Tell it like it is.

12 people have been arrested for possible terrorism offences. In the information vacuum the BBC and other news outlets are desperately speculating to try and fill up the otherwise empty air. At the same time they are making the people arrested seem as important as possible and making scaring the viewer as much as they can.

First up the people arrested are described as "members of al-Qaeda". I don't think they can be can they ? It's not like the Famous Five club of yore - I don't think you get a badge with a picture of Ozzsie Bin-laden on it do you ? Al-Qaeda isn't something you join, that's the main problem the Western World has with it. No formal structure. No branch offices. That's what makes it much harder to break up. Even Smersh in the James Bond films has administrators and filing cabinets. Here we are dealing with an ideology which is pretty hard to nail down.

Another great quote is "It may have involved an improvised explosive device, security expert Peter Taylor added." or not. You are just guessing. Mind you "improvised explosive device" is a pretty broad description meaning "a bomb not made by a proper arms manufacturer" so he's not stupid as there's a good chance of being right. Even if all this is is a group of idiots talking big you can be pretty certain they will be chuffed if people think they can manage to make something that could go bang.

My favorite though is that one of the people who has been arrested is described by his landlord as "a good boy who goes to the mosque five times a day.". What ?! 5 times a day ?! Wouldn't a better description of this guy be a "jobless loser who has nothing much to do all day." Anyone who goes to any religious service five times a day when he/she isn't being paid to do so should come under suspicion and probably be arrested and made to do something useful.

The thing is with this amount of religious fervour is that the person doing the praying has taken their God given life and decided to waste it, preferring to spend all their time getting ready for an afterlife. Never mind looking after their fellow man, they are saying "Stuff you, I want to book a cloud.".

Now I'm pretty certain that any celestial being had something rather more involved in mind when creating the human race. We weren't meant to spend all day praying, especially when this would mean being supported by a community who we than despise as sinners. OK, so this has happened throughout history from monasteries being supported by starving peasants to today's job seekers allowance being handed to out 5 times a day friend. The thing is, would you want to go to heaven if that meant spending all the time telling God how great he (religious nuts all call God, He) is ? That doesn't sound very nice to me and God is supposed to be nice I thought.

No, the way to defeat terrorists is to point out what they really are - losers with no friends other than other nut cases. The whole movement is appealing to the sort of idiot who has no power or future and sees a loony tunes sect as a way of feeling like a big man rather than being a werdo who people laugh at. By hyping up potential terrorists we give them power and turn them into modern day bogey men who children should hide under the bedclothes from.

Ridicule is a weapon and we should use it more often rather than pointing it at people who aren't doing anyone any harm.