2018-02-23 18:58:03 +00:00
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created_at: '2011-07-17T15:20:15.000Z'
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title: Refuse to be terrorized (2006)
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url: http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2006/08/71642
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author: iwwr
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points: 205
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story_text: ''
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comment_text:
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num_comments: 85
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story_id:
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story_title:
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story_url:
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parent_id:
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created_at_i: 1310916015
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_tags:
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- story
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- author_iwwr
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- story_2773426
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objectID: '2773426'
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2018-06-08 12:05:27 +00:00
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year: 2006
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2018-02-23 18:58:03 +00:00
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---
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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On Aug. 16, two men were escorted off a plane headed for Manchester,
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England, because some passengers thought they looked either Asian or
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Middle Eastern, might have been talking Arabic, wore leather jackets,
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and looked at their watches – and the passengers refused to fly with
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them on board.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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[The
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men](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401419%E2%88%88page_id=1770)
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[were
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questioned](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/5267884.stm) for
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several hours and then released.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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On Aug. 15, an entire airport terminal was evacuated because someone's
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cosmetics
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[triggered](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/17/national/main1906433.shtml)
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a false positive for explosives. The same day, a Muslim man was
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[removed](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/08/18/doctor-winnipeg.html)
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from an airplane in Denver for reciting prayers. The Transportation
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Security Administration decided that the flight crew overreacted, but he
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still had to spend the night in Denver before flying home the next day.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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The next day, a Port of Seattle terminal was evacuated because a couple
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of dogs gave a [false
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alarm](http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/08/16/100wir_port1.cfm) for
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explosives.
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On Aug. 19, a plane made an [emergency
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landing](http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/15321870.htm)
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in Tampa, Florida, after the crew became suspicious because two of the
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lavatory doors were locked. The plane was searched, but nothing was
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found. Meanwhile, a man who tampered with a bathroom smoke detector on a
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flight to San Antonio was
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[cleared](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-20-fbi-passenger_x.htm)
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of terrorism, but only after having his house searched.
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On Aug. 16, a woman suffered a panic attack and became violent on a
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flight from London to Washington, so the plane was
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[escorted](http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/08/17/1155407916156.html)
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to the Boston airport by fighter jets. "The woman was carrying hand
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cream and matches but was not a terrorist threat," said the TSA
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spokesman after the incident.
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And on Aug. 18, a plane flying from London to Egypt made an [emergency
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landing](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6024132,00.html)
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in Italy when someone found a bomb threat scrawled on an air sickness
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bag. Nothing was found on the plane, and no one knows how long the note
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was on board.
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I'd like everyone to take a deep breath and listen for a minute.
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The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a
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political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists
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kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up
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planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just
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tactics.
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The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who
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are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point
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of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act.
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And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.
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We're all a little jumpy after the recent arrest of 23 terror suspects
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in Great Britain. The men were reportedly plotting a liquid-explosive
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attack on airplanes, and both the press and politicians have been
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trumpeting the story ever since.
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In truth, it's doubtful that their plan would have succeeded;
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[chemists](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/print.html)
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[have](http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200608/msg00087.html)
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[been](http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/14/tatp_about_that_pyro.html)
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[debunking](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2306994,00.html)
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the idea since it became public. Certainly the suspects were [a long way
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off](http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/10/us.security/index.html) from
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trying: None had bought airline tickets, and some didn't even have
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passports.
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Regardless of the threat, from the would-be bombers' perspective, the
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explosives and planes were merely tactics. Their goal was to cause
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terror, and in that they've succeeded.
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Imagine for a moment what would have happened if they had blown up 10
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planes. There would be canceled flights, chaos at airports, bans on
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carry-on luggage, world leaders talking tough new security measures,
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political posturing and all sorts of false alarms as jittery people
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panicked. To a lesser degree, that's basically what's happening right
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now.
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Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a
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campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories
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about the plot and the threat. And if we're terrified, and we share that
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fear, we help. All of these actions intensify and repeat the terrorists'
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actions, and increase the effects of their terror.
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(I am not saying that the politicians and press are terrorists, or that
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they share any of the blame for terrorist attacks. I'm not that stupid.
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But the subject of terrorism is more complex than it appears, and
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understanding its various causes and effects are vital for understanding
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how to best deal with it.)
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The implausible plots and false alarms actually hurt us in two ways. Not
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only do they increase the level of fear, but they also waste time and
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resources that could be better spent fighting the real threats and
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increasing actual security. I'll bet the terrorists are [laughing at
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us](http://www.wondermark.com/d/220.html).
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Another thought experiment: Imagine for a moment that the British
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government arrested the 23 suspects without fanfare. Imagine that the
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TSA and its European counterparts didn't engage in
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[pointless](http://www.schneier.com/essay-096.html) airline-security
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measures like banning liquids. And imagine that the press didn't write
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about it endlessly, and that the politicians didn't use the event to
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remind us all how scared we should be. If we'd reacted that way, then
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the terrorists would have truly failed.
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It's time we calm down and fight terror with antiterror. This does not
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mean that we simply roll over and accept terrorism. There are things our
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government [can and should](http://www.schneier.com/essay-038.html) do
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to fight terrorism, most of them
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[involving](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/08/terrorism_secur.html)
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intelligence and investigation – and not focusing on [specific
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plots](http://www.schneier.com/essay-087.html).
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But our job is to remain steadfast in the face of terror, to [refuse to
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be
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terrorized](http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/08/17/airport_futility/).
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Our job is to [not
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panic](http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2006/08/wait-arent-you-scared.html)
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every time two Muslims stand together checking their watches. There are
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approximately 1 billion Muslims in the world, a large percentage of them
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not Arab, and about 320 million Arabs in the Middle East, the
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overwhelming majority of them not terrorists. Our job is to think
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critically and rationally, and to ignore the cacophony of other
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interests trying to use terrorism to advance political careers or
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increase a television show's viewership.
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The surest defense against terrorism is to refuse to be terrorized. Our
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job is to recognize that terrorism is just one of the risks we face, and
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not a particularly common one at that. And our job is to fight those
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politicians who use fear as an excuse to [take
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away](http://www.schneier.com/essay-045.html) our liberties and promote
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[security theater](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater) that
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wastes money and doesn't make us any safer.
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\- - -
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Bruce Schneier is the CTO of Counterpane Internet Security and the
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author of [Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain
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World](http://www.schneier.com/bf.html). You can contact him through
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[his website](http://www.schneier.com).
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[Liquids Loom as New Terror
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Threat](https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71572-0.html)
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[The Scariest Terror Threat of
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All](https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71152-0.html)
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[Nun Terrorized by Terror
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Watch](https://www.wired.com/news/politics/privacy/0,68973-0.html)
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[Feds Fear Air Broadband
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Terror](https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,68147-0.html)
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[Stockpiling Antidotes to
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Terror](https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,64292-0.html)
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