Why are people so complacent about terrorism????

Question

First off, I'm not saying that we should all become paranoid about looking for bombers and stuff, but we have to realize that we, as Americans, (sorry I'm excluding others) have a common enemy in Islamic fanatic terrorists. I've seen dozens of people on this site who honestly believe that the US will not ever get attacked again.

Wake up people, lest you be awaken by a bomb ripping through the school across the street from your house (hypothetical).

Answer 1

because odds are, we will slip in the bathtub before we get blown up by terrorists. should we never take a bath? no. i for one choose to live my life normally rather than worry about some random event that may or may not happen. at any rate, what can you do if a car bomb is about to hit a building? you get out of the way as best you can and nothing more.

Answer 2

Good question. When 9-11 hit, everyone grew suddenly aware of how devastating terrorism could be and Osama Bin Laden became a household word. I guess that we've become complacent because the last major attack was five years ago with very little follow up. A country such as Israel experiances terrorism very often, so they keep a heightend sense of caution. In our country we start to feel safe because we trust that we have the proper security to defend us against another attack. In many ways this is dangerous thinking. A thief can enter a house full of sleeping people much easier than vigilent.

Answer 3

So what is it, exactly, that you propose we should do? Run around in the streets, waving our hands, shouting "The terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming . . ."?

Our terror-fighting President has invaded two countries, shredded the Constitution, and broken the law, all with the expressed aim of making Americans safer. But has he succeeded? No, he has not. A recent National Intelligence Estimate, prepared by all of the national intelligence agencies, indicates that the situation has gotten much worse since the invasion of Iraq. The NIE says that the war in Iraq is "breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement."

Interestingly, the NIE also states that the jihadists goal of a Muslim world governed by the ultra-conservative Sharia (Muslim law, akin to the Mosaic law of the Bible) "is unpopular with the vast majority of Muslims," and that "greater pluralism and more responsive political systems in Muslim majority nations would alleviate some of the grievances jihadists exploit." In other words (1) most Muslims do not really want what the jihadists want, and (2) if the US, instead of doing exactly what Bin Laden, et al., says we are going to do, such as attacking oil-rich Muslim countries, would stop their unquestioning support of repressive regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other places, we could go a long way towards "draining the swamp" out of which terrorism arises.

We will probably never be able to eliminate fanaticism from the world. To "770," who said that "radical Islamists have as their goal the Islamization of the whole world," I would counter that radical, and not so radical, Christians have as their goal the Christianization of the whole world. But there are a lot of things we can do, some of which are suggested in the NIE (which I have linked to below), to eliminate the appeal of fanaticism, and particularly its military arm, terrorism.

In the meantime, as several here have suggested, we should just live our lives as normally as possible. There are many common things, such as driving a car, that are much more likely to kill you than a terrorist. According the the Discovery Institute (see link below) your odds of being killed in a car accident are seven times greater than being killed by a terrorist, but I bet you don't worry too much about hopping in your car and running down to Starbucks, do you?

Answer 4

The complacent people are right for once!
All this panic about terrorism only serves the people in power to further their goal of total control of citizens, because many people who otherwise had been protesting kept quiet about the erosion of privacy and other vile laws, for fear of being marked as "supporters of terrorism".
It's just one more of the risks we take every day, like getting into a car, altough the risk there is much bigger than becoming victim of a terrorist attack.

Answer 5

Hve you taken a poll of America? You have seen people on this site who think we will never be attacked again? Who do you think those of us on this site are - a bunch of experts in our fields? this is my first day on this site and I keep asking myself why am I wasting time reading all this trivial. Your advice to wake-up is sure helpful - what the hell does it mean you think we should do? How about saying something specific, like it would be helpful if the morons in congress would greatly improve our border security with our good neighbor Mexico? Can't we find another country to attack so they will become democratic and maybe christian like us good folk? etc.

Answer 6

What can the average person do about it? No one goes about his life worrying about something that he has no control with. Especially in the States - just too big a country. In smaller countries yes there are some actions that can be taken by the ordinary citizen to help counter "terrorism".

Answer 7

When their own community could not be bothered with them self destructing to self extinction in planet of apes.
Why should others worry when they are getting rid of themselves to self extinction in planet of apes.
They were self exposing "Their Elder were rude, Children behave with self lack of knowledge" in planet of apes.
A real jokes in kicking their own butts in making a monkey out of themselves in planet of apes.
While happily singing "For he's a jolly ggod fellow" blindly following the Piped Piper's tune of My way in following The Mummy back to their early graves in planet of apes.

Answer 8

We must be aware that the radical Islamists have as their goal the Islamization of the whole world. The use their terror tactics first in Israel, where they assume that most of the world does not care.

Then they move to the U.S. and England. And you name it.

They must be contained as soon as possible. Iran must not get nuclear weapons.