Editor's Blog Aug 03rd 2012
The bogeyman is back, and is just over the frontier…
It’s been a while since the bogeyman has been mentioned. Sorry, let me explain myself. Parents over the ages have told their kids about the bogeyman, if you don’t do your homework the bogeyman will come and get you, if you don’t eat your vegetables then the bogeyman will come and get you, and if you don’t believe in the bogeyman, he will come and get you.
I find myself, now well over two decades later, after hearing so much about the bogeyman, thinking I hear about him every day. Al-Qaeda, without a doubt, today’s bogeyman! He’s everywhere, he wants to get you and if you don’t do what we tell you, he will get you!
Governments have used Al Qaeda as a great tool for control, I am not taking anything away from them, as a terrorist organisation they have succeeded in creating mass terror globally, however, as the bogeyman, the government in the US have used it as a great way to be able to track every person entering, leaving and travelling around the US by plane.
Now I have nothing to hide, so I don’t mind having a passport, with a chip, maybe some biometrics (which I think are now in the system since I used one of the quick passport clearance machines in Gatwick).
They also used the bogeyman as a reason to invade Afghanistan too… The US saw fit to use another bogeyman, Saddam and his “weapons of mass destruction”.
Organised religions have always used forms of the bogeyman to control the masses… The devil, hell… That’s as deep in to religion as I am prepared to go…
In less than 24 hours here in Gibraltar, we have gone from a peaceful, cocooned nest, to suddenly becoming a hive of activity. Cars on fire, new Mayor, Guardia Civil incursions and even terrorists across the border. Raids here in Gibraltar, and as one of the YGTV fans said on our Facebook wall, “it’s like Gotham City” and that comment was made before we found out about the terrorists!
I think it’s great that we caught these people before anything happened, be it here in Gibraltar, in Spain or anywhere for that matter. The important part to realise is that there are extremists everywhere. There are, unfortunately, terrorists in a lot of countries and it has been said before “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter!”
Talking about Al-Qaeda, BBC News released a story about an Al Qaeda attack in Baghdad… This is what Al-Qaeda is up to:
“With Sunni Muslim militants trickling into neighbouring Syria to battle President Bashar al-Assad, security experts say al Qaeda is reaping funds, recruits and better morale on both sides of the border, reinvigorating it after years of losses against US forces and their Iraqi allies.”
Remember, my point isn’t that Al Qaeda aren’t bad, it’s that depending on who you listen to the bogeyman is always someone different. For example, according to the GSD, the GSLP are the bogeymen and vice versa. The bogeyman has and always will be around us, usually there is even more than one of them.
Maybe the bogeyman is back after all…
Written in the sand, with a stick, before high tide, by Eddie.
