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posted by mrpg on Thursday March 15 2018, @01:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the like-the-flu dept.

How can we understand the process by which an attack type popularized in the West Bank became the tactic of choice for a white supremacist in the United States? The best way to do so—and to predict the spread of new tactics—may come from an unconventional source: epidemiology, the science of the spread of disease.

[...] Just as in epidemiology, where an outbreak in one area triggers concern in neighboring regions, so too should an outbreak in one operational area serve as a warning to other, geographically related areas. Thus, at this point the outbreak in Israel should have indicated the likelihood that the tactic would spread, at least elsewhere in the region. Here an understanding of vectors is key. A fairly broad definition of a vector is that it is a carrier that transmits a given infectious agent between organisms.

[...] Employing an epidemiological perspective will give security forces and operational planners more time to prepare for the arrival of the tactic and may ultimately save lives. Understanding when the prevalence of a tactic has reached outbreak levels can provide a warning to other operational environments. Monitoring vectors can provide warning of how and where a tactic may spread and whether it is likely that the tactic will reach pandemic or hyperendemic proportions. Even if epidemiological language is not employed, there is still value in an epidemiological approach to describing the prevalence and media coverage of tactics in operating environments.

VEHICLE RAMMING, FROM THE MIDDLE EAST TO CHARLOTTESVILLE: HOW DO TACTICS SPREAD?


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  • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday March 15 2018, @05:35AM (3 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Thursday March 15 2018, @05:35AM (#652788) Journal

    In the US car ramming culture spreads when bad drivers get scared by people waving scary objects at them (an AR15) and then having something hit their car (a flag on a pole) and then being so dumb that you accelerate in any direction from where you are and end up swirving into a crowd to avoid hitting stopped vehicles in front of you.

    We need common sense car regulation to keep bad drivers and easily frightened people from driving.

    --
    Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 15 2018, @09:44AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 15 2018, @09:44AM (#652865)

    This is different to a person deliberately driving a vehicle into a crowd

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 15 2018, @01:58PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 15 2018, @01:58PM (#652936) Journal

    Bu, bu, but . . . judge! I wasn't texting and driving. I was using Twitter!

    Bu, bu, but . . . judge! I didn't deliberately ram a bunch of people with my car. That's the way I normally drive.

    (Frnds don't let frnds txt n drv. A good friend will hold the wheel so the driver can focus on what is important.)

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 15 2018, @02:00PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 15 2018, @02:00PM (#652938) Journal

      Oh, and just to add. My mother in law says: No FAXing and driving. Yes, really.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.