Just like clockwork, the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel alert on Sunday night after President Barack Obama announced the killing of Osama bin Laden. State has issued dozens of similar terrorism-related alerts (and more serious travel warnings) in recent years.

Just like clockwork, here I am at Seat 2B writing about travel in the time of terrorism. This is my ninth column about security and travel terrorism in less than four years.

The difference between the State Department and me? I'm worried about fear and loathing (and fatigue) when it comes to the topic. How many times can you tell travelers (business or otherwise, savvy or otherwise) the same basic strategies? How many times can you recycle the same tactics for staying safe, no matter how useful or important?

"Americans are prone to tune out," a recently retired State Department careerist told me on Monday afternoon. "So we repeat, restate, recast, anything to generate attention."

I won't do that. I posted some thoughts about why we should be on guard against terrorist attacks against travel targets in the early hours of Monday morning. I'd urge you to revisit some of the previous Seat 2B columns on terrorism on the right too.

But what makes us so blasé about terrorism in 2011 that the topic seems stale? Are our attention spans so short and our sense of personal safety so dulled that we simply don't care anymore? Is September 11, 2001, too long ago, the transit attacks in Madrid (2004) and London (2005) too far away, the terrorism in Mumbai (2008), Moscow (in January), and Marrakech (last month) too exotic?

I think not. I hope not. I'm convinced business travelers are smarter than that. In talking and emailing with some over the last 36 hours and discussing human nature with supposed "experts" of all types, I have some ideas why we aren't nearly as concerned about travel terrorism as we should be.

Fear of Flying

It was exactly 50 years ago this month that the first U.S. commercial airliner was hijacked to Cuba. Flyers have been contending with terror in the skies ever since. Every terror attack of any type against any airplane naturally leads even hardcore business travelers to wonder whether they should fly. And the only thing that they seem to hate more than the travel itself is not traveling on business. They don't like having to question their personal safety or to worry about the security of the commercial airline system they have to trust every day of their lives.

"A lot of travelers really do fear paralysis by analysis," a corporate travel manager said to me on Monday afternoon. They don't want to admit to themselves that terrorism could affect them. So they don't think about it. They rationalize. They think ignoring it will make it go away."

My Way on the Highway

Self-delusion as a method to keep on keeping on is one thing. Self-serving assumptions about how the world looks at "terror" is something else. Far too many otherwise smart business travelers I contacted in the last two days seem to think the world is unanimous in cheering the demise of bin Laden. Far too many otherwise savvy "experts" are outraged that Western news outlets are covering the fact that bin Laden is still seen as a hero and now viewed as a martyr in some parts of the world.

In theory, terrorism is easy to define: It's any violent act against innocents in pursuit of social, political, or military goals. In reality, though, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Assuming that everyone agrees with your view of who is a terrorist (and who isn't an innocent) is guaranteed to make you sloppy in your worldview and unsafe as a business traveler.

Like it or not, bin Laden and al Qaeda are seen as holy warriors in some parts of the world. The Russians are incensed that Chechen fighters, who they consider terrorists, are described as "rebels" and "separatists" in Western countries. Lots of luck even now trying to get agreement over the IRA in Northern Ireland or ETA in Spain. Or consider this: The Fatah faction of the Palestine National Authority, which controls the Left Bank, officially cheered the demise of bin Laden. Yet Hamas, which controls Gaza, mourned him.

I don't suggest that you're not permitted your own opinion of terrorism or should abandon your view of morality. But I do suggest that you grasp, intellectually and emotionally, that not everyone shares your sense of loathing. And some who disagree with you are more than willing to support those who would attack you.