Convenient
Saw a headline just now, breaking news about how an 'Iran-Tied Terror Plot [was] Disrupted in Washington, D.C.' Now, I'm not saying any presidential administration would amplify threats or refuse to give benefits of doubt anymore than any of the rest of us would, but isn't it nice that if they want to they can? It becomes so much easier in an environment where that's acceptable to impose one's will on anyone who might rock boats than it is having to, say, assume innocence until guilt is proven. I get that it's scary waiting for someone to actually attack and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they need to be dealt with, but if appropriate precautions have been taken, one is on one's guard without being on the defensive, aware and protective of one's vulnerabilities without jumping the gun to, "I know you intend to hurt me so I'm gonna hurt you first," attacks can be met and weathered without taking damage and the attackee is then in the best possible position to deal with the actual threat quickly and definitively, to put it down in such a way that that or any other potential aggressor will have to think twice about trying again.
I realize that's a monumental task for the federal government, trying to be aware of 300,000,000 sets of attitudes and choices at any given time just within their own borders, not to mention a few billion around the world, which might be an indication that terrorism is another thing that ought to be dealt with more locally. A community knows who within it is a little unstable - take that if you will as a comment on whether neighborhoods in which people don't know their neighbors is truly a community - and who's a real threat. High-level government officials might know a big threat when they see it, but by the time it's gotten to that point there have been millions of indicators from each of the people involved in that scheme that something is goin' down, and if those people had been dealt with locally there'd be no one left to carry out the greater threat. I'm not talkin' about vigilante justice, but about community interdependence in squeezing out corruption and refusing to give it the fodder it needs to grow. Shunning can be a highly effective, non-violent means of discipline, but for it to work well it has to be based upon actual behaviors, not perceived threats, and it can't be meant as punishment. A functioning society requires a common code of conduct, not conformity (in any society of which I'd want to be a part), but adherence to such principles as mutual respect and honesty. Those who won't engage that way, if they find themselves quietly shunted to the fringes or even expelled through the natural forces that occur in healthy social groups, will either learn or will be ineffectual in any attacks they might formulate and try to carry through. But that won't happen as long as we all take lacksadaisical attitudes and expect the Feds (or the laws, or the cops, or anyone or -thing else that is not ourselves) to protect us.
If you're saying, "Well, that might work here, but how do we get the Iranians to follow suit toward threats against us?" I think that's as simple as finding ways to be good neighbors with Iran rather than doing everything we can to make people around the world think of us as tyrants and oppressors. We don't have to agree with everything they do or think or worship to seek out the things and interests we do have in common. We're all human; surely we share some goals. If we work together toward those we can develop a sense of camaraderie that will make us feel protective rather than hateful toward one another, we'll work harder at resolving conflicts rather than each just trying to impose our own will and subjugate anyone else's. The global community could start to behave as though it's all grown up, and when the aliens come they'll find a place they might like to visit, rather than just blow it up or make it a garbage dump 'cause obviously there's no intelligent life. Intelligent life seeks and allows for natural balance, symbiosis and inter-, not codependence. Life that's too meek survives only in niches, and life that's too aggressive runs out of resources at some point, neither of which is a particularly intelligent approach, and both of which we as humans foster heavily in our mindsets at this particular juncture in history. If we want the Iranians not to want to kill us, we might start by not killing them so much.I mean, I know it's all the rage to be cynical and sarcastic and ever-so-smart-assed, but then we don't get to be surprised when other people and nations meet us with snark, ill will, and just plain old disdain. Just sayin'. :)
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