Typical Reaction To The Belgian Attack

Another act of what the media and politicians call "terrorism" hit the charming, non political nation of Belgium the other day.  Those terrorists killings are infrequent and affect a small number of people. Car accidents, for example, kill more people in one day than all the acts of terrorism this century have killed. So why does the media become hysterical and saturate us with the same information, non stop in hysterical tone? It's because sensationalism sells.

At first glance one might think the terrorists are paying for advertisements to get out the news of their killings, for the mediums behave as if the average person is really threatened by such deeds, and because the mediums wholly exaggerate the damage done by them. The blanket media coverage assured for any act of violence is reckless. The media must ‘report,’ but does it need to promote the event by reveling in the violence caused, as it manifestly has done to Islamic State brutality? Of course not. Would not normal balance of importance be a better policy when reporting such events?

The purpose of terrorism is not to destroy or kill. It is to pursue a political cause through the massive publicity that is attached to terrifying incidents. Modern society aid and abets this goal by acting hysterically when a terrorist act occurs. No doubt the ignorance of many today, those cell phones and other technologies are making us stupid, about the most basic truths makes this possible. That's sad. So 20 people are killed in Brussels and the government there over reacts by essentially shutting down the nation for "security reasons".  Instead of telling Belgians that the government is doing it's best to protect citizens from all threats, it pretends it can stop crazies of the ISIL ilk. This further promotes fear in the population, knowing that such claims are a lie.

It would be preferable for people today to create real prospective about those terrorist attacks, the first of which is that it is of very little threat to most of us. Secondly, politicians should level with their constituents and admit the histrionics around providing security are a waste of time and money, that instead governments will do their best to stop terrorism. Nothing more is possible. Thirdly, Paris got it right w after their own terrorist killing event. Parisians said they weren't bullied and quickly got Paris back to it's normal functioning. Moving on quickly is always best in such instances. Fourth, citizens should demand that the mediums knock it off. That is, report the story once and move on. Embellishing what has happened and imagining more grim events is a form of terrorism itself. The public would do better to ignore medium over saturation and distortion of the terrorists bad behavior.

It's unlikely any of this will happen, and the terrorists appreciate the help they receive in promoting their insanity.