Taken on face value, these behaviors might seem a logical and natural response by students to the resolution of a terrifying ordeal. Yet placed in the context of the ideology of America's "war on terror", they appear to support the concept of what has been termed "American exceptionalism" which may, in fact, contribute to the perpetuation of radical Islamic terrorism. .
Significance of the Problem.
I selected the events of April 19th as the focus of this study because I am interested to see how student actions that night contribute to the ideology of American exceptionalism and the related issue of America's twelve-year campaign against Islamic terror. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, America has expended significant blood and treasure in a perpetual and, by definition, unwinnable "war on terror." According to The Long Shadow of 9/11, a recent Rand Corporation study, more than 70,000 American's have been killed or injured in this conflict. Conservative estimates hold that more than 150,000 Iraqis and Afghans have lost their lives. By most accounts, we have spent almost $1.5 trillion dollars on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq putting the nation into significant debt (National Priorities). In addition, we have seen a sharp decline in American prestige internationally, serious erosion of our civil liberties, and we have lived for more than a decade in a state of constant vigilance and surveillance all in the name of fighting terror. .
An examination of cultural critics who have made a study of America's response to terror following the 9/11 attacks suggests that the phenomena that occurred at Boston College on April 19th is a manifestation of a deeply engrained cultural pattern in America. Robert Ivie, in his work Fighting Terror by Right of Redemption and Reconciliation describes the emergence after 9/11 of what he calls "American exceptionalism" which he describes as a "moralistic creed that insists that the United States is the one essential nation above all others, the beacon and exemplar of standards that no other country can match.
