What is the solution ?

I think one possible solution would be for intelligent alien life to contact us. I hope/think/wish that would change the perspective of many. I don't think it would be a smooth ride though.

Whether individual mass violence is permanently trending up is a matter for debate. I don't think the solution is removing freedoms - that line of thought always smacks of attacking the symptoms rather than the causes.

Good topic - welcome to A2K.

We could stop fornicating. It is a certain solution and would only take 80 years or so assuming the On The Beach scenario doesn't kick in earlier.

They should make the death penalty mandatory for all suicide bombers.

Seriously, I think it should be possible for parts of the world to seperate more from other parts, (Great Wall style), it seems the only possible long term solution to incompatible world-views?

Yeah, suicide bombing by fanatical Palestinians is an idiotic response to the oppression and subjugation--which is a denial of basic freedoms to which this thread refers-- perpetrated on the Palestinians by the state of Israel, itself fanatical in its quest to arrogate more and more Palestinian land in the name of an ethnocentrically motivated Greater Israel. The Palestinian fanatics' suicide bombings only serve to provide the fanatical state of Israel with pretexts to continue their oppression and subjugation.

If you were a Palestinian, Eretiq, how would you react to Israeli oppression and subjugation--the taking away of your freedoms?

I recommend you see the movie Paradise Now. It deals with the issue of this thread.

I'm more or less aware of the situation in Israel and although the palestinians have their point, and asking to be free and have their own land is something that should be respected, blowing up innocent israeli population (and not only since a lot of people from all over the world work there) will never solve their problem.
Even if the goal behind those actions might seem noble they are not an excuse for the death of so many people who's only fault is to live under a government that simply won't give up. It seems to me, like you said, that it only gives Israel a very good pretext to further impose their wishes.
A solution to the Israel - Palestine dispute would only be an agreement between both governments but that is not exactly what i was asking in this thread. My question is if you look through the eyes of the potential victims of a terorist attack, what do you expect the government to do to protect you and what freedoms would you give up in order to allow the government to protect you. Also, if you think the government doesn't have to take away your freedoms in order to be able to protect you, describe a better way.
I personally think that only imposing very strict rules works but how can you make sure that the power to impose such strict rules won't be misused and would you like to live in a country where your every step is being monitored. You could say that if you have nothing to hide then it shouldn't really matter but does it ?

hingehead : "that line of thought always smacks of attacking the symptoms rather than the causes." Well i don't know about that, targeting the causes could be a very difficult thing because they can vary so, and every unstable dumbass who had enough of being pushed around or who thinks his god spoke to him through his kitty can go into a store, buy a bit of explosive and take along with him for a neverending ride as many innocent people as would have the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think it would be so much more difficult to make sure there are never any reasons for this kind of things to happen than to actually stop them from happening by knowing who does what.

Just because things can be difficult is not a reason to try - and sometimes I don't think there as difficult as they seem. But you have provided an answer in that quote:

Don't push unstable dumbasses around

Which is part of my thought process, we, generally, as individuals and societies don't give much of a sh1t about the consequences of our actions or the position of others. If we could graft empathy into our DNA, maybe?

I don't think many would argue that being a Palestinian in the territories would be a fantastic existence (happy to discuss why I'd rather be an Israeli than a Palestinian), I think we should be asking why there aren't more Palestinian suicide bombers.

Move the entire Isreali population to Texas. That'll solve two problems.

 
"What is the solution ?"

The solution is for all religions to spread the word that we are all really brothers and that as such we should all be attempting to improve the lot of our fellow brothers.

The world is becoming too "small" for mankind to still adhere to "regional" ideologies. Mankind is now a global being and must conduct himself in the best interests of everyone, not just himself.

Ethmer, easy to say....but ask a muslim extremist what needs to be done to "improve the lot of our fellow brothers"

Eretiq, your question as to the dichotomy concerning freedom/security has been debated here on this forum ad nauseum. A lot of Americans here do hold the position that you've elaborated, they don't mind the strict rules, the close monitoring by the government of the citizens of the country, and the detention without due process of individuals suspected of any kind of involvement with terrorism, if it means greater security. They figure, they're mostly profiling minorities, so why should they worry. They aren't Arabs or Muslims, so they aren't going to be monitored or whisked away at night to be detained indefinitely and probably tortured. I do think some of them take into account the fact that this kind of power is abusable, but that the benefits are worth the reduction in personal freedoms. The thinking is a lot like you've described it, something along the line of, "if you keep your nose clean, then the government would have no reason to further violate your rights after it's invaded your privacy looking for questionable behavior or thoughts." I think the situation is similar in Israel, only on a larger scale seeing as how there are many more Arabs and Muslims there than in the US.

Do YOU think that it really matters regardless of whether you have nothing to hide?

In your response to hingehead you conflate political responses with homicidal schizophrenia. One thing is a dumbass who's had enough of being pushed around perpetrating a suicide bombing, another thing is someone who "thinks his god spoke to him through his kitty" and perpetrating the same. I don't know of any instances of suicide bombers being motivated by revelations received through their pets. Suicide bombers don't bomb because of schizophrenia. The Son of Sam, to use as apt an example as I can find for your second scenario, didn't murder because of political reasons. The US government's reactions are starkly different between those to suicide bombers and serial killers. It's response is largely limited to a police one in the second instance.

Those examples were chosen on purpose, and also they were a bit exagerated, just to show how much the reasons behind mass killing can vary and the point would be that people can be pushed to extremes, intentionatly or not, easier or harder, and having the freedoms that they have, not much could stop them from acting according to their wishes.
Like i said in my first post, i don't believe there is a functional and overall acceptable solution to the problem because although i would love more safety i couldn't put my privacy and life in the hands of people who can commit mistakes and abuse the power they are granted and even though i said strict rules would work, i didn't say it would be acceptable. And like you said, americans would tend to accept stricter rules because they believe it wouldn't especially target them, but that doesn't mean the rules would be applied corectly and nobody will be wrongfully accused and punished. To me that seems like a pretty selfish and not entirely thought through attitude. Romania has been a communist country for quite a while and i pretty much know what giving to much power to the authorities is all about. There was a time when if someone hated you for some reason they could turn you over to the authorities and lie that you hate the dictator or some crap like that and you would be thrown in jail and tortured even if you did nothing wrong. The same can happen in America and even if you have nothing to do with terrorism, you could be exposed to being thrown in jail just because you pissed of somebody who knows somebody who has the power and the authority.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Eretiq.

I read about an instance here where two women were barred from boarding an airliner because their names were on the federal watch list. They're white women, but they're very publicly outspoken critics of the Bush administration. I think the administration tried to downplay the situation, saying it was coincidence, and the result of a system that hadn't been fine tuned yet, but I think it's an example of how easily these kinds of powers can be abused for purposes other than safety against terrorism.

As the saying goes - this towns not big enough for the two of us.

But u know, neighbouring countries killing each others citizens is not a new phenomenon - it is part of human nature.

Nobody said that this is hot news, but you're grocely minimizing the issue and i'd love to hear how you'd react if members of your familiy or people that you care about were blown away in a terrorist attack because they happened to visit Tel Aviv at the wrong time.

Thats right.

nope
And I would probably react to the said situation by saying "waste them all" and then maybe joining the fight against terror. Again, you seem to say random things that are of limited relevance to what I have said.

Some suicide bombings are done through other people, children who know no better and are constantly pestered until they give in. Maybe stopping this would help?

Islam does not accept this. You are born muslim and deviate through bad teaching to become Christian Hindu, etc etc. Thus when a Christian becomes a Muslim he "reverts" not "converts" to Islam. Islam does not accept we are all really brothers. Islam accepts only muslims as brothers, the rest can and will in their view go to hell. These ideas are of course completely barking mad, but that is how islam is. I am convinced Islam is the most dangerous and pernicious creed on the planet.

Oh, it's part of human nature... Thanks for letting me in on that. Now if it is why should we even bother ?! Let's just say that all bad things are part of human nature, imbrace them and be done with it... I believe i requested for an answer to a problem not an afirmation that helped in no way find the solution. Now if saying "it's part of human nature" isn't "grocely minimizing the issue" then i don't know what is.