The Phrase That Turns Routine Tasks into Acts of War

On November 27, 2001, two weeks after 9–11, Roy Rivenburg, a staff writer for the L.A. Times, wrote:
“If you don’t read every single word of this story, then the terrorists will have won.”

It was the most over-used phrase for many months, and it covered almost everything that is America. If we don’t ride the subway, they will win. If we don’t drive over bridges, they will win. If we don’t go to ballgames and concert arenas, the movies, or the beach, they will win. If we don’t fly on airplanes, and of course, go shopping — the terrorists will win.

Not only did we continue doing all that, it wasn’t long until we felt like we were winning. Trump beat Hilary by a landslide and proceeded to negotiate peace deals with the middle east. But before he could finish, they threw Covid at us and the whole chorus started again. Our government’s attempt to control the virus chaos by ordering us to stay home and don’t breathe on anybody was worse than the terrorist threats.

Many of us believed the COVID Crisis was intentional and not nearly the catastrophe they tried to sell us. Once again, we spread the mantra; we must go shopping or the terrorists will win. we didn’t care at the time whether it was intentional or an accident, we just didn’t like the cure more than we feared the disease. We knew we must go shopping or the terrorists would win.