Overblown

Overblown

Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them is a book by the respected American political scientist John E. Mueller published in 2006. It argues that the threat presented by terrorism, like many other security threats, has been much inflated.

Contents

The book and the argument

Origins

Mueller, an expert on war and terrorism, had been expressing critical views of the terrorism industry for some time before publishing this book. The central arguments of the book were rehearsed for the first time in a 2005 article in one of the leading academic journals devoted to the study of terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, "Six Rather Unusual Propositions about Terrorism."

Argument

Mueller's central argument is that an American is more likely to die of drowning in the bath than in a terrorist attack, and that the rational response to terrorism is to keep the threat in realistic context, and otherwise getting on with life. That this does not happen has something to do with the terrorism industry--experts, journalists and politicians--and something to do with the human inability to assess risk and chance accurately.

Mueller goes in his book to extend his central argument to other varieties of national security threat.

Controversy

Mueller's book was received with confusion by many terrorism experts, who felt—like many members of the public--that terrorism does presents a dire threat. One review suggested that extending the "doesn't matter" argument to cover Pearl Harbor weakened rather than strengthened Mueller's position.

Others, however, welcomed Mueller's book for drawing new attention to important questions: Why do people worry so much about terrorism? Is the way that governments and societies generally react to it the best way to react?

Bibliography

  • John Mueller, Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them (New York: Free Press, 2006).
  • John Mueller, "Six Rather Unusual Propositions about Terrorism," Terrorism and Political Violence 17 (Autumn 2005), pp. 487‑505.

References

  • Mark Sedgwick, Review of Overblown, in Terrorism and Political Violence 19 (2007), pp. 438-40.

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  • overblown — o ver*blown , a. 1. Having been given more publicity than warranted; having had ascribed more importance than was justified; as, an overblown medical discovery. [PJC] 3. Bombastic, pretentious, or excessive; as, overblown rhetoric. [PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • overblown — index inflated (bombastic) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • overblown — (adj.) late 15c., blown over, passed away, from verb overblow (late 14c.), from OVER (Cf. over) + BLOW (Cf. blow) (v.). Meaning inflated, puffed up (with vanity, etc.) is from 1864 …   Etymology dictionary

  • overblown — [adj] excessive, too much aureate, bombastic, disproportionate, euphuistic, flowery, fulsome, grandiloquent, hyped up*, immoderate, inflated, magniloquent, oratorical, overdone, pompous, pretentious, profuse, rhetorical, sonorous, superfluous,… …   New thesaurus

  • overblown — ► ADJECTIVE 1) excessive or exaggerated. 2) (of a flower) past its prime …   English terms dictionary

  • overblown — overblown1 [ō΄vər blōn′] adj. past the stage of full bloom overblown2 [ō΄vər blōn′] adj. 1. stout; obese 2. a) overdone; excessive b) pompous or bombastic …   English World dictionary

  • overblown — overblown1 /oh veuhr blohn /, adj. 1. overdone or excessive: overblown praise. 2. of unusually large size or proportions: a majestic, overblown figure. 3. overinflated; turgid; bombastic; pretentious: overblown prose. v. 4. pp. of overblow. [1590 …   Universalium

  • overblown — [[t]o͟ʊvə(r)blo͟ʊn[/t]] ADJ GRADED Something that is overblown makes something seem larger, more important, or more significant than it really is. Warnings of disaster may be overblown... The reporting of the hostage story was fair, if sometimes… …   English dictionary

  • overblown — I. adjective Etymology: 3blow Date: 1616 past the prime of bloom < overblown roses > II. adjective Etymology: 1blow Date: 1864 1. excessively large in girth …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • overblown — o|ver|blown [ ,ouvər bloun ] adjective MAINLY LITERARY 1. ) something that is overblown is made to seem more important, exciting, or impressive than it really is: overblown reports of earthquake damage 2. ) an overblown object is too big or too… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

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