The media is reporting yet another possible terrorist tape this week.  My question is this:  Why is this news and why is it being reported?

First of all, a terrorist threat is not news.  We are all well aware, or at least we should be, that there are not very nice people in the world.  People who would kill us just for being Americans.  Or for not being like them.  Or just because they can.  However, some tape does not mean that an attack on America is imminent.  It means that some guy got a hold of a video recorder.  And while some of what we see on tv these days is pretty scary (and that isn't limited to the so-called news), it does not necessarily translate into any sort of real threat to our safety.

The second issue is what exactly constitutes a terrorist.  Webster's Dictionary defines a terrorism as “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.”  Terror.  As in intense fear.  It is not necessarily violence that is the terrorist's weapon, but merely the THREAT of such violence that he uses to try to get his way.  So the media, in reporting these threats and heightening public fear (in an attempt to raise their ratings....), only SERVES the terrorist's purpose.  So, I ask again, WHY are these unsubstantiated and insignificant threats being reported with such frenzy by our media?

Let me put this another way.  The CDC reports that about 41,000 people are killed every year in motor vehicle accidents, and hundreds of thousands more are injured.  While these numbers may surprise you, they do not prevent most of us from going out each day in our cars.  We wear our seat belts, put our children in the appropriate child restraints, drive defensively, and get where we need to go.  We are NOT paralyzed by the fear that, at any instant, we might be in a serious accident.

Just over 3000 people died from the terrorist attacks on 9/11.  Yet, for most of us, the fear of a terrorist attack is much more real than any mild anxiety we might feel about getting in the car.  And when we let that fear change our lives, we are giving up and giving in to the demands of the terrorist.  We forget about our seatbelts - the agencies and people who work every day, serving at home and overseas, who are devoting their lives to help prevent bad people from doing bad things.

By all means, remember 9/11.  But remember the heros of that day, who stood up to the terrorists.  Remember all of the people who are out there keeping you safe.  Turn off your tv (which would be much better used promoting the use of car seats than creating public hysteria), fasten your seatbelt, and go out and live your life.