Living with terrorism (revisited)

Fjordman writes about me on Gates of Vienna, a blog where people who are afraid of Muslims can come together and talk about their fears. The recent massacre at Fort Hood by a Muslim causes him to remember, and mock, something I once wrote about how to live with the threat of terrorism:

Brave is sitting down calmly on a plane behind a row of suspicious-looking Arabs, ignoring your own fears, because you know those fears are irrational, and because even if there’s a chance that they are terrorists, it is more important to you to preserve an open and tolerant society than to survive this trip.

I don't always agree with things I've written years ago, but I hit this on the head. The context was that passengers had refused to let their airplane take off unless suspicious-looking passengers were thrown out first.

And what I wrote was that, yes, it has happened that passengers who look suspicious actually are terrorists, but it is so unlikely that it is cowardly to cause trouble over it. It's okay to be afraid, because we're often afraid for no good reason, but it's what you do with that fear that defines you.

If what you do is cause some poor guy to miss his airplane just because he has a big beard, then you're a coward.

This applies elsewhere too. Life can be scary, but you still have to cross the street.