Fear of Terrorism

BondWoman and I were talking this morning about how there is a climate of fear of terrorism around these days, and how that it is odd that we don't fear the many other things that are more likely to kill us, the drunk driver, the random nutter etc. etc. I remember having paid many visits to London douring the 70's and 80's when the IRA were at their most active, and there did not seem to be the same fear of terrorism that there is now; of course everyone was wary and aware that a bomb could go off at any time. I think that the difference is the way in which such incidents are handled these days, both by government and the press, particularly the scaremongering tabloids. One relatively effective tool then was the denial of publicity to the IRA, although the BBC et al found ways around it, which is far less possible these days with the development of the technology that makes the immediacy of news, and the communication of ideas, so much easier. As far as I can see governments are guilty of mishandling the whole terrorist thing by declaring a "War on Terror" and all of the rhetoric that surrounds it; this is simply playing into the hands of the fanatics, and providing them with the material to justify their claims and actions. Let's see this for what it is, it is not a "War", that is simply dignifying what is no more nor less than murder, whether it be one or a hundred people killed it is still a criminal act defined as murder, and should be seen as such. The stupid thing to me is that we do not learn the lessons of the past; we continue to feed the fanatics with all of the rhetoric upon which their perverted views feed, instead of taking a step back and asking ourselves why young British men feel that they are so isolated from society that they feel the need to kill not only themselves but to take many other lives at the same time. As I say, these were young British men, they were not "the nasty foriegners who are here illegally" that the bloody tabloids would have us believe are the threat to our security; this tells me that we somewhere down the line we have failed in our societal duties, because if we had not such people would not feel so marginalised from society that they feel the need to commit such atrocities.