Last December I read in the Gulf Times, Qatar’s English daily newspaper, that China was removing the word thoughts from their definition of terrorism. Thoughts do have consequences but once expressed they become speech. So how do you prove that someone is having terrorist thoughts? Well, in China you do not need much evidence to arrest anyone who, in their view, is plotting against the government. It is practically impossible to tell when someone is having criminal thoughts unless you have “precogs”, like in the film Minority Report, that help you predict crimes before they are committed. The same goes for animals. How can you tell what a dog, like Mia for instance, is thinking? We think that her thoughts are usually about food and smells, but that’s only a presumption.
Here is the newspaper clipping of the news and a short movie of Mia deep in thought. Can you guess what she’s thinking about? Certainly not terrorist thoughts. Enjoy.
So called “justification” for outrageous misbehavior has always been around in politics, government, religion, and power. The question that needs answering is, what to do about it? Many articles, such as the one you refer to, point out the problem and in China there is little or no recourse against such harmful nonsense. I wish news outlets and social media in the free world would focus on SOLUTIONS to problems (both practical solutions that can be applied in a micro way by individuals and small groups and political solutions that can be collectively applied to the macro by populations and political organizations). Still I find great macro minds like Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and some lesser minds with the mostly right ideas and a big voice, like say, Russell Brand, are still best at merely pointing out what’s wrong more than the more useful how to fix it. People want to know what to do, don’t they? Exactly WTF can be DONE? Where are the big thinkers on that? Who can get that ball rolling in the USA, across Europe, and around the world?
I think Mia was processing smells…
Sins by thought are what kept me out of the Catholic Church, even though i could’ve confessed and been exonerated, it seemed like a lot of work…
Well actually , for Mia, it’s well known that she only think about one thing: food. And in this particular case, it can sometimes take place into a category near terror.