In a sense, I think the conversation about terrorism is over. It’s not that terrorism has ended, but I feel that from now on, it’s a topic that only generates heat, and no light. In the name of fighting terrorism, many Americans bought into Osama’s worldview: that we are suspended in a cosmic struggle between Western Christendom and Islam. From a loss of civil liberties to societal impunity to those who spewed bigotry in the media and politics, the American Muslim has been singled out in ways that cannot be called American. Maybe it’s time to have the conversation.
This is the other conversation. The one about who we are as Americans, and how we treat each other. We often like to see the world as bipolar, right versus wrong, but we must acknowledge the world is not so binary. In fighting such great evil, we Americans slid from the moral imperative, only hurting ourselves in the process.