It is a great irony that terrorists with a background of hating American popular culture, of hating Hollywood as the symbol of that culture, and of hating the damaging, decadent influence that they think Hollywood has had on their own society, took a page out of Hollywood's own playbook to stage their terror of September 11. It is no longer an academic question whether:

Fiction writers and moviemakers have innovative minds and can predict what terrorists might do next, or terrorists take their ideas from the creations of Hollywood.

	On November 11, 2001, Karl Rove, senior advisor to President Bush, met with members of the motion-picture industry to discuss the war on terrorism. From left: Melissa Gilbert, Screen Actors Guild; Sherri Lansing, Paramount Pictures; and Jack Valenti, Motion Picture Association of America. AP / Wide World Photos

I do not know the answer for sure. We know that the U.S. government has consulted with Hollywood moviemakers about possible terrorist methods. The theory is that the people who create movies about terrorism might be able to anticipate the terrorists' future actions. Personally, I think it is very likely that the terrorists also watch these movies—at least terrorists of the variety who committed the incidents on 9/11. They are very familiar with the media in the larger sense of the entertainment media. They create their methods out of what they see in Western entertainment. In a way, they may have even outdone Hollywood; September 11 may have shown us a greater horror than we have seen to date in the various disaster films produced by Hollywood.