“9/11”, or Words of Nihilism

Year 2001, Issue: 14, 31 - 33, 01.10.2001

Mahmut Mutman

Abstract

In the immediate aftermath of so-called September 11, there was a particular phrase we frequently heard on television. Every expert, every commentator, every interviewee said the same thing: “from now on, everything will change; nothing is going to be the same again.” What was meant by this was surely a re-organization of political, administrative and security apparatuses against the new terrorist danger. Despite the whole seriousness of the matter, this statement made me smile whenever I heard it. If September 11 proved one thing, it must be that it is simply impossible to prevent international terrorism by taking safer and more advanced organizational, technical and legal measures against it. If terrorism disappears one day, this will not happen because we will have fought against it by our advanced security, administrative and technological organization. If hijacking a plane and destroying two skyscrapers is really as simple as acquiring a pilot diploma and carrying a knife, naturally tomorrow someone else may have another surprise. The point is precisely that no system can be so well organized not to have any weak points, failures or malfunctions. But if this is often put forward as a justification for increasing security measures, it is because those who do so are extremely reluctant to discuss, let alone do something about, the fact that while North Americans and Europeans pick an “ethnic” restaurant to go every evening, millions in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America simply starve.

References

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• Lewis, Bernard. The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror. New York: Modern Library, 2003.
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will to Power. Trans. Walter Kaufmann & Richard Hollingdale. New York: Vintage Books, 1968.