Ooh, brain food

I just watched this, and I think it's a remarkably succinct description of terrorism and the effects it has. Because terrorists do not have a sufficiently powerful military machine to attack their enemies directly, they use dramatic tactics to instill a disproportionate amount of fear in the societies they oppose.

The role of government in managing terrorism should be to ensure that the fear and panic is not out of proportion with the reality of the situation. Instead, President Bush and political pundits have done the exact opposite, by telling us just how dangerous and evil the terrorists are and how intent they are on killing us and our families.

Frightening people this way is exactly in line with the goals of the terrorists.

And this entire post is entirely in line with me pretty much ripping off Ze Frank. Sorry.