FROM THE MOMENT listeners realized that terrorism had come to America, callers to my radio program have wanted to discuss various terrorism scenarios. Invariably the conversation begins, “If I was a terrorist, here’s how I’d paralyze the country . . .”

Then I cut them off. It is a conversation with no upside other than ratings, and perhaps a little–or even more than a little–risk. Why advertise vulnerability, and why encourage paranoia?