La Voz

In the 2006 midterm election, polls found that concern about terrorism and Americans' safety rated as one of the biggest factors in deciding who to vote for. 29 percent of those surveyed said terrorism was the most important issue. Healthcare was tied at number one with 29 percent, as well. The next in line were:

- The war on terror (28 percent) - The war in Iraq (27 percent) - The economy (24 percent) - Tax policies (19 percent)

These numbers made me wonder if Americans are really that worried about being "terrorized." With so many things to be afraid of, like our increasingly unpredictable environment that is threatening to literally wash us all away or the tobacco companies who knowingly, legally supply us with deadly chemicals, why are these terrorist "threats" ranking at the top?

A lot of confusion can stem from different definitions of "terrorism," so there needs to be clarification. If terrorism is "the calculated use of violence against civilians in order to attain goals that are political, religious or ideological in nature," then the implication of the polls above is that a big fear in the daily life of Americans is that a bomb will go off as they're typing a memo at work. But is that a credible threat or is it just what we have been taught to fear?

Another example from the American Heritage Dictionary says terrorism is: "the unlawful use of violence by an organized group against people with the intention of intimidating societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons".

This definition, ironically, makes Americans the real terrorists in the eyes of many people around the world. Of course it's true that excessive violence is no longer legal, thanks to the Geneva Conventions. But intimidating governments through violence for ideological reasons is still our strong suit.

Watching the news informs us that we live in the "world of terror," here at "Target: USA," when in reality "outside of 2001, fewer people died in America from international terrorism than drowned in toilets," according to John Mueller, professor of Political Science at Ohio State University. Even though fear of terrorism is not rooted in a violence-ridden reality here in the United States, talk about making ourselves safer is at an all-time high.

The day of Sept. 11, 2001, The United States was put into a near state of marshal law when our airports were shut down for a week. Following that was the anthrax scare, the Patriot Act (which compromised many of our basic freedoms) and the creation of the office of Homeland Security. We were also introduced to the "terror level" alert meter designed, apparently, to indicate the amount of terror we should feel.

The last time Republicans controlled the house, senate and the White House, children of the 1950's and 60's crawled under their desks in fear of communism. Today, we are the generation of the next set of "-isms," -- terrorism being one of them.

The problem is that there are many people that make a lot of money on keeping us afraid - the "terrorism industry," as John Mueller coins it. These are not only risk entrepreneurs and bureaucrats, but also most of the media and nearly all politicians. When given an opportunity such as Sept. 11, 2001, instead of appealing to resourcefulness, civility and mutual aid to help us through it, they stroke our fears and encourage overreaction. In the end, this caused much more damage and destruction than the attack itself.

Just because there is all this hype in the media about terrorism doesn't mean that it deserves to be there. With everything that is at stake, don't get lost in the propaganda. Think for yourself. Forget what the media feeds you and decide what issues are really pertinent to your daily life.

The 2006 midterm election proved that democracy in the United States is strong. With a new government under our belt and this time (hopefully, smarter than before), let's not repeat the mistakes of the past.

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