The point to be noted is that why the people of world (especially Americans) are misguided with unproved responsible peoples for these attacks.

Does the above said article answer this question:

http://www.mideastyouth.com/2008/08/19/the-world-demands-to-know-what-the-us-government-did-to-aafia-siddiqui/

A thousand candles can light up the path, but it is up to each and everyone of us to take the first step. I hope that in the coming year, we find the wisdom and the courage to do what we know we must.

We shouldn’t overlook evil things done in whatsoever the cause, and we should stop admiring, celebrating evil people just because they share some of our values and beliefs. And very important thing is to bring perpetrators and masterminds to justice regardless of their status, nationality or religion.

I would agree with most of that, al ameen. There is a saying, “The ends justify the means.” This holds true in many cases, but there is a point at which the means are so despicable, that they cannot be justified regardless of the ends. The killing of school children in Beslan would be an example. The killing in Dir Yasin would probably be another.

I also would agree that terrorism should not be celebrated, even if we identify with some of what the terrorists stand for. At most, even if we feel we have to resort to terror in order to survive, the act of terrorism should still be deplored, especially if innocent people were targeted. I may have to kill in self-defense, for example, but that is no cause for celebration. Once I celebrate death, then it is easy to lose perspective and to begin valuing death over life.

In terms of your assessmnet that terror is terror no matter who is doing the perpetrating, I would agree with that as well. An organized military can engage in terror just as easy as a group of hoodlums. Terror is terror no matter how we dress it up.

There is a saying, “Perception is reality.” I think that what it means is that if you believe something, you’ll act accordingly, and after a while, you will have created the reality that confoms to what you believe.

For example, if you think people are out to get you, you’ll act accordingly, and after a while, people wearing white jackets really will be out to get you, to put you in the loony bin. And then you’ll say, “See, I told you so, people were out to get me.”

Perception is reality. The terrorists come to believe certain things, and act accordingly. Pretty soon, their perception becomes reality. There is no reason why the rest of us can’t do the same. If we come to believe that we should fight terrorism any way we can, but that we should also not accord it a great deal of attention, then we will act accordingly, and soon enough, terrorism will begin to be perceived differently, as something outside the pale of human decency, and our efforts in this regard will come to be like getting rid of a menace, not unlike getting rid of a serial killer.

It’s like you say, “…history will engrave on its stone chest the memory of those who will not give in to terror.” Ultimately, not giving in to terror means not giving the terrorists the attention they need to survive. We must figure out a way to deprive them of our sense of outrage, which only nourishes their sense of purpose.

You have a point there. But let’s look at crime, for a moment. In the U.S., God bless her, we have as many as 15,000 to 20,000 homicides per year. The media covers these, and the average viewer or reader is interested. But these killings do not inspire the kind of interest as a terrorist attack. A terrorist attack, in today’s world, can shake a society completely, including its economy, its political system, and its ability to function properly.

We should do what we can to combat terror, but we should not confer that much significance to it, because if we do, we are giving the terrorists precisely what they want. We’re playing into their hands.

So I would say this, think of the terrorist as a common criminal, who has stepped outside the pale of human decency, and who should not be accorded excessive significance in the public mind.

In addition, Yarden, I would say that if we really do go about Selling a Vision of Hope, in a significant way, that this too would be newsworthy, and certainly of interest to the viewing public. It may not be as visually dramatic as an act of terror, but it would be much more in line with the aspiration of the man on the street.

What may be possible, is to contain terrorism, and keep it in check. You can do this in two ways, by offering the man on the street a persuasive alternative, and by paying a little less attention to it. If we promote a new ideological framework based on common sense, if we invest in one another with good paying jobs, if we inspire one another with hope, if we sustain that hope with public diplomacy, and if we fight the terrorists where we find them, then we will go a long way to containing this threat.

But just as important, we should condition ourselves not to give the terrorists the attention they crave. Most of what they do is intended to defeat our spirit, and thereby to push us to give up our way of life. We should not accomodate them in this manner. We should learn to pay a little less attention, even as we organize ourselves to beat them at their own game.