The Truth Behind Terrorism

Since the events on 9/11, the word “terrorism” has been on the lips of nearly every politician in the media. The United States has since been waging a war on terrorism, claiming it is the greatest threat to the American people. According to statistics, however, if you’re an American citizen you’re more likely to die from a car accident, influenza, or even suicide than a terrorist attack.

According to a report by Forbes, America has spent $1.7 trillion on the war on terrorism. In 2008 alone the US government spent a staggering $195 billion. That year, 33 American citizens died at the hands of terrorists—none of which were on American soil.

In actuality, Americans represent a very small fraction of the total number of terrorist victims, in fact, since 9/11 there have been quite a few years that zero Americans were killed by terrorism. In the meantime, “a comparable number of Americans are crushed to death by their televisions or furniture each year.” You should be more afraid of your couch than ISIS.

By contrast, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), heart disease is the number one killer of Americans. On average, around 2400 Americans die each day, that’s an average of one death every 37 seconds. For the past four-years, the average amount spent on the research for heart disease has been around $1.2 billion—a mere fraction of what is spent in the war on terrorism.

In related news: Americans Killed by Cops Now Outnumber Americans Killed in Iraq War

Terrorism has become a tool used by governments to manipulate the public into supporting war. This tactic has been in use for quite some time, in fact it would seem the US originally learned it from the Nazis.

American psychologist, Gustav Gilbert, attended the Nuremberg Trials where he had the opportunity to speak with many Nazi officials. These conversations were recorded and published in Gilbert’s Nuremberg Diary in 1947. In one of the conversations recorded, German politician and military leader, Hermann Göring, outlined the Nazis tactic for manipulating the German nation into agreeing to war. Many readers will find this tactic familiar as it is now being used in the US.

Göring: Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare war.

Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

The United States government has, for years, convinced the citizens of America that “patriotism” means being patriotic to the government. There is a reason for this. By instilling the belief that patriotism should be directed to the government, people will readily turn on those who question the establishment or speak out. This has been the United States goal, and it goes hand-in-hand with their terrorist-scare propaganda. 

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, patriotism is defined as a “love for or devotion of one’s country”, while country is defined as “the people of a state or district: populace”. For those of us who question the establishment and speak out, we do so because of our sense of patriotism—our love for our fellow countrymen. This is the opposite of what those who place their patriotism with the government accuses us of.

This brings us to Edward Snowden, a man who has risked everything due to his sense of patriotism for the people. Here are his thoughts on terrorism:

“The bottom line is that terrorism has always been what we in the intelligence world would call a cover for action. Terrorism is something that provokes an emotional response that allows people to rationalize authorizing powers and programs that they wouldn’t give otherwise. The Bullrun and Edgehill type programs—the NSA asked for these authorities back in the 1990’s. They asked the FBI to go to congress and make a case. The FBI went to congress and did make a case, but congress and the American people said ‘no’. They said it’s not worth the risk to our economy, they said it’s worth too much damage to our society to justify the gains. But what we saw is in the post 9/11 era they used secrecy and they used the justification of terrorism to start these programs in secret without asking congress, without asking the American people, and it’s that kind of government-behind-closed-doors that we need to guard ourselves against because it makes us less safe, and it offers no value.”

While there is no arguing that terrorists exist, the danger they pose to Americans is questionable. The longer Americans feed into the government’s terrorist-scare propaganda, the worse the situation gets. Now, thanks to the Patriot Act, pretty much anyone can be considered a terrorist. It would seem it isn’t enough that Americans are afraid of everyone else, now we are expected to fear ourselves as well.

Sources:

Brinkerhoff, Noel. All Gov. May 5, 2009. (http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/33-americans-killed-by-terrorists-in-2008?news=838759)

The Insider. (2011). Put Terrorism in Perspective. Retrieved from http://www.theinsider.org/news/article.asp?id=0472

Zenko, Micah. The Atlantic. Jun 6, 2012. (http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/americans-are-as-likely-to-be-killed-by-their-own-furniture-as-by-terrorism/258156/)