Friday, February 19, 2010

Airplanes and Suicide Terror.

After 9/11, there was much speculation about small planes being used as vehicles for suicide terrorism.  And it took nearly a decade for it to come to pass in the US.  By a right wing tax protester.  Since I am bleary from the conference and have not had time to get a good grasp, here are some quick, ill-informed thoughts:
  • Will Pat Robertson blame the licentiousness of Austin, Texas?
  • Will this act be viewed/defined as terrorism by the right?
  • Will Tiger Woods apologize for this attack?
  • Will there be any coverage of this suicde attack in the aftermath of Tiger's apology?
  • Will this event signal the rise of right-wing violence, as encouraged by the venom spewed by Glenn Beck, the Tea Party folks, and other pseudo-populists who seek to turn anger and frustration into bad public policy?
  • Will folks realize that terrorism is what we make of it (to sound very constructivist)?  That is, people will react to this event according to how it fits into their beliefs and to how we end up defining it together?
  • Small planes apparently are not that useful for terrorism--not that dramatic despite yesterday's pics-unless amplified by some sort of WMD?  Or not? 
How is this playing out in the US?  Any attention now that Tiger has seized the stage from the Olympics?

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