Five years ago, students at George Washington University could hear the explosion of American Airlines Flight 77 as it slammed into the Pentagon a few miles down the road. Today, our “independent” student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, printed an editorial arguing that our national “obsession” with September 11 is preventing us from combating the most serious threats facing America.

What might these serious threats be? Here’s a real gem: ”The amorphous war on terror has shifted its focus away from the most serious outside threats facing America. Citizens continue to live in fear of terrorism, while they face threats such as automobile accidents and obesity that are, statistically, more dangerous” (emphasis mine).

It’s not difficult to imagine how these students would have admonished their school’s namesake a couple hundred years ago for failing to take “proactive” measures against domestic problems like smallpox, while placing a misguided focus on an amorphous war for independence.