"Everything has changed."  "Everything is different now."

I'm sure you have heard these words spoken in the last week.  In fact, most of us have spoken them ourselves.  And I don't dispute their veracity at all.

But my narrower question here is: What has changed for you about your relation to the Xanga community as a result of the changing world we now find ourselves in?

I find that I'm now seeing myself as less a part of a Xanga community unto itself and more as a part of a people and as a part of humanity.  So I'm feeling less like I'm a *Xangeroo* and more like I'm a man, a man needing to create and defend civilization--and more like an American.

It seems in months prior, Xanga was serving me as a surrogate for the rich community I sought in my heart that seemed largely unavailable in the world otherwise around me.  But now that seems to have changed and the world around is beckoning me back to live, to love, to serve--ourselves.

Xanga remains a part of that world, an important outlet for me into that world. But like a bride led to the altar by her father, so do I now feel ushered out of this matrix, this dreamland cybermatrix of scintillating fascinations.  It seems that I have lost my cyber-innocence.  And I now find myself appositely mortal.

And though I intend to continue to participate in Xanga, and perhaps will become even more prolific than previously, this odyssey which is life has called me out.  And I must go where it directs me to go.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it... always.
  --  Mahatma Gandhi

Question of the Season: What in the world should we do with Halloween?

The candy and costumes are now in the stores.  It’s 42 days until Halloween 2001.  Is America ready for a celebration that characteristically embodies horror and terror as one of its prime elements?

Some observations and speculations:

Will there be Osama bin Laden costumes?  If so, will those who wear them be in danger of physical threats and attacks from outraged “patriots”?

Will/should parents allow children to collect candy from anyone other than a trusted family friend?  Should we fear that terrorists—or psychos caught up in the real terror now unleashed in our world—might target children as a terror target?

Will organized religion take a lead in now trying to stomp out the Halloween tradition, a tradition of pagan origins, as “insensitive, dangerous, and inapropos” to our “new reality” because of its dark coloring of terror?

A search of the Northern Light search engine provides about 701,000 hits for “Halloween” and about 25,000 hits for “Halloween and terror” for approximately a 4% joint mention of the two versus just the holiday itself.  Altavista provides about 865,000 hits for “Halloween” and about 17,000 joint hits for about a 2% joint mention.  How sensitive will we be, should we be to this traditional association?

Would you still visit a haunted house called “The House of Terror” ?  And if so, would you be outraged, terrified, or amused if a ”bin Laden monster” jumped out at you?

Do you want to bet that think-tanks and boards of directors in the candy and costume industries are not discussing these issues right now? 

TWI (Terrorist War I)

The attack upon the terrorist community must not be simply a military campaign. The “sponsor” states, of course, have been identified and have/will be given the opportunity to capitulate and discard the terrorists or face conventional assaults.  But beyond that, the terrorists’ organizations themselves must be effectively assailed. And there will be no “ground rules” –anymore. Behind the scenes, there will likely be assassination campaigns, kidnappings, stings, severe “off-the-record” interrogations of prisoners to garner more intelligence, heightened surveillance of all types including “hacking” terrorist internet accounts, etc.  This war will entail police actions (arrests), identifying and seizing the terrorists’ 'legitimate' financial market involvements, discovering and destroying their black market operations (this might be the toughest task), and conducting an artful  propaganda campaign to sway their sympathizers away.   Though there may be an initial conventional military response to take out "soft" targets, the eventual conduct of the war will be one of employing enhanced counter-guerrilla warfare tactics along with economic and technological "terror," or if you will, "counter-terror" techniques, some of which are doubtlessly now being improvised for just this occasion.

Am I sounding like the Secretary of Defense yet?  Screw that. It's just the kid in me...

When I was 10-15 years old, unbeknownst to practically anyone, I covertly steeped myself in knowledge of all forms of non-conventional warfare and guerrilla tactics.  I will not recite a litany of the topics I delved into lest I sound like a modern militia recruit!   But as part of my self-training, I also read books on the history of modern unconventional warfare, a history that is portrayed as beginning with Rogers Rangers.

So who was Rogers?

Robert Rogers was a colonial farmer recruited from New Hampshire in 1755 by the British for service in the French and Indian War (1754-63).

He created a unit called Rogers' Rangers in 1756 (the first Rangers), and by 1758 the British placed him in charge of all colonial Ranger companies. The Rangers wore distinctive green outfits and developed tactics called "Rogers' Ranging Rules", which the British considered unconventional. These tactics are still in use by Rangers today, including the Green Berets.

Now we are about to enter a new era of unconventional warfare.  Just as Rogers developed tactics, so too can we expect a fresh implementation of counter-terrorist tactics in our time.  But don't expect to immediately see more than the tip of this tactical iceberg. For just as with terrorists, secrecy and surprise will be essential to our success.

In other words, what I'm suggesting is that "our need to know" as a free public citizenry should not descend to an investigative reporting attempt upon each and every tactic employed.  Even though that will be the mass media's instinct, and it is our healthy instinct generally to be sceptical of needless secrecy in government, much of this war must transpire "behind the scenes."

In fact, I would be surprised if the terrorist death count, beyond those that committed suicide in the plane-bombs of 9-11, has not already climbed.

* http://www.acidus.com/rogers.html