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Originally publish in the Utopian Status of America volume 1, issue 2, Fall 2001

When some of the passengers on United Airlines, flight 93 from Newark, NJ to San Francisco, CA realized that their aircraft had been hijacked by people intending to use it as a suicidal weapon of mass destruction, they took action. In a phone call to his wife, one passenger said that the airplane had been hijacked, a passenger had been murdered, and that he and some of the other passengers were going to do something about it. Shortly after that call, the plane crashed the woods of Somerset County in western Pennsylvania, and not into the building or monument in Washington, DC as suspected to be the original plans of the hijackers.

In a society that has taught us to follow the rules, to form neat lines, to wait our turn, to not rock the boat, to become sheep in the flock of society, it’s nice to see that some people are still willing to stand up and defend themselves when the situation looks futile. So many people today watch what happens around them as though it wasn’t real, and fail to take action when they should.

But what about the ability and want to take action when action is needed, isn’t that what our country is based on? Our fight for freedom from the British, the Boston tea party, the Declaration of Independence – these are all times when Americans stood up and risked life and limb in the pursuit of liberty and freedom. Some of the passengers on board flight 93 did just that. They took there lives into their hands and made sure that the hijackers weren’t able to complete their horrible mission and kill far more than the passengers on that airplane. It is a great tragedy that these heroes and the other innocent people on board flight 93 had to die this way, but a greater tragedy was certainly averted.

Too many people now have the attitude that somebody else will deal with the problem and that they don’t need to take action. The American spirit compels us to take action, even though all too often we don’t.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”  – Edmund Burke

Originally publish in the Utopian Status of America volume 1, issue 2, Fall 2001

We used to have enemies that were easy to identify: they were Germans, Japanese, or Russians, they looked differently, they talked differently, they wore uniforms and were part of countries we could hate. But that time is gone. While we can still have enemies like Iraq, we now have far more enemies in fanatics and terrorists. Some, like Timothy McVeigh, are domestic. Others, like Osama Bin Laden, are Middle Eastern. Certainly some are European or Asian, as well. What do they all have in common? Nothing but an utter disrespect for human life. So how do we combat an enemy that doesn’t seem to exist, that is normally an invisible part of the world’s societies? Should we nuke the Middle East? Should we arrest anybody that disagrees with the United States or threatens us in any way? No, those kind of extreme actions turn us into terrorists.

Certainly we can increase our defenses, and perhaps be better prepared. Anybody who has flown into London knows that they take airport security  far more seriously than we do, but is  that really the solution? I think we need to look at why we are a target. We aren’t the richest country in the world, but we are rich; we aren’t the freest country in the world, but we are free; we aren’t the biggest country in the world, but we are big. So what is it about the United States of America that makes people hate us? It basically boils down to the old saying, ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease.’ As the remaining superpower, we have taken it upon ourselves to lead the charge on so many issues that affect others: not just politically, but commercially, in entertainment, and basically in how people think. We are molding the world in our image, and that threatens people who think differently than we do.

Very few Americans know what it’s like to be a militant Muslim, or Jew, or Catholic, or Protestant. We have no idea of the mindset that allows somebody to take innocent lives in the name of religion or homeland, especially the concept of terrorists who are willing to die themselves. We need to understand these groups, and to do so, we need to acknowledge them and listen to them. Far too many times we will do what we think is right only to enrage the people we thought we were helping, simply because we didn’t pay attention to their real needs. Many of the Afghani terrorists are soldiers trained by the United States to be terrorists against the Russians. Perhaps that training and “help” we offered was shortsighted, or even dangerous. We are the annoying friend who tries to help, but often messes things up, only we can’t be shooed away, we continue to try and help, and make enemies in the process. We should not stop helping those who request it, but forcing our help on uncooperative peoples is never in our best interest.

We cannot predict terrorism, nor can we stop most terrorist acts. Surprise is terrorism’s ally and we can only react to an act of terrorism. Our best defense is to be proactive, preventing others from becoming our enemies, and severely punishing those who have. Active intelligence gathering to find and monitor those who may act against us can also be very effective. Is terrorism our fault? Absolutely not. Though, If we ignore it, it won’t go away, therefore, it’s our responsibility to put an end to it. The war on drugs was a bust, but then, drugs were never at war with us, maybe we can make the war on terrorism a little more successful.

I hope everyone has a place in their heart for all of the innocent people, the men, women, and children, the Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others, who have been killed in terrorist attacks, not just here, but all over the world, may they rest in peace.

“Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you.” – Paul Wilkinson

Today is the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. As it turns out, as I’ve been posting articles from the Utopian Status of America, the next articles to post are from Fall 2001, and many relate directly to these terrorist attack. I will be posting several of these today. This is the brief article I added to the last page of the Fall 2001 newsletter:

Our Morbid Curiosity

Why are we so interested in death? We have almost no interest in people being born, but are almost always interested people dying. Our morbidity certainly stems from our fear of death. It is unfortunate that this leads us to a rather pessimistic life, always considering the end, only occasionally considering the beginning. Perhaps, if we stopped spending time worrying about our destination, we could enjoy the ride a little more.

Originally published in the Utopian Status of America Volume 1, Issue 1, in the summer of 2001 

The Root of All Evil.
Soren Barr

Money is the root of all evil, or is it women? It all depends on who’s telling you. This section will seek to demonstrate some roots of evil in the world, and there are many. Just don’t take it too seriously.

Commuting

Thank you, 1950’s. You brought us tail fins, Marilyn Monroe, pastel colors and the suburbs. And along with the suburbs came the commute. Few people back then could have known how commuting and suburbs would affect our lives fifty years later, in fact, shouldn’t we all be getting around in flying cars by now?

Many people have embraced the suburbia culture, living in a sprawling suburb with their 4 bedroom house with a big yard and a big garage and a minivan or SUV. More times than not, the suburban lifestyle also means a commute, and many people spend 1-2 hours each day on the road driving to or from work. Add all this time up and you spent 1-2 years of your life on the road.

But even beyond the obvious time and mileage factors, commuting can be affecting you in more hidden ways. Stop and go and just plain heavy traffic demands a lot of concentration, and can be very frustrating. How is this affecting you? The simple drive to work can be a relaxing time to yourself, but more often than not it’s an exercise in frustration control that can leave you in a bitter or ornery mood. It can certainly drain your much-needed energy in the morning.

Our society is very mobile these days, we travel a lot, we change jobs a lot, we even move a lot, but somewhere the idea of staying close to work often gets lost, especially in two income homes. Perhaps if more people thought about this when choosing a home or a job, and eliminated much of their commute we could be a little happier.

Just to prove the ridiculousness of commuting, this article was written during my commute while traffic was backed up due to a faulty traffic light.   

Originally published in the Summer of 2001 in The Utopian Status of America Volume 1, Issue 1: 

What is Really Killing Us?

If you watch the news on TV you’ll see stories about people who die or are killed pretty much everyday. If this was your sole source of information, you’d think everybody died from school shootings, by viscous dogs, in tornadoes, or by flesh eating virus’. These stories are newsworthy because they are unusual, so how do people in the United States really die? Check out these statistics:

Top ten causes of death in the US:
1.       Heart disease     724,000         0.0027%
2.       Cancer               541,000         0.0020%
3.       Stroke               158,000         0.0006%
4.       Asthma              112,000         0.0004%
5.       Accident               98,000         0.0004%
6.       Pneumonia           91,000          0.0003%
7.       Diabetes              64,000          0.0002%
8.       Suicide                30,000          0.0001%
9.       Kidney dis.           26,000          0.0001%
10.   Liver disease          25,000          0.0001%
        TOTAL              2,300,000          0.0087%
This chart shows total yearly deaths and percentage of population that dies of this cause each year.

Now some other statistics:
Traffic accident               42,000          0.00016%
Alzheimer’s dis.              23,000          0.00009%
Homicide                        18,000          0.00007%
HIV / AIDS                     13,000          0.00005%
Hernia                             6,700          0.00003%
Drowning                        4,400           0.00002%
Fire                                 3,400          0.00001%
Medical accident                3,200          0.00001%
Firearm accident                  866          0.000003%
Flash floods                        140          0.000005%
Lightning                             93           0.0000003%
Aircraft accident *                 86           0.0000003%
Tornadoes                           80           0.0000003%
Overexertion                        14           0.00000005%
Shark Attack                        <5           0.00000001%

Source: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (1996); NOAA; NTSB; University of Florida; * NTSB 10 year average 1991-2000

“Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.”        – Francis Bacon