Why terrorism? September 11, 2001 has changed the world forever. The threat of terrorism has reduced our freedom, increased our insecurities, made us more suspicious of our neighbours and has led to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Nancy Gibbs in a special report by Time magazine highlights the horror and heroism of the day, “as the U.S. dealt with the bloodiest day on its soil since the Civil War.”

The first plane hit the World Trade Center’s north tower at 8:45, ripping through the building’s skin, setting its upper floors ablaze.

The second plane impaled the south tower at 9:06. It collapsed at 10. The north tower came down 29 minutes later, crushing itself like a piston.

“I know that the rescue people who were helping us didn’t get out of the building,” said security official Bill Heitman, as he broke down and sobbed. All that was left of the New York skyline was a chalk cloud.

Jim Gartenberg, 35, a real estate broker on the 86th floor kept calling his wife Jill, who is pregnant with their second child, to let her know he was O.K. but trapped. “He called several times until 10. Then nothing. He sounded calm, except for when he told me how much he loved me. He said, ‘I don’t know if I’ll make it.’ He sounded like he knew it would be one of the last times he would say he loved me.”

Gibbs reports it’s a wonder it hadn’t happened earlier when the Microsoft flight simulator and Fly! II allowing you to pretend to fly between the World Trade Center towers, and into them. Anyone looking to practise can buy the software off the shelf.

What’s wrong with the world? On a smaller scale, but no less traumatic, are the increasing number of random shootings.

Columbine High School massacre in the U.S. April 20, 1999 was a wakeup call about violence in society.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a shooting spree that left 15 dead and 23 students wounded.

Time magazine reported them as laughing excitedly. “Who’s next?” “Who’s ready to die?”

“They told wounded kids to quit crying; it will all be over soon, you’ll all be dead. Anyone who cried or moaned was shot again.” Survivors said they treated it like a video game.

Cassie Bernall, who was reading her Bible that day, was asked if she believed in God.

She replied: “There is a God, and you need to follow along God’s path.” 

The shooter looked down at her and said, “There
is no God,” as he shot her in the head.

The district attorney, Dave Thomas, said “there were SWAT team people … weeping over what they saw.”

The Washington Post reported a diary “detailing the year- long plans for the killings, which the teenagers hoped would result in 500 people dead and end with them hijacking a plane and crashing into New York City.”

What turned two boys into callous murderers, utterly devoid of pity?

One year later a joint statement by The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Paediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry stated:

“At this time, well over 1000 studies … point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behaviour in some children.

The conclusion of the public health community, based on over 30 years of research, is that viewing entertainment violence can lead to increases in aggressive attitudes, values and behaviour, particularly in children. Its effects are measurable and long-lasting.”

Despite these findings there’s been no lessening of vio- lence in entertainment media.

One study reports, by the time a child reaches the age of 18, he or she will have seen 200,000 dramatized acts of violence and 40,000 dramatized murders on television.