Terrorism Makes Shrapnel Of Fools
I was passing thru a metal detector and I asked, “What’s the point? You could still sneak in a plastic explosive”. Then my friend told me - you need metal to make an effective bomb. Like nails or ball bearings, to cause the most casualties. You need shrapnel.
In the wake of a terrorist attack, ignorant people are the shrapnel. They spread rumors, divide communities, physically attack and humiliate each other, throw out democratic values and empower unscrupulous politicians. The initial bomb blast is just the first part of a terrorist attack. The real damage comes with the human shrapnel.
Terrorist attacks do not in themselves cause significant physical damage in a war sense. In 2017 there were less than 20,000 deaths in terrorist attacks. That’s the less that was lost in one day of the Battle Of The Somme. But even those terrorist deaths tell us something about the power of over-reaction, when people lose their damn minds.
On 9/11 (2001), the United States lost 3,000 souls in the single deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to that, the…
