Out-of-context Sensationalism

That's what Walid Phares over at Counterterrorism Blog is calling the new flurry of public and media interest in terrorist attacks against America. He writes,

I am not being sarcastic here but there is something strange about how we proceed in analyzing the Jihadi war against democracies and America, and how we break news to the public. On the one hand, the overwhelming majority of the academic elite, many in the political establishment and most of the mainstream media are desperately trying to demobilize their audiences by claiming that all what we see "is just a mirage." And on the other hand, the same media tells us that al Qaeda could be "attacking us this summer" because of a graduation, a Pastor's report, tactics we learned from London, doctors-turned-Jihadis, and summer times. With all these ingredients, the debate on Terrorism seems to be swinging between total denials on the one hand and blurry vision on the other hand.

This summer and any other summer, and all other seasons by the way, are Jihadi times. We need to adapt to this reality for as long as this conflict is on. For al Qaeda and its allies, as well as the Khomeinists are on the path of war. And when they are in that mode, nothing should surprise us.

Bingo. Because we suddenly have new evidence of the already-existing threat doesn't mean a new threat has suddenly emerged. There are terrorists in America, there are terrorists in other parts of the world. There are terrorists everywhere, at all times, plotting against us. That doesn't mean we should live our lives in constant fear, and it also doesn't mean we should give up trying our best to counter that threat.

What it does mean is that people who want to concern themselves with these sorts of developments - the emergence of terrorist graduation videos, and pastors who converse with terrorists - also have to try to realize this fact: even if no one hears the tree fall, the tree will still make a sound. Just because we were previously unaware of some terrorist cell in America doesn't mean that cell wasn't still here. Just because we only just got hold of a video depicting the terrorist graduation doesn't mean there weren't previous terrorist graduations. The world is full of stuff we know nothing about until well after the fact, if at all. That includes terrorists and their evil doings, and every time we get some new piece of evidence we shouldn't start panicking.

[Counterterrorism Blog]