By Matt Morris
Lecture series continues to question U.S. morality
Have we, as a nation, forgotten 9/11? That’s not likely, but are we still as concerned about our nation’s disposition and our plan of action? How do we come to understand these perpetrators, who plot against the well-being of the American way of life? The History Department and the Interfaith Center hosted the third night of a lecture series addressing American morality and justice during crisis and striving to help citizens make sense of what our nation is going through.
The lecture that took place Thursday night focused on sociology, economics and terrorism. The speakers on hand to share their professional views on terrorism were sociology professor John Busch, communications professor Michael Cunningham, philosophy professor Eileen John and mathematics professor Patricia Cerrito. There were about 30 people on hand in the Ekstrom Auditorium to hear the speeches and take part in the discussion.
Busch started the evening with his speech, “Avoiding the Dance of Death: Terrorism and Its Control.” He started by describing the thought processes that influence individuals to take part in self-defeating tactics that result in such heinous acts as what America and the rest of the world have experienced. The thought process for many of these terrorists is rather crude and lacks scientific reasoning. Busch called this type of thinking “prescientific thought.” This thinking searches for “signs;” through these signs and symbols, they make sense of the world. Busch also talked about authoritarianism and the studies on right-wing authoritarians. He stated that right-wing authoritarian thinking is what justifies violent actions.
Cunningham gave the next speech, “Profiling Terrorists: Demographic, Sociological and Psychological Variables.” He pointed out that the United States can only be ready for the next attack if we understand our enemy. Cunningham added some humor in his speech as he discussed exactly what these terrorists look like. His first few pictures of terrorists were people that do actually look like terrifying people: accused D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, and others. He said, “They do not look like poster children for moral well-being.” As we see these types of people invade our media and develop our perceptions of terrorists, the actual terrorists can be overlooked. Cunningham said, “If we look for suicide bombers in our airports, we’re going to miss the real bad guys.” He discussed what some people who knew the hijackers that took part in 9/11 said about them. Most of the people shared their amazement about how ordinary the men had seemed.
Attendees seemed interested in the topics that came up in the discussion. Stephanie Mattingly, a junior majoring in vocal music performance, said, “I was expecting a doom speech when solutions to terrorism were discussed, but the ideas for solutions were creative.”
Sophomore industrial engineering major George Blasa said that he liked the event, and especially the fact that professors came and related their area of specialty to the topic so that the information is clear-cut and specific.
The event ended with speeches from John and Cerrito; John spoke about human freedom, and Cerrito gave a lecture titled “The Axiomatic Foundations of Actions Associated with 9/11.”
Participants brought up several interesting topics concerning the American reaction. Matt Evans, a graduate student majoring in political science, commented on the complexity of the issue of terrorism: “One man’s terrorism can be another man’s freedom fighting.”
Not only Americans could gain something from the event. Tomoko Terashita, a foreign exchange student majoring in English as a second language, said, “I am interested in how Americans view terrorism.”
The event allowed people to express their ideas and concerns about terrorism, as well as hear how others feel about the issue. The next panel will take place on December 5 and will look at public policy, power and terrorism.
