Monday, January 29, 2007

Overrated?

Historian David Bell has asked the question that I would expect a lot of historians to be wondering right about now: "Was 9/11 really that bad?" He also wonders if Islamo-fascio-lama-ding-dongs, or whatever it is that we're calling them, pose any real threat to the United States; another good question. Honestly, I don't even think you have to be a historian to wonder this. I grew up during the hot Reagan years of the Cold War. It's hard to get scared about terrorism if you're old enough to remember when the largest nation on earth was pointing thousands of nuclear missiles at you. Somehow, 100 guys in a cave in Pakistan with box cutters don't seem so scary! But it's an interesting read and David Bell is a great historian. So, enjoy.

Full disclosure: David Bell is also a friend of a friend and a pretty nice guy in my experience!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had similar thoughts. I'm not saying that I think there shouldn't have been any reprisals, but I wondered how much of a threat the terrorists actually are in terms of the existence of the U.S. as a nation. But I keep my mouth shut in polite company.

Rufus said...

Yeah, I think they're a threat on about the scale of the mafia or devil worshippers.