As I'd posted in September, the possibility was not a distant one, nor should it have been an unexpected one; I'd have a hard time believing that a few of my friends and I are the only ones who ever paused in the crowded Metro stations to think "Gee, it'd be really easy to wreak some serious havoc here... particularly considering the lack of apparent security..."
Of course, the interest to me has increased all the more upon seeing the Metro stations he'd apparently had in mind - Arlington, Pentagon City, Crystal City, Courthouse - all in NOVA. I lived and worked in Arlington, VA, for several months of this past spring, taking the Metro through Courthouse numerous times a day, to and from work; what's more, some of my closest friends in DC live just a block from the Crystal City station. We passed through all of these stations on a regular basis, as do many others.
As I titled the earlier blog post I've just referred to, it's a matter of battling on the homefront, a real and serious danger that we Americans fortunately have not had to consider to any serious extent on a day-to-day basis. Heck, Washingtonians live in a hot spot of potential targets, yet their daily concerns are more with the annoying tourists standing on the wrong side of the escalator or the international convention that has resulted in the closing off of a few streets, or the rallies and sign-wavers that clog the Metro on so many weekends.
I'm not about to advocate living in fear of potential attacks; we ought to appreciate the fact that we don't have to - or, at least, haven't had to. No citizen should have to go about their daily life in a constant state of fear... but it happens. Far too often, in far too many cases, in far too many places. I can't help but doubt, however, that the American mindset of relative safety from attack on the homefront is one soon to change - perhaps it's thanks to our history, or to our geographical isolation, or to our perception of our own political and military-backed weight in an apparently unipolar world.
This fear of home attack is just not one I foresee us readily falling prey to, beyond temporary scares and potential reminders of our own mortality. Instead, another fear can - and has - easily arise out of such unfortunate episodes: Islamophobia. With every uncovered plot such as this, with every suspicion or guilty verdict lobbed at a proclaimed follower of Islam - be it a valid suspicion or not - the xenophobia, the negative stereotypes, hatred, and fear leveled at the Muslim world visibly increase. People already nervous see it as yet another instance validating their fears and concerns, their biases and distrust - their stereotyping and boxing.
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