stefano´s blog

Welcome to my blog. I did this blog in Nr.Hide class and you are all welcome, and I hope you like it.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Panic caused by Terrorism

“The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act. And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.” (*1).

There are many things to learn about terrorism such as it has different causes, consequences, manifestations, and levels of intensity. Being prepared and vigilant is a good thing. Sticking your head in the sand and ignoring a threat is dumb. Denying the terrorist and panic is the first step in defeating terrorism.

According to many people, terrorism affects almost everyone on earth and many people change their behaviour due to terrorism. But many others think that combating this panic is the duty of each and every citizen. And helping other citizens to fight this fear is the duty of every citizen.

I think that we, civilians that are not killed, really are not the targets of terrorists because we get terrorized for the killing. But many more people die in a car crash, in street violence and in an aerial accident, than from terrorists. Yet, people do not fear their cars, going out of home or travel. Common people are more afraid of things like diseases -heart disease, the flu, diabetes-, prescription drugs, drunk drivers, strokes, crazy people, natural phenomena, and others. They all kill more people each year than terrorism.

Although the news and the colors of terror threat alert level, I think that we don’t get terrorized for long. I have seen and heard that in many places as Cartagena, the common people don't care about threat levels for a long time. After a terrorism attack, our daily routine do not change. Maybe, this is because of the idea that people react after an extraordinary thing occurs. The world is not a safe, happy place but we live the nice little world our parents have made for us. And if we are free of fear, terrorism doesn't work, but if we are scared and depressed because of terrorism, we cannot control ourselves and the situations we could live, and finally, we can get sick and die, not due to a terrorism act, but of nervous-caused disease.

I consider that if the government work on creating good strategies for studying the causes of terrorism- as other crimes such as illegal drugs and prostitution-, for poor social services, for environmental problems, international politics, etc., instead of creating panic, we would have a different attitude to the subject. These cause of terrorism include contributions on the psychological roots, political explanations, economic factors, religion, and culture. (*3).

Education and good leadership are important in preventing panic during a terrorist campaign. Here, the communication means are important as they can give a good and real information and explanation. Thus, if all the governments teach about all these, maybe there would be more conscious people and we would live in a respectable and fair world.

*1. net127.com/2006/08/24/what-the-terrorists-want/ -

*2. english.safe-democracy.org/causes/ - 24k

*3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_Security_Advisory_System_-_43k