The Terrorists Have Won

If the goal of terrorism is to instill fear into an enemy, then the terrorists have won, no question about it.  A recent news article describes an incident in California where a piece of luggage set off an alarm in the baggage screening area.  Some bottles of a suspicious-looking liquid were found.  Two people who opened the bottles smelled some sort of chemical odor.  They became ill and were sent to the hospital.  After being checked out, they were released.

Turns out, the bottles contained honey.  This is an ongoing problem, our freaking out over mysterious liquids or powders.  It is true that some miscreants try to kill people by blowing them up, poisoning them, or infecting them with dreadful diseases.  We do need to be careful about what we allow through our airports and onto our planes.  However, we also need to avoid panic.

What we've got is an almost useless security apparatus in place.  We freak out over honey, shut down the affected airport for hours, delay the owner of the honey, and so on.  In the meantime we let some known extremist, about whom we've had warnings, get onto a plane while wearing explosive underpants.  That bomber's efforts failed, but only through sheer dumb luck.  He might well have brought the plane down.

People say that they're OK with the intrusive, humiliating, and inconvenient security checks because they're willing to endure these in order to be safe.  But how safe are they?  These checks offer an illusion of safety, without actually providing it.  The fact that terror threats are extremely rare is the only reason why there haven't been more tragedies.  You're more likely to die of the flu, than of a terror attack.  You're more likely to suffer a fatal heart attack, than die in a terror attack.

You really can't do much about the terror attacks.  You can do much to avoid heart disease.  However, most of us spend far more time worrying about terror than about our hearts.  We are afraid.  That is what the terrorists wanted.