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Terrorism: Fictional, and real
I especially like pro football when the playoffs begin and when the game I'm watching is tied with only a few minutes to go, I really become glued to the set. But Sunday night, with the New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers going down to the wire tied at 21-21 (after the Patriots scored a touchdown and two-point conversion!), I changed channels. Why, you ask? The season premiere of '24' started at 8 and the ball game was still on. Even as I changed the channel, I couldn't believe I was doing it. Real-life drama vs. some fictional action-adventure TV show with a larger-than-life hero - Jack Bauer. How could I want to watch that over a great football game? For the past five years, Bauer has thwarted terrorists intent on doing harm to the citizens of the United States. But he is never completely successful. A lot of innocent people get killed, including Jack's friends. I guess that's one of the things that makes it so exciting - you never know what's going to happen, but you do know some of it will not be good. There are quite a few Democrats who are decrying the FOX Network for airing a series that, according to them, is propaganda for President Bush and the war on terror. None of them ever said a word about 'The West Wing' and that other short-lived series with a female president doing the same to boost their own agendas. Notwithstanding the political nuances, '24' is non-stop action with a little romance thrown in here and there. Those are some of the scenes that are totally out of sync with the rest of the show. Jack is on the verge of saving the U.S. from disaster and every second counts, but yet he takes the time to tell his girlfriend how much he loves her and talk at length about some aspect of their relationship. All the while the clock's tick, tick, ticking away. There are some other unrealistic aspects of the show, like Jack's superhuman ability to recover from injuries and deal with pain that would incapacitate a normal human. The underlying theme of the show - and the real reason it has captivated millions of viewers like me - is all too real. There are those - Islamic extremists for the most part - in this world of ours who will stop at nothing to destroy the American way of life. Am I being an alarmist? Am I being paranoid? I hope so. But if this opinion is correct, how do we deal with the threat of terrorism becoming an everyday occurrence here as it already is in the countries of the Mideast? Is the war in Iraq the best way to combat it? Who knows? I certainly do not, but since I can offer no alternative solution, I support what President Bush says he is trying to accomplish - the establishment of an enduring, democratically-governed country in the Mideast that could help bring stability to the entire region and lessen the threat of terrorism in the United States. I respect the opinions of those who oppose the war, but ask what is the alternative? Perhaps those who are against what is going on in Iraq do not believe the U.S. could ever be engulfed in the waves of terrorism that are drowning Iraq, Israel and other areas. To them I say look at what has already happened here and what is occurring elsewhere around the globe. These fundamentalist Islamists, as I understand it, will not stop the violence until they dominate the world. Time is not a factor. They are patient. One year. Ten years. One hundred years. Even a thousand years. They will continue their 'jihad' until their mission is accomplished. Is Iraq the 'line in the sand' that we draw and dare these terrorists to cross or is it the door we fling open after sweeping off the welcome mat? No one knows what the future holds, but I for one think what happens in Iraq will be a major factor in how secure our homeland is in the years to come. Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger. |
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