Paranoia Strikes Deep

The recent terror stories have everyone in the Western world on edge.  A terror cell was just apprehended in Belgium, and it was reported to have been planning a major attack. A French citizen was captured in Bulgaria as he tried to cross into the European part of Turkey on New Year's Day, and he's been accused of being part of an Islamist group plotting terror attacks.  The British are increasingly on edge, even as the United Kingdom has been a beacon of Islamic assimilation . . . because not all Muslims there are content with living in secular society, as a relatively recent "60 Minutes" report revealed; there are Muslims walking through the streets of London to enforce Shari'a law.  Even in the U.S., a plot to blow up the U.S. Capitol has been uncovered, and there's even been a report of an assassination plot against House Speaker John Boehner, although the latter story had nothing to do with Islamic terrorism.  The would-be assassin, a bartender who wanted to poison Boehner's beer, thinks he's Jesus Christ.   

Okay, everyone is afraid.  Although this sounds hypocritical coming from someone who freaks out at AccuWeather's suggestion of a looming ice storm outside the seven-day forecast range, I would suggest that we all take a deep breath and remember that, while there are always going to be terrorist attacks of some sort, we are not living in a world where there is some sort of large terrorist army ready to kill all of us.  We all have a better chance of slipping in our showers than being killed in a terrorist attack, and if we give into fear, then the terrorists will have . . . you know. 

So we should all relax a bit.  We should be vigilant, but we should be less paranoid.  We just have to stop being afraid so much.

And Speaker Boehner can relax, too.  His would-be assassin was caught, and his beer should be just fine.  Though I would urge the Speaker, an Ohioan, not to drink the water from Lake Erie.