The worst thing we can do now, as we did then, is let our worst fears dictate our actions. The purpose of terrorism is to elicit exactly that kind of behavior.
I found this quote interesting, primarily because it suggests that terrorism is something you see coming.
Now, the way I’ve always understood it, terrorism is the action you don’t suspect. It’s the one you can’t prepare for because you don’t see it coming until it’s there, in your face, with a bomb, or a gun or an airplane. That’s the point of terrorism, isn’t it? Fear of the unknown - never quite sure where they are, what disguise they’ll be wearing or how they’ll attack. It’s like guerilla war for the 21st century.
It’s not Muslim’s trying to build a mosque a few blocks from the WTC ruins (which I personally think is distasteful, but that’s not the point here), it’s clean cut, well-educated, quiet fundamentalists sitting in the suburbs in normal American homes. They’re making grandiose plans while working normal 9-5 American jobs, paying their American taxes, and biding their time until the right moment arrives to teach America another lesson in extremism.
That is terrorism. This whole mosque fiasco is just in bad taste.
