Sept 11: What Are You Afraid Of?

I assume that in my lifetime, I'll see more than a few terrorist attacks like the one that occurred on 9/11. Some will be large, others small. I'm afraid of them, but more in the way that I'm afraid of falling off a cliff when I go hiking up a steep mountain: could happen to me, but it probably won't. What scares me is the way that all of the non-stop terror talk contributes to a deterioration in our national character. Fear makes people more mistrustful, more prejudiced, and less compassionate to their neighbors, local or otherwise. It makes them less likely to participate in politics or join social groups. Labeling others as terrorists trivializes whatever real gripes they have against us in the broad brush of history. It dehumanizes them and paves the way for military campaigns that contribute to an increase in the likelihood of future attacks. It decreases the probability of finding a lasting, non-violent solution to complex international problems.

At the domestic level, talk of terrorists justifies spending more on guns and less on books and infrastructure. Most cities in the U.S. are facing 15 percent budget cuts that will close more libraries and further decrease child education and health care. By 2010, our funding for elementary and secondary education, already in crisis, will be cut by 4.6 billion dollars. This means that 670,000 fewer women and children will receive assistance through the Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program. It also means that 370,000 fewer low income families, the elderly, and the disabled will receive rental assistance. Think it won't affect you? Think again.There are millions of people on the fringes of society being driven into greater despair and desperation because we continue to shred the safety net that every other industrialized nation guarantees as a birthright -- other countries that, long ago, recognized that investment in infrastructure and safety nets are the most effective and the least expensive way to prevent crime and social deterioration.

So, I don't worry so much about being killed in the next terror attack that's supposed to come from "over there" -- the one that gives us the Code Orange at the airport when the threat is presumably elevated. I worry about the Code Red that comes from the kid over here who has no future, no education, and nothing to lose because we have given him no reason to believe that people care about what happens to him. THAT is what we should be afraid of.

A frequent guest on the Today Show and NPR, Dr Coleman has also appeared on ABC 20/20, Good Morning America, the BBC, and numerous news programs for FOX, ABC, and NBC television. His new book, WHEN PARENTS HURT: COMPASSIONATE STRATEGIES WHEN YOU AND YOUR GROWN CHILD DON'T GET ALONG (HarperCollins) was released in July, 2007. Dr. Coleman is an internationally known expert in parenting, couples, families, and relationships with a practice in SF and Oakland and a Senior Fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. Sign up today for Dr. Joshua Coleman's FREE monthly ezine at www.drjoshuacoleman.com or whenparentshurt.com.

Comments

[drjoshuacoleman]

Precisely.

[Potomacker]

Since when do bloggers get to affix their resumes at then end of their 'blog entries?

So, Mr. Coleman, maybe the reason why fear is promoted and exploited by certain members of society is that certain people see it as a means to promote their agenda, personal and even political. Happy 9-11, everybody!

[grendl]

Nineteen men with box cutters pulled off the crime of this young century September 11, 2001. It was a barbaric show of sudden unexpected force, which caught this country by total surprise, as we were just waking up to have our coffee that morning.

It knocked us down as a country, sucker punched us and sent us scurrying for shelter, and answers regarding the identities and motives of our attackers. And they were “ our “ attackers, as this country saw the attacks as one enacted upon all of America not just three thousand people aboard four airplanes and occupying three buildings.

Unlike the attack at Pearl Harbor, however, our president this time did not heed the wisdom imparted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, that “ the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Not meaning we don’t have to fear the terrorist threat, but of letting the fear those attacks instilled in us overwhelm us, and force us to make bad decisions…

Like say invading a country not related to the attacks. And by doing, and failing to sell the story of weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration, and Congress showed the world how truly afraid we were, by some show of outrageous ostentation, as we charged across the Iraqi, seeking to exact vengeance upon an innocent country. Granted a dictator was at its helm, but there were plenty of other despots to choose from.

We didn’t consider the potential repercussions of delivering democracy to a country made up predominantly of oppressed Shia, who hated the Sunnis and Baathist who’d subjugated them for decades. We didn’t consider the power of their religious beliefs, as mistrust of centralized governments, or the fact that they might want some of those oil revenues Saddam Hussein spent building palaces. We didn’t consider anything, really, other than the necessity to show the world we were still number one.

It was an egregious overreaction to a criminal act, which should have been treated as such.


It’s time to stop being afraid. That above all else is the terrorist's primary weapon.

[drjoshuacoleman]

Well said.

[CriminallySane]

We will not likely see hijacked commercial aircraft as terrorist cruise missiles again. There are many other tactics that do not rely on the success of coordinated breaches of "security" to effect large scale disruption.

The next "conventional" attacks will likely be smaller, and more widespread. No way to predict such things exists, let alone to interdict the attackers.

When the nuclear attack comes, it will be in ways that don't have to pass through dockside container screening. I've already mentioned this in earlier posts and feel no need to repeat myself. Suffice it to say the probable means will not be a frontal attack, nor will it rely on making landfall.

[milo9]

I am not afraid, my e-mail is encrypted!