How you can stop the next terrorist attack

So, it finally happened. A knifeman killed two and injured 8, some of them badly. A terrorist attack in our little Finland. Country so safe my non-Finnish friends call its crimes cute. And they say it’s just the beginning. While it could have been so much worse, our nation has been shaken to its core.
It had happened in France, in the United Kingdom, in Egypt, in Spain, in Iraq. In so many other countries. Every attack made it seem more likely to happen also here. And after it happened in Sweden, our next-door neighbour and cultural sibling Sweden, it felt certain that it would happen here too. It was just the matter of time.
I had refused to change my behaviour, to be afraid. Fearing and acting because of fear is just what they want. And the fact is that I’m more likely to get killed by choking on the food I’m eating than in a terrorist attack.
Except this time it was different. I didn’t hear about the attack on Twitter or the 6 o’clock news. It was my friend texting about a guy with a knife and people dying right in front of her. And instead of just passively reading about the attack from the news, it was her shaky voice recalling the experience later that made it all too real for me. But this isn’t a story about me. How could it even? I was safe far away in a different country. This story is about preventing the next attack, a future hero story I hope to see happen.
More than the media sexy articles about death and destruction, the what has happeneds, I have been following the discussion about the whys and hows. Following the what’s makes you afraid, and fear makes us do very stupid decisions (umm hello Trump or any party taking advantage of people’s fear). We start acting rashly. Take a revenge on the innocent and being just like the terrorist themselves. But following the why’s can lead to solutions, solutions that have been made with sense and not wrongly pointed anger.
A huge chunk of the why’s are related to otherness. Not belonging. And it is all our fault.
People are quick to form mental groupings of us and the others. Refugees are often the others. Especially in such homogenous societies like Finland, they stick out. They look different. They have different values. And the good old ”they are wasting our hard-earned tax money”, and always ridiculous ”they are here to rape our women”. Especially the last one makes me laugh considering how many F’s are given about the rapes made by the so-called original Finns. Yes, there are definitely clashes because of differences in what is appropriate and even legal behaviour. Yes, there have been very unfortunate incidents (and calling them ”unfortunate incidents” is a heavy understatement). But if you look at the most read news (or ”news”) papers it feels like _every_single_ rape and every murder is made by one of ”the others”. Even thought the facts are a bit different:
- 90% of rapes are committed by someone the victim knows.
- In Finland 5% (in Jan-Sept 2016) of reported sexual crimes were committed by a refugee.
While that’s 5% too much, it is still far from the image the magazines portray. But hey sure, I get it: those are the headlines that sell and get all the clicks. They are profitable. But they same articles are also the ones that create images and impressions. That there are people who are “the others” and that the others are dangerous.
Being one of the ‘others’
Now if you are part of the “others”. First of all, frankly your old life sucked. Majorly. There was a reason you left everything to find a new life somewhere else. A paradise. Except it proves to be nothing like one. You are stuck in a camp just waiting and waiting. Uncertain wether you can stay or wether you will be turned right back to where you are running from. It’s uncertainty that eats people. (The worst part about being unemployed? You never know when, or even if it’s going to end).
Even if you survive that and become part of the local society, surprise: you are never part of it. You are are one of the ’others’. You are nothing but unsightly being. Someone who’s name repels getting a job interview, no matter how qualified you were. Someone who can’t play with the local kids, because you don’t mix. Someone who the bus drivers skip when you are trying to get to school. Someone who drunk people spit at, punch when bored. A terrorist after every attack no matter where they happened and who the real villains were. Always ’the other’, the villain of all evil doings. The one without a purpose.
And then someone welcomes you. Talks about how amazing you are. How you are important. How you belong. Those are the terrorists. The world’s best sweet talkers. Your new family. And you just can’t say no, there is no reason to.
Let’s stop people from becoming ‘the others’, the ones who kill
The ”otherness” creates wounded people. The kind of people who are open to radical ideas and beliefs. And as it has been proven over and over again, there is no lack people and organisations who offer those. While not many of us are in the decision tables deciding about our countries’ policies on refugees, crimes and so on. But we all can demolish the otherness. The feeling that makes people kill.
It is not the physical danger I am afraid of. It’s the fear of the ”others” that I am afraid of.
Don’t share the articles about destruction and bring fear — that’s what the terrorists really want. To make people fear as fear is the biggest weapon in this world. It makes us make stupid decisions, and that only causes more terror and fear both in the short and long term. Instead spread the good things. Yes, at times like this, even cat videos are more needed than ever.
Here’s one to get you started:
Thank you for reading! Click the clap icon if you enjoyed and do leave a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this (though let’s keep it civil — unlike 99,99999% of the comment sections of similar posts. Yes, I challenge you! ;))
