A terrorist running in and blowing up the gas station you work at in the backwoods of Colorado just isn't going to happen, for example. If you live outside a really major metropolitan area like New York, Chicago, or L.A., I'd say there is about ZERO threat of a terrorist attack coming your way at all. What of the people that do live in these heavily populated target areas though? Al Qaeda is broken, their training facilities destroyed, its members scattered. The attacks on September 11th failed to rally the support from the Muslim community Bin Laden had hoped for, and instead had an opposite reaction, giving Al Qaeda members fewer places to hide, for any nation knowingly harboring them fears the wrath of America might turn their direction. Bin Laden is just playing the Black Knight from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" right now. His arms and legs have been chopped off, yet he continues to trash talk like he is an almighty threat to our nation. I don't deny the possibility of the unknown, that there is still a terrorist threat lurking out there, and for that I am grateful for our heightened security efforts, but the American people are making a mountain out of a molehill. And in the extremely unlikely event that you find yourself in the middle of another terrorist attack, what exactly is that duct tape going to do for you? I suppose if you were MacGuyver, you could quickly fashion a hang glider out of the plastic sheets with some duct tape, use some rubber bands to make a really big slingshot, and take the batteries out of the flashlight to power a small propeller to give you some additional thrust as you try to fly out of harm's way. But seriously, folks. Get a grip on reality.
3.19.2003
COMENTARY - But... what am I going to do with all this duct tape?
Apparently, the entire nation shares the foolish notion that a.) IF there is another terrorist attack, then the entire country is somehow going to simultaneously blow up, and b.) flashlights, plastic sheets, and duct tape are going to save them when this happens. Let's think about this for a second. Sure, the threat of a terrorist attack does exist. However, it has been blown way out of proportion to the point that Americans everywhere are needlessly living in fear of it. It is true that terrorist attacks have different objectives than military attacks, holding an agenda with different priority targets which typically encompass government facilities, large public gatherings, or crowded buildings in major cities, where they can do the most damage. This is a frightening thought for civilians. But this really encompasses only a very small percentage of locations in the U.S. A terrorist running in and blowing up the gas station you work at in the backwoods of Colorado just isn't going to happen, for example. If you live outside a really major metropolitan area like New York, Chicago, or L.A., I'd say there is about ZERO threat of a terrorist attack coming your way at all. What of the people that do live in these heavily populated target areas though? Al Qaeda is broken, their training facilities destroyed, its members scattered. The attacks on September 11th failed to rally the support from the Muslim community Bin Laden had hoped for, and instead had an opposite reaction, giving Al Qaeda members fewer places to hide, for any nation knowingly harboring them fears the wrath of America might turn their direction. Bin Laden is just playing the Black Knight from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" right now. His arms and legs have been chopped off, yet he continues to trash talk like he is an almighty threat to our nation. I don't deny the possibility of the unknown, that there is still a terrorist threat lurking out there, and for that I am grateful for our heightened security efforts, but the American people are making a mountain out of a molehill. And in the extremely unlikely event that you find yourself in the middle of another terrorist attack, what exactly is that duct tape going to do for you? I suppose if you were MacGuyver, you could quickly fashion a hang glider out of the plastic sheets with some duct tape, use some rubber bands to make a really big slingshot, and take the batteries out of the flashlight to power a small propeller to give you some additional thrust as you try to fly out of harm's way. But seriously, folks. Get a grip on reality.
A terrorist running in and blowing up the gas station you work at in the backwoods of Colorado just isn't going to happen, for example. If you live outside a really major metropolitan area like New York, Chicago, or L.A., I'd say there is about ZERO threat of a terrorist attack coming your way at all. What of the people that do live in these heavily populated target areas though? Al Qaeda is broken, their training facilities destroyed, its members scattered. The attacks on September 11th failed to rally the support from the Muslim community Bin Laden had hoped for, and instead had an opposite reaction, giving Al Qaeda members fewer places to hide, for any nation knowingly harboring them fears the wrath of America might turn their direction. Bin Laden is just playing the Black Knight from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" right now. His arms and legs have been chopped off, yet he continues to trash talk like he is an almighty threat to our nation. I don't deny the possibility of the unknown, that there is still a terrorist threat lurking out there, and for that I am grateful for our heightened security efforts, but the American people are making a mountain out of a molehill. And in the extremely unlikely event that you find yourself in the middle of another terrorist attack, what exactly is that duct tape going to do for you? I suppose if you were MacGuyver, you could quickly fashion a hang glider out of the plastic sheets with some duct tape, use some rubber bands to make a really big slingshot, and take the batteries out of the flashlight to power a small propeller to give you some additional thrust as you try to fly out of harm's way. But seriously, folks. Get a grip on reality.