There are a few reasons that I dwell on the topic of terrorism, but the top reason is that I have struggled my entire life with some sort of fear. The kind of fear the debilitates. And in much the same way anxiety problems used to cause me to make decisions based on fear, Americans (that means citizens, journalists, politicians, etc.) need to give less attention to the fear, and focus our collective energy on standing up to fear. Let’s face it head on and stop the fear-breeding, sensationalism.
Bruce Schneier made a really nice post on his blog about fighting terror with anti-terror, and I think he’s on the right track.
Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories about the plot and the threat. And if we're terrified, and we share that fear, we help. All of these actions intensify and repeat the terrorists' actions, and increase the effects of their terror.[via]
