Sometimes terrorism fears overblown
Re The uncomfortable lesson of Nice and terror
ism, Opinion July 19 As Andrew Mitrovica makes clear, any politician who pledges to keep us safe from terrorism is spouting hot air. It’s obvious: The Internet has spread hate worldwide, lone wolves have the means to kill innocents anywhere and security forces cannot be everywhere at once. Clearly, you can’t hide from terrorism.
The good news is you don’t need to. You’re more likely to be shot by a spouse than a terrorist, or killed by a drunk driver than a jihadist in a truck, despite the tragic events in Nice. But you’d never suspect this if you listen to the rhetoric of the U.S. presidential campaign.
In fact, impaired driving kills more than 10,000 Americans and Canadians annually, a body count that terrorists using guns and bombs could not hope to attain in their wildest dreams.
But when it comes to evil dreams I think these psychopaths should go for broke and plot to change our climate so that the prairies and central Canada would be devastated by drought and forest fires, followed by the flooding of all our coastal cities. Maybe then our federal government would take action on an actual threat to our country. Norm Beach, Toronto Andrew Mitrovica’s piece was bang on. Unfortunately, I fear, few will take it to heart. In his critique of politicians (including a delightful shot at Rona Ambrose’s platitudinous emptiness), and the so-called pundits who jumped in to proclaim Nice a terrorist attack, we have a much-needed plea for calm, critical thinking in the face of madness.
And the truth matters. Most major news organizations in Canada immediately reported this as a terrorist attack. That’s reprehensible and feeds into the narrative proclaimed by France’s president, who immediately extended his security state for three months.
The consequences of a terrorist attack are substantially different than a criminal act in its international, psychological and security ramifications. I have never been more disappointed with the lack of professional rigour of Canada’s press. Bruce Van Dieten, Toronto