Fear is such a strong motivator. I wasn't aware of exactly
how strong it is until September 11, 2001 when so many people
suddenly began to act as if the sky would fall at any minute.
They turned to the big mama (government) to protect them from all
their fears. They gave her a lot of trust and she tussled their
hair and kissed their scrapes and made them feel more
secure by putting the Military in airports and confiscating their
fingernail clippers. (No, it doesn't bother me that I can't
take fingernail clippers on my flight, 'cause I know I'm safe and
they're protecting me.)
And they were happy, because they felt safe.
But the bogeyman bin Laden isn't trying to hijack planes
anymore. He's smart, he knows it's a one-time thing. After you
fly their jets into some of their idols, creating a
spectacular show, you can't do it again — they are going to
keep an eye on their jets and make sure you don't take any guns,
let alone box-cutters, or, God forbid, plastic knives on
board.
See, they're vigilent now. They're onto you. They're safe and
they aren't gonna live in fear of some cave-dwelling
evildoer.
So, being bin Laden, you've got to come up with something else.
What is your goal? You're a reasonable man. You realize you
can't kill all three-hundred million Americans at once. You probably
aren't going to get much better than 500 a year, on average. But
you are a great psychologist. You know that if you pull off
great stunts (how to top those jets?) people's fear of you will
be completely out of proportion to the danger you pose. If you
really wanted to kill them off, you would be much more effective
giving them a dangerous, but easily accessible, and perhaps even
useful, activity like, say, driving.
No, your goal is to alter their culture and the best way to do
that is through fear. And, boy, does it work wonders!