As a rule, I don't talk politics on here. Or say extremely controversial things. (Mildly controversial is fine.) I don't really want to break that streak now. But...
Last week, I read an article in New York magazine. It's about a cyber attack in December 2017. No, I didn't get the date wrong. It was describing a large event that could happen based on isolated incidents in the last few years. I found it to be quite an interesting article, if more than a little terrifying.
Based on what has happened in the last few months, I wrote my own predictive text for a future article.
Read into it what you will.
"Over the next few months, attacks increased exponentially. The response was also exponential, but in the opposite direction. Where once a mass shooting would monopolize the evening news, eventually only triple digits inspired more than a standard blurb in minute fifteen. Investigations took place, but largely only into isolated incidents - few bothered to take more than a cursory look into possible links between worldwide events. Those who did were stonewalled by political posturing and cultural apologetics. Officials feared assigning labels such as 'terrorism' or 'evil' because of the inevitable backlash from the media and the more vocal members of the public. By the time anyone (outside of a small minority who were ignored) recognized the common denominator, it was too late."
How long do you think it will take for this article to become reality?
I'd like to provide an appropriately horrified and saddened response to all of the attacks that are taking place. People are dying, in ways they couldn't anticipate, at the hands of people who don't seem to need provocation or reason beyond a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.
But it seems like there's a new attack every other day. Sometimes every day. And keeping up that level of horror and sadness is exhausting. Day by day, it becomes a little more commonplace. It's accepted that this is going to happen. And my own respect for the sanctity of human life is diminished.
I don't want to live in this kind of world. But ignoring it doesn't make it go away. I was listening to someone talk about the "broken windows" policy in policing. If you leave a broken window in a building, eventually all of the windows will be broken. People will assume that, since no one cared to fix the first window, no one will care about the rest of them. Ignoring problems only creates bigger problems. Claiming that a broken window is not actually a broken window but a cultural norm or a broken door does not fix the problem.
Only by facing the problem head on, i.e. recognizing a broken window for what it is, fixing the window, and preventing what broke it in the first place from happening again, can we begin to make progress.
Last week, I read an article in New York magazine. It's about a cyber attack in December 2017. No, I didn't get the date wrong. It was describing a large event that could happen based on isolated incidents in the last few years. I found it to be quite an interesting article, if more than a little terrifying.
Based on what has happened in the last few months, I wrote my own predictive text for a future article.
Read into it what you will.
"Over the next few months, attacks increased exponentially. The response was also exponential, but in the opposite direction. Where once a mass shooting would monopolize the evening news, eventually only triple digits inspired more than a standard blurb in minute fifteen. Investigations took place, but largely only into isolated incidents - few bothered to take more than a cursory look into possible links between worldwide events. Those who did were stonewalled by political posturing and cultural apologetics. Officials feared assigning labels such as 'terrorism' or 'evil' because of the inevitable backlash from the media and the more vocal members of the public. By the time anyone (outside of a small minority who were ignored) recognized the common denominator, it was too late."
How long do you think it will take for this article to become reality?
I'd like to provide an appropriately horrified and saddened response to all of the attacks that are taking place. People are dying, in ways they couldn't anticipate, at the hands of people who don't seem to need provocation or reason beyond a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.
But it seems like there's a new attack every other day. Sometimes every day. And keeping up that level of horror and sadness is exhausting. Day by day, it becomes a little more commonplace. It's accepted that this is going to happen. And my own respect for the sanctity of human life is diminished.
I don't want to live in this kind of world. But ignoring it doesn't make it go away. I was listening to someone talk about the "broken windows" policy in policing. If you leave a broken window in a building, eventually all of the windows will be broken. People will assume that, since no one cared to fix the first window, no one will care about the rest of them. Ignoring problems only creates bigger problems. Claiming that a broken window is not actually a broken window but a cultural norm or a broken door does not fix the problem.
Only by facing the problem head on, i.e. recognizing a broken window for what it is, fixing the window, and preventing what broke it in the first place from happening again, can we begin to make progress.
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