Home
>
Political
>
The True Power of Terrorism

The True Power of Terrorism

Those of us hundreds of miles from ground zero sat glued to our television sets with horror and disbelief as two of the tallest buildings in the world slowly disintegrated in a violence of dust and death.

Since that bright September morning in 2001, none of us have felt the same. Undergoing an unexpected and brutal national rape, we shuddered at our own vulnerability and defenselessness.

In grief, anger, and frustration, we gathered our tattered dignity around us and vowed repeatedly that it would never happen again. Next time, we would be ready, we would defend ourselves, we would regain our sense of power and invulnerability. We set out resolutely on the journey to make our world safe again.

Security was tightened at airports, border crossings, ports, bridges, and nuclear generating stations. Laws were passed to abridge civil liberties to better fight those out to hurt the United States. Action was implemented in Afghanistan to find the terrorist cells and overthrow their political supporters. The long-standing conventions of war prisoner treatment were abrogated in the name of national security. Iraq was invaded in a preemptive strike to limit the likelihood of future attacks on American soil.

Where has the yearning for security led us?

We have become the enemy. In the hazy logic of the Patriot Act or ethnic profiling at airports and borders, and the specious arguments supporting the treatment protocols at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, America has bought into the mindset of terrorism.

When individuals are kidnapped, psychologically or physically abused, threatened with pain, rape, torture, or death, they become terrified shells of their former selves. Often, they start to identify with their captors, their wills bent to the twisted but all-powerful logic of their oppressors. The prisoner becomes the kapo and exhibits more brutality than his superiors. This is the true price of terrorism: the response it elicits from its victims.

Since all of us are direct or indirect victims of 911, we all need to guard against the mindset we have assumed. We must ask ourselves about our priorities. Is improved safety worth the price of voiding our civil rights? Is the defense against terror worth the abdication of our humanitarian and ethical ideals? Shall we descend to the degradation and torture of our enemies in order to defend our "superior" way of life?

The United States has always, no matter how misguided or hated its temporary policies may have periodically been, stood as a beacon of freedom and fairness in a world too often enslaved and unjust. It is this beacon, this ideal, this dream that millions of American soldiers, through multiple wars over more than 200 years, have fought and died for. It is too precious to be obliterated by a suicide bomb or hijacked airplanes flying into buildings. It will flicker and die only when the values it represents no longer exist.

It has been imperiled before: in the sacking of Washington, the internal convulsions of the Civil War, the formalized institution of slavery, the destruction of Native American cultures, the seizure of Panama, the machinations of McCarthyism, the dropping of the atomic bomb. Somehow, lady liberty was able to dust herself off and recapture the inspiration and vision she represents to the world.

Now she faces her biggest challenge yet: surviving intact in a prevailing climate of fear. There have been wars before where too many young men died before their time. This time, the disturbed sleep of the watchful, wary soldier in his bivouac has moved into the bedroom of suburbia. We no longer feel safe, agonizing over the vulnerability of our children and loved ones. We watch the danger alerts turn different colors and know that sometime, somewhere, another strike will come.

The long heritage of openness, personal liberties, restraint, innocence until guilt is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, and the willingness to defend those rights to the death, has dissolved into the murk of security above freedom, life above ideals, and apathy above involvement. We invade each other's privacy as a mechanism of defense. We abuse and humiliate our prisoners in the name of preventing their future abuse and humiliation of us. We expand our "no fly" lists to close that traditionally-open golden door. We shut down our borders lest a terrorist lurks among the tired, poor masses.

A post-911-world will never be as innocent as before, no more than the permanent changes wrought by the assassination of President Kennedy or the bombing of Pearl Harbor could be avoided. Reaction to tragic, horrifying events is inevitable, both personally and politically. It is when that reaction becomes the basis for major decisions and colors how laws are interpreted, ethics are enforced, and relationships are developed that we must step back and look at our deep-rooted principles and identify where they have become warped and withered.

It is when we look at the world through the eyes of those who hate and threaten us that we see the true power of terrorism: not to destroy us but to assimilate us. That is when the terrorists will know that they have truly won.

Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a monthly ezine, The Worker's Edge, she can be reached at http://www.virginiabola.com

local house cleaners Park Ridge ..

In The News:

Kodiak Driver autonomous truck achieves perfect 98 safety score, matching top human fleets in groundbreaking AI evaluation by Nauto's VERA system.

New 401k catch-up contribution rules in 2026 will change taxes for high earners over 50. Learn how scammers exploit these changes and protect your retirement savings.

Kurt Knutsson's guide covers social media privacy protection through location settings, account privacy controls and two-factor authentication to prevent scams and data breaches.

Revolutionary retinal implant restores central vision in 80% of patients with advanced macular degeneration, offering hope where treatments once only slowed blindness.

Learn how to use passkeys on Windows and Mac computers without cameras or fingerprint readers. Discover secure authentication methods that replace passwords.

Tesla's FSD v14.1.2 update reintroduces Mad Max mode, enabling higher speeds and more frequent lane changes than the standard Hurry profile setting.

A phishing email scam targeting American Express customers shows how cybercriminals use fake urgent messages to steal personal and financial information.

Facebook's new Meta AI feature analyzes your camera roll photos to create polished collages automatically, but requires cloud processing and raises privacy concerns.

A New Jersey teenager filed a major lawsuit against AI/Robotics Venture Strategy 3 Ltd. over ClothOff, an AI tool that created fake nude images from her social media photos.

Microsoft reports Storm-2657 cybercriminals sent phishing emails to 6,000 addresses at 25 universities to steal payroll credentials and redirect funds.

Astronomers have discovered asteroid 2025 SC79, a skyscraper-sized space rock orbiting the sun in just 128 days. the second-fastest known.

The Fox News AI Newsletter delivers the latest developments form the world of artificial intelligence, including the technology's challenges and opportunities.

A cyberattack on SimonMed Imaging exposed personal information of 1.2 million patients, including medical records, financial details and identity papers.

Spotify's managed accounts for kids under 13 now available in at least seven countries, allowing parents to filter and block explicit content and songs.

Friendly text conversations about BBQs and social events can lead to WEEX gold trading scams that target older adults with fake investment opportunities.

California company Skyeports creates self-healing glass spheres from Moon regolith that generate solar power and support plant growth for sustainable lunar living.

Cleafy researchers discover fake VPN streaming app Mobdro Pro that installs Klopatra banking Trojan, giving attackers full control over Android devices.

Police departments across the U.S. and Canada are adopting virtual reality training to better prepare officers for high-pressure, real-world situations.

House Bill 469 would prevent AI systems from owning property, serving as executives, or gaining legal personhood in Ohio under Representative Thaddeus Claggett's proposal.

Public voter records expose retirees' personal details to election scammers who create targeted cons using names, addresses, and voting history data.

Instead of fearing what comes next with artificial intelligence, think outside the box. Here are high-earning AI jobs that don't require a computer science degree.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says polite words like "please" and "thank you" cost millions annually, while direct prompts may improve ChatGPT accuracy by several points.

Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat exposed intimate conversations and photos, revealing users spent up to $18,000 on AI companions before the breach.

New Instagram parental controls allow families to manage teen screen time and content limits through the Family Center with stricter safety settings.

Third-party security breach at Discord exposes sensitive user information including government IDs, highlighting cybersecurity risks from external service providers.

The True Power of Terrorism

Political