Yes, there were more cops at homecoming, let’s move on. Recently the United States announced a travel warning for all of Europe over concerns about a possible terrorist attack. According to this story, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/17/france.terror.threat/index.html?hpt=T2 France and the UK are particularly worried about attacks. My question is, do active terrorist warnings really help people prepare for terror attacks, or deter “risky” behavior such as traveling to that country? Currently France’s terrorist threat level is at “reinforced red” just below “scarlette red” which sounds slightly intimidating, like a terror attack is probably almost certainly imminent. This is silly. My odds of dying in a car crash are probably far greater, but that doesn’t stop me from getting in a car on an almost daily basis, nor should a government issued warning stop you from traveling around. If terrorists are able to stop us from traveling, and cause us to be scared of being in Western Europe, then they’ve accomplished far more than they should. Not to dimish the reality of terrorist networks, but the various warnings governments propagate feel similar to media propagated terror of sharks in the Summer. They’re there, there’s terrible stories about them, but its highly doubtful they’re going to get you. Am I wrong?
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| This man alone caused a thousand people, ten thousand miles away to change their travel plans. |
Here is a list of countries that the state department has issued travel warnings for:
Pretty much Africa, the Middle East and Mexico
I had no idea that there were that many countries that had travel warnings on them, not that I planned on hopping on a plane to Yemen anytime soon...
ReplyDeleteI really like your take on terrorist attacks. It's interesting to see that you looked at it as just a warning like shark attacks. I definitely agree with you that by making everyone fearful to stop them going about on their daily routines is worse. Living in a state of fear waiting for your government to give the green light seems terrible. If you're going to get attacked, might as well have it happen while doing something you're actually enjoying.
This article is very interesting, and I completely agree with your statement of being if people are afraid to travel, then they have gained far more than they deserve. The chances of death are at the highest percentage with everyday activities. The last thing people should be obsessed with is terrorist attacks. Interesting website too
ReplyDeleteI think that causing wide spread panic is exactly what a terrorist attack entails, if we take the fear out of it, then we take part of the attack out of it. However, if there is a terrorist attack warning, a good way to stop them is to ask thequestion: why would they be attacking us? Try to undersand what could drive someone to do that, and then we can be more preventative by estabolishing a more understanding relationship with the international and national community.
ReplyDeleteI agree because in reality a terrorist attack could happen at any moment. With there probably being so many cells now I do not believe that the government can keep track on many at all. So I too would not stop traveling to where ever I wanted to go. Like mentioned above you more than likely have a better chance of dying in a car accident than a terrorist attack. There is a lot of things that could happen at any moment, terrorist attack being one of them, so you can't live in fear your whole life.
ReplyDeleteYeah, these are definitely not helpful. Since they are random, and rare, why cause unnecessary panic?
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