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I wanted to send this quick note of support for the Russian Graduate Student's comments I heard on WMUB Monday evening. She hit the nail on the head in asking what terrorism is. I warned my friends and family about following blanket commercial based patriotism following the September 11th attacks, and told them to be wary of a simple mentality that could lead to blanket actions that could take away freedom. Shortly thereafter, Congress passed the Patriot Act and since then Fear and Commercial Patriotism have been fed to the American Public in heavy doses.

Often times I remind people that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were considered terrorists to King George during the American Revolution. I do not say this to compare our founding fathers to Osama Bin Laden, but I say this to illustrate that terrorism is in the eye of the beholder. Washington’s escape from Brooklyn Heights is very much a kin to Bin Laden’s escape from Tora Bora and has further led to his myth in the Muslim world.

In America we truly have nothing to fear except ourselves, our actions, and our leadership. There was no justification for 9/11, but there is also no justification for the behavior of Middle Western Americans to steep their lives in fear, or to vote their fears in elections. Thank you.

--Mike