Foreign Policy of Vulnerability

Rakim H.D. Brooks 09' -- Africana Studies and Economics with a minor in Political Theory.

"Should we forget about 9-11?" Every time I pose this question to a friend they answer me with a puzzled stare that is fraught with assumptions (from strangers I receive only a hostile and dismissive glance). These responses make palpable the emotional attachment Americans still feel to September 11, 2001. Even though most people were nowhere near the “terror” inflicted on the Twin Towers over six years ago, people are still angry—and afraid. Osama bin Laden’s vicious plot cut through the illusions of American security and omnipotence. Coupled with the train bombings in London, the Chechnyan Hostage Crisis in Russia and any of the other terrorist attacks highlighted by our increased vigilance, 9-11 leads many Americans to view their world as one of imminent danger. This perspective is perhaps the center stone of the conversation the initial prompt sought to elicit, and it even signals that, perhaps, the question ought to have been posed differently. How about “should American foreign policy be built upon vulnerability?”

An answer to this question requires more than the few sentences I will allot, but here are a few musings worthy of consideration. Is vulnerability all encompassing? That is to say, when we feel vulnerable are we more likely to respond deftly (and preemptively when necessary) to all threats, taking notice of their relative likelihoods? Or, can our feeling vulnerable somehow obscure the realities of probability? Can vulnerability make you feel like the next-door neighbor is living upstairs? My feeling is that vulnerability does indeed make us jump at shadows and stare at old ladies with walkers because it promotes irrationality. By irrationality I do not mean that the fear itself is irresponsible (though it is worth noting that Americans fear high-jacked airplanes while citizens in most other polities are afraid of bullets) but instead that our responses to it are often not to scale. Thus, if 9-11 has promoted a foreign policy of vulnerability, we ought to forget about it immediately. 9-11 afforded us lessons more important than the fact that Americans are susceptible to improbable attacks.

Posted by Rakim H.D. Brooks on September 18, 2007 02:48 AM | Permalink

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