> (This, by the way, is why the
> language of bravery and cowardice is usually inappropriate. Those who
> overcome their fear of death by believing that they won't in fact die but
> will be transported to a "paradise" where they will, among other things,
> have sex eternally with 72 virgins are not "brave" even if, as Stanley Fish
> apparently believes, there is no way of knowing if their "story" is true.)
>
What I keep wondering about is the reason why so many Americans need to believe the attacks were cowardly. We don't know, I think, and as Ted seems to imply, that the hijackers were "courageous," but I can't see them as cowardly. Maybe the word appeals to the sense that they attacked the defenseless. Bill Maher may get fired over this issue.
Christopher Rhoades Dÿkema