In an effort to stay more informed, I have started listening to the audio version of the Economist magazine on my iPad while getting ready for work. It’s an excellent publication that sifts through world events and analyzes them from several angles. It includes reports related to all of the regions prominent on the world stage.
That’s my lofty reason for listening. The more earthly reason would be their readers have British accents that are just killer.
I recently heard a discussion on the “new normal” for Europe. It outlined the way European countries were coping with the increasing terrorist activities within their borders. This, on the heels of the most recent Belgium attacks.
In cities as Istanbul, long a target of terrorist violence, bombings have now become a kind of non-event. Shortly after such violence the streets will quickly fill again and business resumes seemingly as though nothing had happened. The “new normal.”
You have to wonder is it human resiliency and defiance or is it an acceptance of the inevitable? Is that the future for our European friends and if so, does it portend a similar one for us?
France is still reeling from the attacks on Paris. It has responded by tightening national security. The French are showing less and less angst over their loss of some individual liberties. Their vulnerability, like that of all Europe is their proximity to the most chaotic of locations, the Middle East. It is hard to blame them or the rest of Europe for their reactions or possible overreactions.
As Americans, we have not seen the suicide bombings and other terrorist activities that Europe has. We have obviously had our own devastating experiences from 9-11 to the Boston marathon bombing, but our day-to-day horrors seem to be more home grown than jihadist, i.e. school shootings and domestic violence.
During the time immediately following 9-11, our world turned upside down, and we dramatically changed what we did. We have watched airport screening go from rudimentary and cursory to sophisticated. We have learned to travel with minimal carry-on luggage and take our shoes off with all of our new best friends. That became our new normal.
It took about four years but air travel returned to pre-9-11 levels and continues to grow. Aside from chafing a bit at the longer lines for security clearances at airports or providing a view into a purse or backpack when entering a boarding area, we have not been sorely inconvenienced in our day-to-day lives.
Despite the FBI’s wish to get into a terrorist’s encrypted iPhone, I don’t think that we have reached the point where our freedoms are in notable jeopardy. If I was the governor of Alabama, I might feel a bit threatened, but generally there isn’t much earth-shattering information in the public’s personal data. Perhaps it should, but that “new normal” doesn’t make me feel particularly uneasy.
I just don’t see terrorism as part of our psychic landscape. By that I mean that I don’t think any of us make a Kroger run thinking that there is a snowball’s chance in hell that we are going to be victims of a terrorist threat; maybe a robbery, but not jihad.
Then again, perhaps that is what is behind this seemingly obsessive need for open-carry and concealed-carry permits. Maybe the majority of us are just waiting our turn to take out a terrorist. Maybe our new normal will be requiring all citizens to be “packing heat.”
The Legislature has in this session introduced what is called the church protection act. It gives special dispensation for churches to train and arm a cadre of soldiers to protect the sanctuary. I missed the public outcry for armed deacons in our local houses of worship, but perhaps that too will become our “new normal.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently said “International terror chooses different locations for its attacks but the target is always the same: our free life in free societies.”
Pogo said “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Both seem to be relevant in this age we live in.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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