Days after the bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line, Facebook, Twitter and the news media are still awash in borderline hysterical outcries.  I understand the sentiment.  The video of the acts is seared into our memories, and we feel the need to show support for our Bostonian neighbors.  Those are good and natural instincts.

Still, some of it gets a little maudlin and over-the-top.  It’s worth noting that the ultimate point of terrorism isn’t actually killing.  It is terror.  Terrorists want their killing and maiming to get blown out of proportion by the news media and our leaders, so that it dominates our psyches and disrupts our freedom and pursuit of happiness.

In other words, the only thing terrorists have to fear is the inability to promote fear itself.

Which is why I pose this question:  Should Americans be afraid about what happened in Boston?  We definitely should feel outrage, compassion and commitment to prevent future attacks.  But fear?  Terror?

Is Fear Of Terrorism Rational?

The Reason Foundation did an interesting analysis about the odds of suffering various calamities, which helps us understand what is most logical for us to fear.

• Chances of dying in a car accident:  1 in 19,000.
• Chances of drowning in a bathtub:  1 in 800,000.
• Chances of dying in a fire:  1 in 99,000.
• Chances of being struck by lightning: 1 in 5,500,000.
• Chances of being killed by a terrorist:  1 in 20,000,000.

I don’t know anyone who is enjoying life less because of their consuming fear of getting hit by lightning.   But many Americans are enjoying life less because of their consuming fear about terrorism, something that is four times less likely to happen than a lightning strike.  With them, the terrorists are winning, because they are giving terror way too much cognitive real estate.

According to researchers at Ohio State University and the University of Newcastle (Australia), we’ve spent well over a TRILLION dollars trying to prevent terrorists attacks since 2001.  We’ve stopped a lot of attacks, but even that Herculean effort can’t stop them all.  So that leaves us to ponder, how do we react when terrorist acts still happen?

Is Fear of Terrorism Helpful?

President George W. Bush was criticized for counseling Americans to go shopping after the 9-11 attacks.  Though President Bush never actually said those precise words, I frankly would endorse anyone who counsels us to get on with our lives in the wake of terrorist attacks.  Just as the British propaganda campaign urged British citizens to “Keep Calm and Carry On” during massive Nazi air attacks on their homes, I wish our leaders would do more to quiet citizens’ irrational levels of fear.

“Go shopping,” if Bush had actually said that, would have been a little too trivial a rallying cry.  But “go on living and loving” is sound advice. It’s a cliche, but life truly is way too short to spend it consumed by fear. We need to support our neighbors in Boston who are hurting, but we also need to keep it all in the proper perspective and move on with our lives.

Standing on the rubble pile in the wake of the horrific 9-11 attacks in New York City, President Bush famously cried into his bullhorn:

“I can hear you.  The American people can hear you.  And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

That little bit of sabre rattling was cathartic for a mourning nation, and great political theater.  But for the deranged terrorist who packed those pressure cookers with nails and ball bearings, I have a feeling that the reaction that would be most discouraging is not cries of retribution, but the murmur of a courageous nation being calm, and carrying on.

– Loveland