{"id":4151,"date":"2016-03-22T07:55:40","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T13:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=4151"},"modified":"2016-03-22T07:55:40","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T13:55:40","slug":"terror-in-brussels-not-even-a-shock-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/03\/terror-in-brussels-not-even-a-shock-anymore.html","title":{"rendered":"Terror in Brussels: not even a shock anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Look, I\u2019ll be honest with you: \u00a0when I first read about the\u00a0bombings in Brussels (link to CNN for convenience<\/a>), my immediate reaction was not concern for the victims, but, instead, concern for\u00a0our own vacation this summer. \u00a0We\u2019ve got it all planned out now,\u00a0you see. \u00a0Are the places we\u2019re visiting likely terrorist targets? \u00a0London, the Netherlands (a spot halfway between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, by the coast), the Moselle Valley, Augsburg, and Munich. \u00a0They\u2019re all safe, right?<\/p>\n

At least 26 dead, and 130 wounded in 3 separate attacks, with two blasts at the airport, at about 8 am local time, and another an hour later at the Maalbeek subway station. \u00a0Why that station? \u00a0It\u2019s in the city center, and just 400 yards from the EU headquarters, according to the Daily Mail<\/a>\u00a0(Drudge link). \u00a0It\u2019s not clear to me from the reporting if these were suicide bombs or, well, just bombs.<\/p>\n

But after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and the Bataclan attacks (see here for a brief timeline<\/a>), and especially because of the revelations during the course of that news coverage of Belgian links, today\u2019s attack feels inevitable. \u00a0And what\u2019s also surely inevitable is the coming debate: \u00a0Is this ISIS-fueled, and another reason the West needs to more forcefully intervene in Syria and Iraq? \u00a0Or is this the fault of the Belgians and French themselves, for having failed for decades to integrate their Muslim immigrant communities? \u2014 the latter explanation being the favorite way Americans like to tell themselves that we in the United States aren\u2019t at risk because we\u2019ve been nice to our Muslims. \u00a0But \u201cbeing nice to our Muslims\u201d didn\u2019t keep the victims in San\u00a0Bernadino\u00a0safe, did it?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an ongoing theme among some in American politics\u00a0and punditry\u00a0that we shouldn\u2019t worry excessively about terrorism. \u00a0Sure, there have been scattered attacks, some\u00a0dramatic, such as the Santa Barbara attacks, and some barely reported, such as various \u201clone wolf\u201d attacks on individuals. \u00a0But any given individual\u2019s risk of dying from a terrorist attack is pretty dang low, so it shouldn\u2019t be a cause for concern, or change much about the way we go about our business, or how the administration manages international affairs. \u00a0Here\u2019s a New York Times analysis piece from just before the State of the Union, \u201cBalancing Terror and Reality in State of the Union Address<\/a>\u201c:<\/p>\n

Here is what he probably will not say, at least not this bluntly: Americans are more likely to die in a car crash, drown in a bathtub or be struck by lightning than be killed by a terrorist. The news media is complicit in inflating the sense of danger. The Islamic State does not pose an existential threat to the United States.<\/p>\n

He will presumably not say this, either: Given how hard it is for intelligence and law enforcement agencies to detect people who have become radicalized, like those who opened fire at a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif., a certain number of relatively low-level terrorist attacks may be inevitable, and Americans may have to learn to adapt the way Israel has.<\/p>\n

By all accounts, Mr. Obama is sympathetic to this view, which is shared by a number of counterterrorism veterans who contend that anxiety has warped the American public\u2019s perspective.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But\u00a0the idea that \u201cmore people are killed by X than by terrorism\u201d misses the point of terrorism \u2014 the very objective of which is to terrorize<\/em> people, due to the public nature of the attacks, and the fear that you could be next. \u00a0And I don\u2019t think the residents of Brussels are telling themselves, \u201chey, all in all, no big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Look, I\u2019ll be honest with you: \u00a0when I first read about the\u00a0bombings in Brussels (link to CNN for convenience), my immediate reaction was not concern for the victims, but, instead, concern for\u00a0our own vacation this summer. \u00a0We\u2019ve got it all planned out now,\u00a0you see. \u00a0Are the places we\u2019re visiting likely terrorist targets? \u00a0London, the Netherlands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[352,353],"class_list":["post-4151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brussels","tag-terrorism"],"yoast_head":"\nTerror in Brussels: not even a shock anymore<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Look, I'll be honest with you: \u00a0when I first read about the\u00a0bombings in Brussels (link to CNN for convenience), my 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