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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 6, 2004 Who's afraid of terrorism? Top causes of American deaths since Sept. 11, 2001 Tobacco 1.3 million Poor Diet / Physical Inactivity 1.2 million Alcohol 255,000 Motor Vehicle Crashes 130,000 Suicide 90,000 Homicide 60,000 Illicit Drug Use 50,000 Terrorism 3,000 source: www.csdp.org By Rob Asghar There is a reason they call it "terrorism." They do not call it Destructism, Got-Crushed-ism, or End-of-the-World-ism. They call it plain, old, lower-case terror-ism-because in the end, the damage that is inflicted is more emotional than actual. Like a smack-talking sports opponent, its very goal is to get inside your head and distract you from your purpose. And in that sense, the so-called war on terror and its tangential $150 billion Iraq escapade has been less of a success than President Bush and neoconservatives would have you believe. Both political parties played irresponsible games with terror during the recent election season. George Bush accused John Kerry of acting as though terrorism could be treated as just a nuisance, and John Edwards pounced on Bush for admitting (in a rare televised moment of political sobriety) that a war on terror cannot be "won." It's obvious that our moral and political calculus is out of whack. But, hey, it's not easy to launch a War on Suicide, and it's certainly not a political rallying point. So, meek everyday people now describe themselves as "liberal hawks;" people who were pacifistic are now preemptive; all logic, all sense of proportion, has been lost. "What if it could be my kids?" American soccer moms and security moms ask nervously. That's exactly what the terrorists want us to believe - that our kids' lives will be more affected by their tiny band of ne'er-do-wells than by far greater menaces. And they want us as Americans to bankrupt ourselves for "safety's sake," like Reagan egging the Soviets on to bankruptcy. Never mind that we will, in the process, end up doing various things to make our children's lives less safe, such as getting even the Canadians to hate us. We managed far greater day-to-day terror in the past. The Soviet Evil Empire could incinerate the planet at the drop of a hat, either purposefully or accidentally. We worried less about that than about Afghani bumpkins - that's why we called it a Cold War, and that is why Kennedy and Reagan did not position themselves as "wartime" presidents. There are certainly actions to be taken against terrorism, but most of these are prudent ones that don't garner applause for "toughness." But responsible and prudent acts performed in twilight don't hold the American public's interest, so savvy politicians instead choose grandstanding - even if it is done at our ultimate peril. One can look to the past to glimpse the future. Organizational expert Peter Drucker noted that the 19th century was characterized politically by the term laissez-faire - until the 1873 Vienna stock-market crash, which caused a panic in New York, London, Paris and beyond. The next few decades saw radical forms of government meddling, capped by the ascent of Marxism. The irony, Drucker has observed, is this: The Vienna crash was a "non-event," and in fact, "the economy of the Western world had recovered 18 months later." But not in enough time to prevent chaos from prompting an over-correction. Today, foreign forces of organized chaos have sparked panic and paranoia and bluster and bravado, but not a reasonable response. The terrorists haven't "won" a war, but they are winning a few more battles than we have acknowledged. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Isotoner Slippers Dsw Shoes Ciara Lyrics & Pictures libor rate Radiotelephone Communication Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Calendar lil jon eastside boyz Citibank Student Loans Acs Loan Matchmaking & Dating Scripts Adventure Travel Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems The game rapper Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams