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In the shadow of terrorism

9 comments on In the shadow of terrorism

In the shadow of terrorism

: Odd, but it was only this morning, as I watched the Olympics, that I remembered the reason People magazine sent me to L.A. as part of the team to cover the Olympics in 1984:

Terrorism.

I was the hard news guy in the house that fluff built, having worked on newspapers. And so they sent me in case disaster struck, as it had in Munich in 1972. (I was also assigned to write just-in-case obits of Prince Charles and Diana in case they were killed on their wedding day, which also happened to be our closing day. The fluffier staff members thought this quite ghoulish. It was just news.)

The threat of terrorism in America seemed quite distant then; we had a few contingency plans (it was news to them that if something happens, you should go right to the hospitals) and then we sat out by the pool.

Of course, today, this is more than a threat. It is experience.

Like Jay Rosen in his latest 9/11 post (this is the last time I’ll link to that today), I was struck by Washington Post New York bureau chief Michael Powell’s phrase:

…those of us — myself and his wife, among others — who came within the shadow of the falling towers on Sept. 11 had acquired an intimate view of terror….

An intimate view of terror. That is so right.

So during these games — as on any given random day in New York — that view is in the back of the mind. Happened before. Could happen again. Now we know. I’m relieved that a week of the Olympics have gone by without problems. I pray the next week is the same. I pray the same for the convention in New York and the election and every day after that.

Back in 1984, in America, terrorism was a distant possibility you’d nod at. Today, terrorism is an ever-present fear you live with.

9 responses to “In the shadow of terrorism”

  1. Robert McClelland Avatar
    Robert McClelland

    Today, terrorism is an ever-present fear you live with.
    No, it’s an ever-present fear you live with, Jeff. The rest of us give it about as much thought as the fact that we could get hit by a bus while crossing the street.

  2. CharlesWT Avatar
    CharlesWT

    Salam Pax is back!

  3. stark fiefdom Avatar
    stark fiefdom

    short memory, jeff.
    2 words: munich 72.
    no offence, sir, but having been in europe, you seem to forget we lived through bader meinhof et al.
    it is no more a distant possiblity now than in 72. you just never had it on your doorstep before.

  4. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    Stark: You are quite right. I added the all-too-often-unused modifier “in America.”

  5. dean Avatar
    dean

    I fly to some big city in the US every week for work. I half think the security checks at the airport are to remind us we have a “war president” and not change midstream. There are more people killed in the US every year from things such as second hand smoke and car accidents that no one seems bothered by. Why do people – especially in the middle of the country away from big cities – think every terrorist is coming for them? Everyone seems so self-absorbed. The number of people who die each year in traffic accidents is similar to a plane going down every day of the year. Where is the outrage from inner city drug murders every year? Those neighborhoods have been terrorized for years.

  6. Terry Avatar
    Terry

    I worked in the North Tower(“the one with the radio antenee” I was told on the first day), the first one hit, from Dec. 1987 to March 1989.
    The buildings weren’t built very well. That is a fact, don’t need to be a civil engineer, nor in construction to know that.
    Supposed to take four years(no guess) to build and $1.5(this guess). It took six years and $3.0 billion plus. Why?
    Because the Port Authority of NY/NJ build it and NY Gov. Nelson Rockefeller was running for President. A gift to the unions.
    Empire State Building was privately financed, supposed to take 24 months, it took 16 and came in UNDER BUDGET.
    That building is solid, it could’ve taken both planes and still stood.(guess, but in this case, BEFORE 9/11 I SAID EMPIRE MUCH MORE SOLID)
    First amendament, right to assemble.
    Second amendament, right to bear arms.
    Both violated by US congress, who, along with President, broke their oaths.
    Up until, 1967 I think, PILOTS REQUIRED TO CARRY GUN BECAUSE THEY CARRIED US MAIL. SUCCESSFUL HIJACKS WHEN THEY DID? ZERO.
    Fear of terrorism is the fault of Federal Government at first glance.
    At second, American people because we let them get away with it.
    P.S. I thought Pilots were the equivalent of Captins of ocean going vessels, were there word was law. If Captin wanted to posses firearm, not a goddam thing Congress could do about. Law of sea and tradition.
    Anyone give me a website comparing the two, or what a Captin on ships powers are?
    Thank you very much.

  7. Terry Avatar
    Terry

    Dean wrote,
    “There are more people killed in the US every year from things such as second hand smoke…”
    Really?
    Where did you get that information? Specifics please.
    Has anyone ever defined “second hand smoke”?
    You know, how close, what type of tabacoo, how big the room, heat and humidity factors, etc.
    Thanks for the info or website when you post it.

  8. dean Avatar
    dean

    The site was a Medical Center giving advice about Asthma. http://asthma.nationaljewish.org/living/environment/smoke.php
    3,000 lung cancer deaths a year in US
    53,000 hearth attacks a year in US
    The study cited was conducted by the EPA into effects of second hand smoke. Talk to the EPA about their methodology. Please, Terry, do not keep emailing me abusive comments about why I should have done the study myself before I cited it since the EPA is so “obviously biased”. Your email from the 2nd source after I tried to block your 1st one is a perfect example of the Shouting Discourse mentioned above.

  9. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    You mean we are all going to die of something?? Why wasn’t I told this??!!??
    Seriously, guys, you’re equating being hit by a bus (that’s from our own Savonarola McClelland up there) and dying from “second hand smoke” with getting killed in a terrorist attack? There’s a bit of a difference that makes terrorism deaths sort of stand out that you seem to have forgotten: the cancer deaths and the car accidents and such aren’t usually accompanied by massive property damage. True, sometimes a car goes crashing through the plate glass window of a restaurant, but still, I don’t think one can hardly call the deliberate crashing of a plane into a building so as to cause massive loss of life and property damage all in the name of some sort of whacked out religio-political theory an “accident.”