Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Photo By katie morris

Critical thinking combats terrorism better than troops

By Tara kinard

tlkinard@vwc.edu

Muslim. American. Iraq. Education. Corruption. Oil. Liberation.

What do those words make you think of?

Now what do you think of this one? Terrorism.

More importantly, what do you think about this one? Counterterrorism.

The “Safer, More Compassionate World” forum and panel discussion is aimed at getting people thinking about all those things or, more accurately, rethinking them. The panel is especially concerned with rethinking counterterrorism. The panel members discussed how terrorism is handled and how citizens can counter terrorism by engaging constructively in what the 9/11 Commission termed the

“Agenda of Opportunity.” This includes the three basic principles of education, employment and the possibility of a brighter tomorrow.

The panel convened Tues., Feb. 26 at 7:00 p.m. in the Boyd Dining Center and ran until about 8:30 p.m. The discussion was moderated by Joe Rubin of Rubin Communications. The panel was comprised of Dr. Maura Hametz, Col. Robert Morris, Dr. Carol Pretlow and Dr. Hussam Timani. The four panelists each have very diverse backgrounds. Hametz is from the Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understand at ODU. Morris is an expert in the field of international and humanitarian aid and works with the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) in Suffolk, Va. Pretlow is an international terrorism expert and professor at Norfolk State University and Timani is a political Islam expert and CNU professor.

The event was sponsored by The League of Women Voters of South Hampton Roads in partnership with The League of Women Voters of the U.S. and made possible by a grant from Our Voices Together. The event was coordinated on the campus through the Office of International and Intercultural Programs (OIP).

“It was the first of a series of panel discussions and roundtables on how you can deal with terrorism by looking at some of the root causes,” Morris said.

It is also important to remember that counter to popular belief, as Morris said, it must be remembered that terrorists are not as common as often portrayed.

“Statistically, the number of actual hardcore terrorists is pretty small,” said Morris. “What you actually have to deal with is the social and cultural understanding between people that keep them apart. It’s not just fighting terrorists. You have to build a community of mutual understanding and respect.”

One of the major issues discussed by the panel was the importance of critical thinking. There was unanimous agreement that Americans need to think more critically and go deeper into the issues. Most people just look at the facts and then blindly choose one side.

“We need to take ourselves more seriously,” said Hametz, “We need to take the people who we should be listening to more seriously, and not the people giving us a 20 second sound bite.”

Since many do not think critically about the issues, they don’t truly understand the problems at hand.

“We should never implement a solution until we first understand the problem,” said Morris, “I think what most Americans want, unfortunately, is not a quick military solution but a quick solution. Period.”

According to Morris, the thought behind assembling such a discussion panel is exceptionally important, especially given the topic of the conversation.

“Just the initiative of having it was important,” Morris said, “Because it was a real focus on how you can solve problems by understanding other people and working together and focusing on areas of where people are alike instead of how they are different.”

Morris said that he thought the panel went very well. There was a great diversity amongst the panel.

“There was a great mix of ideas,” said Morris.

One of those ideas was the significance of accepting responsibility whether one be a politician or Joe Citizen.

“Everyone wants to blame somebody else, and we’re all responsible,” said Morris, “We have the responsibility to discover what the real truth is and not blame somebody else.”

The panel will be doing more roundtables in the future, at least one of which will probably be on the campus.