Zizek: Are We in a War?

[Peter K.]

Pollack:
>done such a thing here.  Because that would be efficient terror.  It would
>cause enormous economic losses and hysteria for very little expense on
>their part, and very little need for organization, and so very little
>chance of getting prematurely caught.  In Israel today they have a guard
>in front of every public place.  Can you imagine that here?  And a huge
>falling off in shopping and going out for entertainment among a populace
>that is much better used to this sort of thing.  The hysteria and costs
>here would be powers of ten greater.  It'd knock this weak recovery flat
>on its ass.

If what was going on in Israel was happening here, gun-crazed Americans
would form vigilante groups and it would be very ugly, which perhaps is
a compliment of sorts to the Israelis.


>So why aren't they happening?  Is Al-Qaeda maybe not quite so numerous or
>powerful or diabolical as we've been led to expect?  Maybe suicide bombers
>don't grow on trees after all.  In Israel, after all, they have a nursery
>right next door.  But people here aren't watching their brothers shot down
>or their houses bulldozed or their dads humiliated.  They have to convince
>themselves with theory all alone in their rooms that Today is a Good Day
>to Die.  That's probably much harder than being surrounded every day by
>martyr worship up until the moment you actually do it. It might be that
>the pilots of those planes were some pretty rare guys.
>
>Michael

Maybe the Bush administration (gasp) succeeded in disrupting Al-Qaeda's
network or al-Qaeda isn't such a big deal *or* they're patiently waiting. 911
was a pretty effective undertaking, so I'm leaning towards the latter.

Peter