All we have to fear is fear

And suddenly, with thousands buried in the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center, nothing matters. Of course things matter as much as they always have. To paraphrase an adage, the world doesn’t cease being funny and good when we’re sad; nor does it cease being filled with sadness when we’re feeling good.

But, to be sure, the world is now different. Certainly we’ve all spent time since Sept. 11 trying futilely to come to terms with these ghastly, hate-filled acts of madness. The question dangling in most people’s minds after the attack is simply “why?”

The most direct explanation is that the attack was carried out by Islamic extremists in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel in its confrontation with the Palestinians. A more encompassing view was written on a sign carried by a group of young men in a Middle-Eastern country: “America stop and think why you are hated all around the world”.

An exaggeration perhaps, but with a seed of truth. America is hated because it has what every country wants: economic prosperity, political clout and military might. It escapes these and other America haters, no doubt, that America got that way, not by conquering, stealing and destroying, but by working and creating the most vigorous and functional political and economic system in history; one that attracts talented, ambitious people from every corner of the earth. Indeed, the list of people who died in the destruction of the World Trade Center, chosen as a target because it is the very symbol of American-led global free trade and economic inter-dependence, bears this out: the victims came from over 50 different countries, comprising an almost United-Nations-like sampling of human racial, ethnic and religious diversity.

In the aftermath of the attacks, the focus has understandably been on the families of the victims, the clean-up of New York’s financial district and prevention of further attacks. However a longer term concern is that this catastrophe, viewed by hundreds of millions, will result in protectionism and backsliding on progressive economic policies, set off by a new fear-ridden, timid world outlook.

Here’s a sampling, courtesy of Thomas Homer-Dixon, director of the Centre for the Study of Peace and Conflict at the University of Toronto: “We’ve managed to create for ourselves a world that is very dangerous…. It’s a world that is very unstable — financially, ecologically, socially and politically. We’ve been living in a dream world.”

In other words, let’s draw the blinds, crawl under the covers and weep for our selves.

What nonsense!

In scientific terms the earth and all the life on it is a large, inherently unstable system. We live not in a chemical equilibrium, but in what is defined as a steady state, requiring a constant input of energy. The human challenge has been to use ingenuity to build stability into society with steady food supplies, law, well-functioning governments and wealth-producing trade and commerce.

Human history shows there has always been madness and evil, and it has been the unprecedented privilege of the current generation to have, until now, largely escaped the brunt of it. In practical terms, under the influence of global free trade, the interests of nations have never been more integrated; and the world never more safe and secure.

The terrorist attacks are sure to give rise to increased regulation in areas of travel, transportation and immigration. And global recession may now occur after four years of its prediction. Yet the nearly unanimous world condemnation of the attacks, along with recent news that China has become a member of the World Trade organization, is a hopeful sign that the world will avoid a backslide into fear-provoked protectionism. Then, this terrorism will have clearly failed.

Michael LeGault, editor

e-mail: mlegault@corporate.southam.ca