Struggling for balance in government reactions

The government too has struggled to balance compassion with fear. Immediately after September 11, hundreds of Middle Eastern ……1…. were arrested on visa violations and it was announced that thousands more immigrants would be questioned. The reason behind this massive dragnet – these individuals fit a profile similar to the …2…… They were Muslim, between the ages of 18 and 33, had entered the country on student ……3.., and came from nations that were known to have AL Qaeda ……4.. But initial interviews went badly and Muslim leaders and civil ……5….. advocates screamed “racial profiling”. The FBI adopted a different approach – offering a ……6….. sensitivity training program to agents, writing to invite individuals to come in for an interview (rather than showing up unannounced at the door), and reaching out to …7……. and community leaders.

Looking beyond the country’s borders, the struggle to balance fear and compassion is all the more difficult. Americans have thought long of themselves as a generous, open, and just people – self-image that made the events of September 11 all the more difficult to understand. Why would people hate a nation that believes in ……8…. and liberty?

So deep was the hurt that even committed pacifists called for ……9… . President Bush’s approval ratings were extremely high – 80% of Americans supported the ………10….. campaign against the Taliban.

Yet even in the midst of this anger came calls for compassion. Concern for the Afghan people led the military to drop food and clothing over …11……. areas of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of American children responded to President Bush’s call to send their allowances to Afghan children. Millions of dollars have been pledged and ……12…… are being recruited to help the country to re-build. Of course, much of this compassion was strategic.

In the midst of tremendous pain last September, Americans took great comfort in the compassion of the international community: The Star-Spangled Banner playing at Buckingham Palace, ……13…… being laid at the American ……14……. in Beijing, a candlelight vigil in Tehran, a moment of …15……. observed across Europe – these gestures set an important tone in international cooperation.

 

(From: The Times, 2001.)

16 Answer the questions suggested:

 

o What is the reaction of the US government to the events of September 11, 2001?

o What tendencies in the international policy of the US have become evident?

o What is the reaction of the international community?

 

 

17 Discuss the following questions in pairs or groups:

o Did ‘September 11’ change you in any important way as a person?

o How would you describe the reaction of a ‘typical American’?

o In your opinion, what social welfare services were necessary to deal with the consequences of the attack?

o What preventative measures should be implemented to alleviate the possible consequences of events like those described in the text?

18 Disclose the meaning of the following phrase:

“Fear and compassion are two sides of the same coin…and both have been in abundant supply in the United States since September 11, 2001.”

19 In groups share your ideas on the statement given below:

“Events like September 11, 2001 and Beslan September 1, 2004 have re-shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world.”

20 Read the article ‘Recovery from Traumatic Stress’ and fill in the gaps with the parts A, B, C, D and E. There is one part that you do not need to use.

 

 

A) Usually no other treatment is needed other than that offered by a good friend’s concern and, for a limited time, sleeping pills at night. For all those who could be described as suffering from the symptoms of acute stress disorder, there are thousands more who may find that their general mood has been altered by the terrorists’ atrocity.

 

 

B) Others have developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of living through a time of great fear, while witnessing an event that could possibly involve death or injury to family, friends or colleagues at a time when they felt helpless because they were unable to influence the outcome.

 

 

C) The survey showed that more than 30% people were injured in the terrible disaster and most of them suffered a long post-traumatic stress.

 

 

D) They will be numbed by the event, emotionally unresponsive, indifferent to their surroundings to varying degrees and have a sense that such a ghastly event couldn’t really have happened.

 

 

E) Both medication and psychotherapy have their place in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. There is debate over the most efficient form of psychotherapy, but what is not in dispute is that the therapist needs to be sympathetic and empathetic.