The overreaction to terrorism

I was slightly shocked that possession of the "Anarchist's Cookbook", a book that is freely available on the internet, was recently used as a major reason for charging someone with terrorism.

The media have focussed so heavily on recent terrorist attacks that we are in danger of losing our freedom of speech and thought.

This recent chart should make us wonder why terrorism is considered such a huge threat today:

I remember walking over the crunchy glass from bomb blasts in the City of London in the 80s and thinking "that was lucky" when the toilet I had used on London Bridge Station was blown up 10 minutes after I had a leak.. But I scarcely gave these things a second thought except, perhaps, the odd occurrence of "bloody Irish" as a vague emotion at the back of my mind.

What is happening is that terrorism at home is being used to justify overseas military adventures and expansion. This is not an entirely new development but it is now being done systematically.

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