These days it’s terrorism-this and terrorism-that, and I just ignore the lot of it. Even if there were some real and identifiable threat, it’s not worth wasting my life being scared! I’m certainly not going to bring my children up to be constantly afraid of terrorism (or anything else for that matter) unless there is a damn good reason!

As we kinda discussed in an earlier post here, I’m more concerned about governments messing my life up than terrorists.

Recently, while in the middle of a 24 marathon, we joked that we should make a Northern Irish version of 24, where some terrorists have planted a bomb, everyone looks at it going “Oh…a bomb, lemme see?” (etc) and the politicians take 24hours to agree that they’ll sit at a table and talk to each other.

There was fear in the population of N. Ireland in those days (and sometimes even today, when the various groups sporadically attack each other), but that fear was put there by the terrorists. To me, the reaction of the US government has created any fear that might be there. It might sound heartless, and I don’t intend it to so please don’t take it the wrong way, but to the best of my knowledge there has only been three real terrorist attacks on the US in (my) recent memory(*): The first attack on the WTC in the early 90s, The Oklahoma bombing and Sept 11th. Sept 11th was a large attack and killed as many people as 30 years of bombs did here, but it was just one attack and if you aim at a big target, you’ll kill lots of people. I think what I’m saying is that the US government response security wise was a complete overreaction and one that whether intended or not created more fear in the populace than the actual attack did.

I was living in the US on Sept 11th, and I know how truely scared everyone was, but I think that had an appropriate response been made people would have eventually forgotten that fear when they realised that there wasn’t a terrorist hanging around every corner waiting to blow them up, or poison them with anthrax. The population forgot their fear after the Oklahoma bombing and the first WTC attack, so why not after Sept 11th? Constantly bringing up terrorists, terrorism, the threat level has kept the subject in people’s memory for these last 6 years, and I think the cockup about the light things in Boston shows that people, deep down, are still frightened. The threat level meter especially is not a method of helping people, it only possible outcome is telling people that they should be afraid, that they could be next.

As an aside, I wonder how programmes like 24 play on these fears and whether that is for the better or worse
(* like I say, I might be wrong and have forgotten/been unaware of some, but I think my point still stands)

but when I hear “terrorism” I just hear media gimmick , old news, advertisement to sell me more stuff.

in France, we have “vigipirate” (vigilant pirate ?) , everywhere it’s the “vigipirate” program. month after month vigipirate was “reinforced” ( I just love when TV say “the vigipirate program is ‘reinforced’ ” , reinforced in WHAT?? don’t know..) . so there are guards in public administration, in public places, in university, to watch your bags. Policemen in trains stations, sometimes even army.

but whatever, in a few month/years “vigipirate” was just landscape, background, noise, just a thing here. no more concern, no more interest, it’s just plain old news. media can scream it, hurls it, repeat it, to sell cars and perfums with it, it’s just OLD !

it is the same with “terrorism” in america, you are just fed up of the politics and medias, the word has no more meaning. it is depleted. everyone, everywhere just need a new fear.

the main problem is, with media and time : EVERYTHING becomes a GIGANTIC JOKE ! and it is WRONG !

If terror is only a joke this days why does the larger part of the population of (seemingly) every country blindly except terror as an excuse for introducing such laws?