Every other day of the year we hear news of terror and terrorists, and how much our President thinks we should be afraid, but on Halloween we have fun with fear. It can be fun because the fear is real only to the extent that we are willing to suspend disbelief in whatever supernatural concept is contained in a movie, story, or costumed friend.
Real terrorists try to instill fear of something real, something that could conceivably happen to anyone. How they do that depends on what result they hope to achieve, and what they have to work with.
The small groups desperately trying to resist exploitation by powerful nations may kill a number of people, hoping to scare many more. It usually doesn't work very well, because it causes anger as well.
Then, we have the opportunistic politician who uses someone else's terrorist acts to frighten his own people, who he promises to protect, if only the people will give him more power. This seems to work all too well, as we in America have seen over the last 6 years.
Then there's the kind of terror a powerful nation with lots of advanced weapons can inflict on the people of a smaller one. That works sometimes, unless the bigger nation tries to move in and take over the smaller one. Once that happens, the defeated people will continue to fight the invaders with whatever they have, for as long as it takes.
When someone uses fear against us, even if it is only to sell us antibiotic soap, the only answer is to refuse to be afraid. We can do that.
Fear makes us vulnerable to unscrupulous leaders who endanger our freedom with their quest for power, and who endanger many more lives than the original threat ever could.
Happy Halloween everyone.
--captain rat
