Opinion

America desensitized to terrorist reports

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Not a day goes by that Americans don’t think or hear about the horrifying tragedy of Sept. 11. I, like most Americans, have become more patriotic and very much concerned about the future state of our nation. However, I am also like many Americans in that I am now becoming more apathetic to Sept. 11 and hearing Al Qaeda stuff on the news every night.

When the Isthmus did its yearly “Annual Manual,” it included a question that asked what phrase or buzzword people never wanted to hear again. “Wasssssup” was the term that won, but “9/11” was second place in that contest.

To me, it’s sad that people are equating a national tragedy with an annoying beer commercial. But then I think, who do we blame for that? And the answer is obvious, the media.

The first few months after Sept. 11 were sad, but when news shows started making their own 9/11 music and 9/11 logos, everyone knew we were going to be in for a long-term report from the media regarding this issue.

After the 9/11 site started to be cleaned up and we were told to continue on with our lives, the media quickly changed venues to start talking about Al Qaeda at least once every time the news was on.

Even this weekend, when you’d think that the sniper would be one of the main issues, you can still see that once again; Al Qaeda is topping the headlines.

I understand Al Qaeda is an important issue to discuss, but here’s what bothers me: Every time you turn on the news, there is always something about how Al Qaeda is planning more attacks and how we’re not safe and all that drama.

The problem is that, by now, most of us have stopped caring, and we’ve become apathetic to the issue. This poses a problem, because many of us are not actually seeing Al Qaeda as much of a threat anymore, because it is so overdone.

If we do get attacked again, no one will be ready to handle this situation, because we are all annoyed with the stories we keep hearing, and we’re not paying attention to what may actually be important to preparing ourselves for more terror attacks.

For example, almost every student and Badger fan was inconvenienced and annoyed when Camp Randall was put on “orange alert” status and they started putting restrictions on everything. The closing of Breese Terrace, long lines at parking ramps and cops placed everywhere were what UW-Madison called attempts to reduce the threat of terror.

The orange-alert status we were placed under was more of an annoyance than anything, and no one seemed to care about the possible threat that could overcome the stadium; they were more upset that they couldn’t park their car quickly to avoid missing kickoff.

The orange-alert status was a great example of people becoming apathetic. If people were concerned about terrorists, they wouldn’t have gone to the Badger games in which we were under “high alert” status. Obviously, that wasn’t the case, because, like always, I was still smooshed between people in the stands at the Badger games.

How long is the media going to continue to bombard us day and night about the eminent attacks and Al Qaeda cells they think may exist in cities all across the nation?

Yes, we have terrorists in our country, and, yes, there could be more attacks on the United States, but the media is only creating an apathetic America by reporting “if and when” and “could be” stories of the sort they are creating. Al Qaeda is becoming similar to reports of a UFO sighting; unless it’s a documented and proven Al Qaeda sighting, I don’t want to hear about it anymore.

Susie Strzelec (sstrzelec@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in psychology.