Readers React: Ideas for fighting terror: Don’t call it ‘terrorism,’ enlist comedians and more

To the editor: The words “terrorist” and “terrorism” misrepresent the reality of a complex situation and are not helpful in ending war or violence. As the saying goes, “One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter.” (“In the wake of the San Bernardino attack, fear shouldn’t guide America’s response,” editorial, Dec. 4)

Violence is not a productive way to solve conflicts, since it always instills feelings that increase the likelihood of more violence. The threat of terrorism is often used to justify war, racist policies and practices, restrictions on civil liberties and the invasion of privacy.

Violent attacks by Arabs or Muslims are referred to as terrorism, but bombings and drone attacks by the U.S. that kill many innocent people are not. The bombing of Iraq was meant to cause terror in Iraqis and was referred to as “shock and awe.” It was meant to cause terror.

Julian Weissglass, Santa Barbara

..

To the editor: Eliminating terrorism requires much more than defeating Islamic State. We need to eliminate the breeding grounds of jihadism. President Obama’s plan to defeat terrorism is incomplete.

The core of the problem rests in mosques and religious schools in Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia and Libya. We need the full cooperation of the kings, emirs and other heads of state along with religious leaders to promote a more moderate brand of Islam.

Otherwise, jihadists will continue to flourish and spread destruction and death all over the world for many years to come.

John Youssef, Woodland Hills

..

To the editor: For a number of years after its initial publication in 1774, authorities in some parts of Europe banned Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s seminal novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” because they feared many young readers would copy the lovelorn protagonist and commit suicide.

Society then needed iconoclastic comedians poking fun at high romantic delusions to give the suggestible and gullible another perspective.

Society now needs creative fun-poking at the power-hungry manipulators using warped versions of various religions to convince lost souls that salvation lies in killing people. Three cheers for, and thank you to, the rubber-duck jihadists.

In addition to effective intelligence gathering and processing followed by preemptive strikes, the sane of every nation also need to push back with unremitting, accurate, witty onslaughts of facts, alternative perspectives, sarcasm and sheer unadulterated fun.

We can’t afford to waste minds on nihilistic rubbish when there are real problems to deal with on this planet.

Susan Randolph, Manhattan Beach

..

To the editor: The indiscriminate murder of innocent people based on religion is nothing new. It has been going on for centuries.

The Romans killed the Christians, and when the Christians gained power in Rome, they went on crusades to kill Muslims. Then came the Protestant Reformation, and Protestants and Roman Catholics killed each other for a few hundred years. They both also killed Jews.

Religious murder will not go away until religion goes away.

We must realize that there is no white race, yellow race, black race or brown race but only the human race, and that we all inhabit this one small, fragile sphere in the universe. We had better learn to take care of it and each other.

Robert G. Brewer, Sherman Oaks

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook