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American Morning

U.S. Government Has Issued Another Terror Alert

Aired December 04, 2001 - 08:3   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. government, as you know, has issued another terror alert, its third one since September 11.

CNN's Michael Okwu is following that for us this morning. You made it quite clear New Yorkers never mince words. How are people reacting to this latest threat?

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, it looks like a normal Tuesday here, a very normal work day. New Yorkers arrive in here at Penn Station and go about the business of going to business. And so many of the New Yorkers we spoke to this morning say look, this is the third time that this has been issued. It hasn't really changed our lives, although we have to be a little more watchful and a little more vigilant.

About a month and a half, you will remember that the second such alert was issued and on the cover of all these papers there was something that told New Yorkers arriving here to work that essentially we were on a red alert.

The "New York Post," for example, had a very big headline that said "Red Alert!" That is not the case today. And as some of these people that we spoke to will tell you, they are concerned but they're not going to change their lives that much in the future or even now in the present.

These folks have come in from Pennsylvania. Your names are?

TOM: Tom.

ANNE (ph): Anne.

OKWU: Anne. And Virginia, I think, right?

VIRGINIA: Right.

OKWU: Now, you know about this security alert.

ANNE: Right.

OKWU: What is your, what's your feeling about it?

ANNE: We're going on with our lives, I guess, as the president requested. And we don't have any fears. We've been coming here since my children were little children and we bought tickets for Radio City two months ago right after the September 11 and we came. That's it.

OKWU: OK. And you're going where today?

ANNE: We're going to see the view this morning and...

OKWU: The view from the Empire State Building?

ANNE: No, the show with Barbara Walters, etc. No, I've been coming here since I was about 20 years old every year, two, three times a year. So I have no problem. And we go, we've seen just about every important place in New York City. We come back every year and we wouldn't stop coming, no.

OKWU: Do you ever wish that there would be more details that come along with these warnings?

ANNE: No. No. I get enough details. No. I would rather just do what I want to do, keep going and I feel badly about everything that has happened. We all do, I'm sure. But we like New York City.

OKWU: Tom, Let me ask you something. You three folks seem to not have any problems traveling.

TOM: Oh, no. Well...

OKWU: Coming into a place like New York City from your flight...

TOM: I will admit I'm a little nervous, you know?

OKWU: Yes.

TOM: But I know they're good here. They're on their toes. Everybody is ready in case something happens. So let's hope it don't.

OKWU: Tom, any plans to travel over the holiday season in the next couple of weeks?

TOM: Well, we're just going, as far as I know, we're not.

ANNE: Not this year we're not going anywhere.

TOM: Not this year, no. But we, we'll probably be back to New York again. We love it here.

OKWU: Do you find ourselves being more watchful, more vigilant, when you're in public places at all?

ANNE: No, I don't. I don't feel that I am. If there was something happening obvious, you probably might walk the other way. But otherwise I don't feel any different.

OKWU: Well, the president would be very proud of all three of you, continuing your lives as always.

TOM: Thank you.

OKWU: Thanks so much for joining us.

Paula, that is essentially the sentiment here. People are a little bit more vigilant, they are a little bit more watchful. But they say that they are going to continue their lives and not change it a bit -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, thanks so much, Michael.

As you know, there is no specific threat or target, but a so- called convergence of information that has officials putting Americans on high alert once again. And recent surveys indicate women and men have far different reactions to threats of terrorism.

We wondered about that and here's some reaction from around the country. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You can't sit around and worry about these things. If you do, you're going to kill yourself. You're going to drive yourself insane. So, you know, you've just got to go with everyday life, you know? So that's about it. That's all you can do.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I'm always looking around to see who, where and what, you know? But I'm very, very watchful.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yes, we all have fears. But I think we even have our regular fears on a day to day basis. But I think the way our president is handling everything, I have a lot of faith in him and I'm comfortable. I'm OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I can't let me fears override something that I have to have to do with my living and stuff, which means if it means living in a big city like this, if I rely on public transportation, I can't fear, you know, and not work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Are we seeing yet another gender rift in those responses? Who better to ask than the man who wrote "Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus." Author John Gray is an expert in relationships. His new book, "Mars and Venus In the Workplace" will be out in January. He joins us this morning from San Francisco.

You are a good man to get up at this hour of the morning for us on the West Coast. Welcome. Good to have you with us, John.

JOHN GRAY, AUTHOR: Good morning. Thanks.

ZAHN: What do those responses tell us about gender variation in response to these alerts?

GRAY: Well, I think it's pretty consistent the responses people had, which is women tend to be more aware of the feeling part of the problem, more vigilant, more aware of their feelings of fear, more concern. The first woman you interviewed said she didn't want to hear any more details.

Often men will go the news to relax, actually, to focus on one big problem which they don't have to directly solve. That's very relaxing to a man. But to a woman, it puts them into over, easily can put them into overwhelm. They don't want to keep watching and watching and hearing about it. They want to go on with their life but they're going to be more aware of their feelings, which are stirred up right now.

Some other statistics are that people going to therapy, particularly women, has increased. I am connected to about 50 therapists that I work with and what we've found is that the problems in marriage have magnified.

What's really good about all this change is that men tend to be more action oriented. At times of danger, men's testosterone levels go up and they tend to want to move into action. Men often want to -- let's do something about it. I want to do something about it. And if I personally can't do something about it, then let me move onto something else.

So you heard the one man saying I'm not going to let this worry me, I can't keep worrying, I'm just going to move on. Men tend to be able to separate themselves from their feelings easier than most women so he can say I'm not going to worry about it whereas a woman might say I am worried about it but I'll deal with it.

ZAHN: It's interesting, we have some recent polling down by Pew Research which, the Pew Research Center, which reinforces much of what you've just said. And in that poll, 40 percent of the women said they had felt depressed, which explains your comment about therapy, 20 percent of the men felt that way and more than 50 percent of the women said they were very or somewhat concerned about another terrorist attack. Only 30 percent of men felt that way. Your analysis of those results?

GRAY: Again, the situation is women tend to have a greater awareness of problems. They tend to talk about problems more. They tend to want to go more deeply into the problem. They want to ask more questions about it.

And men hear the problem and then they move on. They want to do something about it.

On a positive note, one of the also statistical changes which has occurred is an increase in marriage rings are being bought. Men who have been sort of on the fence, do I want to get married or not, are making their move. And a lot more proposals are happening right now as well as a lot more separations and movement towards divorce.

Couples who were like on the wall, are we going to get a divorce or not, if they really can't, if they feel like they can't make headway they're making that commitment.

So this is a time where people are making more of a commitment to action, whether it be to get married, to work on their marriage and make it better, coming closer to their family. We see a lot of that. Or if the marriage really isn't working and they've been thinking for a long time about moving on, this has been a catalyst for some couples to break up.

ZAHN: So what you're saying, though, is women are not only feeling a sense of vulnerability, they're communicating it. Isn't it possible that men feel a sense of vulnerability but they don't think society allows them to tell us that?

GRAY: I think you're absolutely right.

ZAHN: Are they just holding it in, John?

GRAY: I don't think that women are more feeling than men, but I think, as you just said, which is that women will want to talk about their feelings more. They'll be more aware of their feelings. What men will do is tend to act from their feelings and not so much talk about it. They'll feel the feeling and then they'll do something about it as opposed to let's talk about it.

Or, if there's nothing he can do about it, then men will have a greater tendency to not suppress the feeling, but just move on. Remember that depression is not a healthy thing. It's a symptom that someone's not coping with stress very effectively. And if a woman doesn't have ample opportunity in her life right now to talk about her feelings, depression will set in.

And what's interesting with women different from men is that this terrorist attack doesn't just make her afraid for the security of her family and the nation. It stimulates all her feelings so she becomes aware, more aware of all the problems in her life. Whereas a man, on the other hand, when he's triggered by a fear it raises his testosterone levels. He'll tend to ignore all the other problems in his life more and focus on one problem.

So that's a big difference between men and women under stress is that men, when they're out of balance, focus on one thing and overlook all the other little fires. They want to put out the one big fire and overlook all the other fires and that creates a problem.

ZAHN: Yes, so they watch TV. So they watch ESPN, right?

GRAY: That's right. That's right. We sit and watch CNN all the time and watch the news, as well.

ZAHN: Well, we don't mind that.

GRAY: It's a great thing.

ZAHN: We don't mind that at all.

GRAY: That's right.

ZAHN: John Gray, good of you to join us this morning. Delighted to have you with us and again, thank you for setting that alarm clock at such a ridiculous hour of the morning. Welcome back. GRAY: Thank you.

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