moral corruption of victim disarmament that seven thousand people could have stayed alive without it.
Instead of a pointless war which cannot be won or get us anything except hatred, I propose my six points for peace:
- The end of interventionism: no more bases in foreign countries (pretty obvious).
- End gun control (especially in planes).
- Deregulation of the military sector.
- End all public foreign aid. No country should steal money to explicitly support other states. As Jefferson said, "friend with all, ally with none".
- Promote global trade, as the foundation of world peace.
- Make the assassination of foreign criminals legal again.
Further Research
CBS News: Aftermath of the World Trade Center Disaster Google Directory: Terrorism > Incidents > 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon Attack [Visit Francois Tremblay's personal pages at http://www.objectivethought.com.]