Some thoughts on what the media told me about

London - That's what these terrorists want: policemen shooting innocent victims. They want the authorities of society to misbehave in the eyes of the public, to be able to easier recruit more stupid guys who don't know that these power-crazy terrorist leaders, just like warlords, use and abuse them to cause upheaval in their own struggle for more power. Like war, terrorism is a business, and one side can't fight without the other. RIP this now gone Brazilian.

I never thought that I would write in this place about this topic, but now I think it's time. After previous explosions and the subsequent media exposure of them, I already thought about writing something, but always didn't because I had been of the opinion that these power-crazy, attention-craving idiots had already gotten enough media exposure.

After 9-11, many songs had been written. Most of them I thought too pugnacious, like Neil Young's awfully sounding Let's Roll and like Paul McCartney's Freedom, with lines like "I will fight for the right to live in freedom". But getting panic and being pugnacious is not the right thing to do for the public when faced with somebody trying to cause panic and upheaval; instead a calm, Ghandi-like attitude would be. All the while the police should be alert and investigating, not shooting or trying to recruit soldiers for forthcoming wars.

After 9-11, the architect in me came out again, and made me think about how to make high-rise buildings and skyscrapers more safe. What I came up with, is a comparison: Skyscrapers are like big ocean-liners. Ocean liners have lifeboats, which ideally should enable the people on board to escape from a sinking ship. These are on deck. Still, people can escape by jumping into the water with a lifebelt, too, from windows on the side of the ship. Using an escalator in a skyscraper is leaving the building on ground-level. But in the World Trade center, the escalators had been disrupted, so that from a certain floor of the building, people couldn't leave anymore. So where is the life-belt here? My suggestion is leaving by helicopters and paragliders off the roof. You don't know how to paraglide? Neither do I, but there are people who don't know how to swim on ships as well.
Then, this comparison between skyscrapers and big ships made me to think further. I came up with a historical comparison: There was the war between the English and Spanish armadas a few centuries ago, and in that, there were pirates involved, sinking many ships. Pirates, that were unofficially financially backed by the crown (think of Sir Francis Drake). This compares easily with Arabian upper class unofficially funding terrorism in a struggle for power in these times of globalisation. But how do you stop pirates? How they did it in historical times should be known somewhere, and if these measurements were of any use. But reportedly, there are still pirates in the ports of Western Africa and Indonesia, where ships always sail out of the harbor and anchor out on the open sea before sundown, because staying in the port would equal being robbed.
These days, movies paint a bright picture of pirates. In their time, they were probably seen by the sailing public as terrorists.

Now here's a song that I played in late 2001 (whilst the radio stations played Enya's Time with its message of "time heals all wounds" instead).
It's "Great Spirit" by Bob Neuwirth (transcribed by me from the recording, sorry for typos)

Great Spirit grant me vision
that I may not go wrong
find myself in a prison
of the things I have not done
Teach me the secrets
clear my eyes that I may see
Fill my heart with compassion
to love my enemy

And the winds of life will blow in 4 directions
the sacred water flow to the sea
the Eagle fly as high as any mountain
Oh, Great Spirit, keep us free

Mother Earth will feed our hunger
Father Sky will love her well
Make me worthy of a vision
that no human tongue may tell
Make me wise to learn the lesson
Make me strong to understand
What it takes to walk in beauty
as I cross our sacred land

And the winds of life will blow in 4 directions
the sacred water flow to the sea
the Eagle fly as high as any mountain
Oh, Great Spirit, keep us free