November 28, 2001

If you abuse this cliché, the terrorists have won

Chris Wattie National Post, with files from The Los Angeles Times

Use of the phrase "The terrorists have won if ... " is being applied to everything from playing football to drinking a third martini. Critics are beginning to say "enough."

Martha Stewart, the U.S. lifestyles maven, recently asked her employees to forgo a big company Christmas party in favour of hosting a number of small parties in their own homes.

When her underlings balked at the plan, Ms. Stewart retorted in a memo: "To me, the terrorists have certainly succeeded if so few of you participate in a companywide effort to 'get together.' "

Jack Chambers, a University of Toronto linguist, says he has to suppress a shudder every time he hears the phrase.

"I mean, what evidence does Martha Stewart have that her get-togethers are a blow to Osama bin Laden?'' he asked.

"It's become almost automatic to say it now ... in some pretty ridiculous situations."

But Dr. Chambers says that the American-style guru is unfortunately not alone in using the war on terrorism in unusual contexts.

Joe Fleming, the Massachusetts-born defensive lineman for the Calgary Stampeders, said the week after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center that playing CFL football was striking a blow against terrorists.

"Our union had a discussion and as players we agreed that if you don't play, they win," Mr. Fleming said.

Tim Hudak, the Ontario Tourism Minister, criticized comedian Lily Tomlin for backing out of a trip to Toronto shortly after the terrorist attacks.

"If there is one key message I can convey to Ontarians and travellers, it is don't stay in your homes, don't have fear of travelling," Mr. Hudak said. "If we stay in our homes in fear, we are letting the terrorists win."

German exchange student Tobias Bock, 18, counted it as a personal triumph over evil when he travelled to Ontario for a whirlwind visit to Niagara Falls, the musical Mamma Mia and the Royal Ontario Museum.

"We discussed cancelling the trip, but then we decided if we did that, the terrorists would win," he said.

According to other sources, the terrorists win if we:

- Cancel golf's Ryder Cup (The Toronto Sun)

- Postpone the release of Ghost Recon, a war-related video game (Internet posting)

- Don't run in the New York marathon (John Manley, the Foreign Affairs Minister)

- Drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. National Audubon Society)

- Raise the price of air travel (writer Spider Robinson)

- Bring government immigration programs into disrepute (Elinor Caplan, Immigration Minister)

- Don't send the marching band from Frank Scott Bunnell High School in Stratford, Conn., to the 2002 Rose Parade. (The New York Times)

- Don't drink a third martini. (A New Yorker cartoon depicts two men at a bar, one holding a martini glass and saying to the other: ''I figure if I don't have that third martini, then the terrorists win.'')

But some critics are suggesting that defeating the United States might not be quite so simple as cancelling sporting events or changing travel plans.

"It is time, way, way past time, to put to rest the single most overused idea of the post-Sept. 11 world: that if we pursue some particular course of action, why then, the terrorists have won," CNN host Jeff Greenfield said this month.

Margery Eagan, a columnist for The Boston Globe, was among the first to complain about overuse of "we've let terrorists win," citing a socialite who decided that getting her nails done was a patriotic act.

"On the very day of the attack, I had a 2 o'clock nail appointment," the woman said. "If I don't make the appointment, I said to myself: I've let the terrorists win."

Dr. Chambers says the phrase seems to be losing some of its popular currency. "It's becoming a cliché," he says.

"People are mocking it. That's a good sign, I think, because it means the phrase is starting to lose its power ... as it should."

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001

Answers

There is one clear winner IMHO in this race for the booby prize. Leaving such people as Martha Stewart far back in the pack is Elinor Caplin: terrorists have won if bring government immigration programs into disrepute.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001

I'd vote for the nail appointment, myself. LOL

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001