What does it mean if terrorism no longer terrorizes us? Analysis: People seem to have only so many tears and hashtags. What does that mean for the war on terror?

Alia E. Dastagir | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Police ask for public's help on London attacks British police on Monday urged anyone with knowledge about Saturday's terror attack to come forward, promising to treat any information "with respect" and guaranteeing anonymity. (June 5)

When terrorists barrel into unsuspecting pedestrians on London Bridge, stab people in Borough Market or bomb children in a Manchester arena, they do it to stoke fear. But what happens when attacks seem so pervasive that terrorism begins to feel normal?

"People are on edge, but as these attacks increase, there is going to be less public outcry because they become normalized," said Alexandra Bradford, a terrorism researcher and co-author of Becoming Mulan? Female Western Migrants to ISIS, a report by the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue. "People always adjust to violence."

In the U.S., an undercurrent of fear has persisted since the 9/11 attacks, but the rise of social media, a relentless 24/7 news cycle and the prevalence of smartphones to access the news has amplified the feeling that we are under constant threat. Push alerts on the latest attack. Facebook feeds of baby pictures and nights out, interrupted by videos of panicked victims. Tweets that show bodies in the street.

It can feel inescapable.

“When we are repeatedly exposed to fear-provoking media content, we become desensitized over time and experience a diminished reaction,” said Melanie Greenberg, a clinical psychologist in Marin County, Calif., and author of The Stress-Proof Brain.

According to a 2017 report from Pew Research Center, even before the terrorism attacks in London and Manchester, people in Europe, the U.S. and Canada had pervasive concerns about the threat of extremism.

Bradford points out that the U.K. has experienced a volatile, violent climate before, and that people have adjusted.

"If we use history as an example — in terms of how [the U.K.] continued to flourish under the darkness of the blackout during the years of the Blitz and then again during the decades of IRA attacks — people became accustomed to everyday violence," she said. "Life re-calibrated and a new normal was found."

Israeli society, for instance, “basically became accustomed to terrorism and adapted accordingly,” said political science professor Dov Waxman in the 2011 article Living with terror, not living in terror: The impact of chronic terrorism on Israeli society.

“Social resilience prevents terrorism from seriously disrupting the normal functioning of a society,” Waxman, now at Northeastern University, wrote. “It means that a targeted population is able to cope with the threat of terrorism and not be intimidated or demoralized by it.”

The realities of global terrorism are complex and rapidly changing. Worldwide deaths from terrorism decreased 10% in 2015, the first decrease since 2010, according to the 2016 Global Terrorism Index. However, deaths in OECD's (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) 35 member countries — which include European nations, the U.S., Israel, Australia and others — were up 650% from the previous year.

"There continue to be periodic gruesome attacks that attract much attention," said Richard Lachmann, a political sociologist at the University at Albany. "But the total number of Americans and Europeans killed by terrorists remain low, on the level of the number killed by lightning."

So, has the public reaction re-calibrated with the onslaught of terrorism news? After the Paris and Brussels attacks, Facebook profiles were awash in the tricolors of the French and Belgian flags. But after seven people were killed in London this weekend, the Union Jack was not splashed across social media sites.

While there were social media messages of concern, prayers and support for London, there was also something else, something akin to numbness.

I've become numb to these senseless acts of terrorism around the world to the point where it doesn't even bring out a reaction in me anymore — Trey (@its_treys) May 23, 2017

Stepping back from thinking about terrorism is "a necessary reaction," said Frieda Birnbaum, a research psychologist in Saddle River, N.J.

“When something major like this hits, we have no choice but to function," Birnbaum said. "Even though it affects us and we have that in the back of our minds, we have to go on with our daily activities.”

Getting back to life isn't a bad thing, psychologists say.

"I don’t think it’s that people are getting used to it ... as much as they are proactively fighting back and focusing on what they can control — their daily lives and going out, despite anxiety," said psychologist and George Washington University adjunct associate professor Mary Karapetian Alvord. "Sending the message to terrorists of the world that they do not have the power over us. That is really what makes us resilient, and we want to encourage that over reactions of fear and avoidance."

It's people's resilience, in some way, that means the terrorists will never win, Bradford said.

"A job of a terrorist is to terrorize the public," she said. "And if the public becomes accustomed to these attacks, and if we remain steadfast and refuse to give into fear, then really these terrorists have failed in their ultimate goal."

Contributing: Greg Toppo, USA TODAY



