<story><title>Refuse to be terrorized (2006)</title><url>http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2006/08/71642</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>acabal</author><text>Good article but it&apos;ll never be read by those who need to read it most.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately terror has now been institutionalized.  The TSA is a massive bureaucracy that generates jobs and cash flow.  It&apos;s not something that will ever be dismantled overnight.  That&apos;s not even mentioning the political convenience it provides: with it politicians can keep us afraid, thus getting our votes when they promise to protect us.&lt;p&gt;It goes deeper than just fear of terrorism though.  Having spent the last few years traveling the world and seeing how other people live, it&apos;s always shocking to return to the States to see how afraid everybody is of even the smallest things.  Fear seems to have become a centerpiece in the American psyche, and long before 9/11.  We even raise our kids to be afraid (see some of the vitriolic responses freerangekids.wordpress.com gets in response to advice like, &quot;It&apos;s OK to let your kid ride the bus alone&quot;).  Fear of mundane things giving you cancer; existential fear about the economy, which many of us don&apos;t even understand and as individuals, have no control over; fear of walking the streets alone at night; fear of getting sick if we don&apos;t use antibacterial soap after each bathroom trip.  Fear of someone spiking your Tylenol.  Uncontrollable fear of a country across the ocean maybe having WMD&apos;s.&lt;p&gt;No, fear of terrorism is just the latest in a laundry list of things Americans have scared themselves with.  Until we learn to control that basic fear response, the TSA will still be around and people will still be scared of sitting next to a dark-skinned man kneeling in prayer.</text></comment>
<story><title>Refuse to be terrorized (2006)</title><url>http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2006/08/71642</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>thyrsus</author><text>Five years latter, the U.S. has institutionalized a terrified attitude, at least with respect to air travel.  At this point, the only thing that might compel me to put up with the useless, degrading, indignity of U.S. air travel would be a dire family obligation - like a funeral - which I couldn&apos;t meet in any other way.  I am appalled that my fellow citizens demand this abasement.</text></comment>