If We Ever Wanted to Do Something to Stop the Spread of Extremism Now is the Time to Act

I was just reading another article about the continued shortfalls in aid to Pakistan.  If basic human decency isn't enough to motivate us the opportunity to give aid in order to reduce the influence and counter the message of extremists should be enough.

What baffles me is that we can spend trillions on killing people and attempting to force them to conform to our expectations but when a situation arrives that gives us an opportunity to prove our good faith we can't muster the will to intervene on a grand scale.

[Edit: The Lede has a list of organizations accepting donations]
[Update: A more complete article is now available.  I really think we are making a major mistake in the US by not intervening much more heavily.  We could make up the entire aid shortfall on our own.  It would be well worth it.  Far more valuable than an equivalent amount of military spending at the very least.]

A Counter-Terrorism Strategy That Just Might Work

While this post is meant to be funny, I really do believe this is the only type of approach that has a long term chance of success. The war on terrorism is what a culture war really looks like and it should be fought with the same tools that we ultimately use to fight culture wars over small bore nonsense at home. The only real way to combat terrorism is to change the culture that creates it, military efforts do nothing but combat the symptoms (which is necessary but ultimately a war without end and futile). To be clear, this culture isn't Islam, it's any ideology that valorizes itself and explains away its failings through a militant worldview. Military action only confirms and strengthens this world view making it futile as a tool to win it. Comedy, and other cultural creations, are the only way to win this fight in the long run. Though cultural shift does take a long time, this is a culture war that will last decades and centuries. But simply addressing the symptoms will be indefinite.