CHAPTER 16 / PRACTICE TEST I 625
library, and helpful adult professionals. The Chinese
teenager might be far more intelligent, diligent and
resourceful than I, but far less “productive.”
Perhaps a sign of maturity and virtue in a society
is the degree to which it values its citizens indepen-
The following essay received 4 points out of a possible 6, meaning that it demonstrates adequate compe-
tencein that it- develops a point of view on the topic
- demonstrates some critical thinking, but perhaps not consistently
- uses some examples, reasons, and other evidence to support its thesis, but perhaps not adequately
- shows a general organization and focus but shows occasional lapses in this regard
- demonstrates adequate but occasionally inconsistent facility with language
- contains occasional errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics
The greatest danger to the modern world is not ter-
rorists who have been indoctrinated into a twisted
world view, but the masses of people who are indif-
ferent to them, or even sympathize with them. “Live
and let live,” so many people say. “They have a right to
their point of view that women are animals and that
someone who speaks against their religion should
have his tongue cut out. That is just their way of think-
ing.” This apathy to the dangers of the world is even
more dangerous than the terrorists themselves.
In Madrid, a band of Al Qaeda terrorists decided
that it was a good idea, in March of 2004, to blow up
200 innocent commuters on a train so that they could
influence the upcoming elections in Spain. They pro-
claimed that they love death more than westerners
love life. They were hoping that the Spanish people
would then be so frightened that they would elect a
leader who would take Spain’s troops out of Iraq, as
Al Qaeda wished. And that is exactly what happened.dently of their “productivity.” Every human being de-
sires to build a better world in his or her own way.
Sometimes that way does not involve making more
money, getting better grades, or doing what society
has established as “productive.”The people of Spain didn’t care enough to realize
that they were doing exactly what the terrorists were
hoping they would do. The voters of Spainprobably
believed that they were making it less likely that the ter-
rorists would strike again, but it was probably the exact
opposite. The terrorists love to know that their violence
scares people, and the Spanish people gave them what
they wanted. Contrast this with the American response
to terrorism: zero tolerance.
The worst evil occurs when good people do noth-
ing. Millions of supposedly “good” German people sat
on their hands as millions of “unwanted” Jews, gays
and foreigners were slaughtered. Now, millions of
people sit on their hands as religious fanatics look at
the slaughter of innocent people as their ticket to par-
adise. It is unreasonable to believe that those with
warped hatred of western cultures will stop their ha-
tred and their evil deeds merely because they are ap-
peased by weak governments.