Here's a game the whole family can play. Pick any warning of a domestic terrorist attack issued by the U.S. Homeland Security Department, and replace the word "terrorist" throughout with some other frightening word. It greatly enhances the entertainment value of the statement without substantially changing its credibility.
Take, for example, Secretary Tom Ridge's recent warning that various "iconic" financial institutions on the East Coast would be on Orange Alert until - oh, probably well into November. Now do the substitution: "Let me be clear: While we have raised the threat level for the financial services sector in the affected communities, the rest of the nation remains at an elevated, or Code Yellow, risk of vampire attack.... The vampires should know (that) in this country, this kind of information, while startling, is not stifling. It will not weaken the American spirit, etc., etc." It works just as well if you substitute the word "werewolves" or "zombies" or even "aliens with anal probes."
...It's much more effective politically to portray them as faceless demons driven by a love of evil and an unmotivated hatred of Americans. When Basque ETA terrorists blow things up in Spain, or Tamil Tiger suicide bombers do the same in Sri Lanka, the target population knows that its attackers are real people with specific and limited political objectives. The terrorists that the Department of Homeland Security purports to be defending Americans against could easily be the baddies in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
...What you should not be able to do is to portray terrorism as the greatest danger facing Americans today. Americans face a bigger risk of drowning in the bath than of being killed by terrorists, and a far greater risk of dying by falling down the stairs. Even in the tragic month of September 2001, just as many Americans died in highway accidents as from terrorist attacks, and almost as many died of gunshot wounds.
The other thing I'd point out, is that it really doesn't work that well anymore. The first time I saw "The Exorcist" in a movie theater, the audience let out audilbe gasps as they first took in the next antic of the demon-possessed little girl, but then the gasp turned into giggling.
So it is with al Qaeda. We want to get them, but we just aren't really scared by them.
Besides, the Bush regime can do far more damage if they're allowed to continue in office.
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