.gif) I never really understood the meaning of “nothing to fear but fear itself”, or the incredible irony of Bush’s statement last fall “we will not live in fear”, until I read this thoughtful essay from Toby’s Political Diary: Mass Hysteria in the Service of War . Some excerpts follow, though you need to read the entire essay to get the full impact:
A person from our church called me tonight, since I am known as being against the war, and said that she had taken care of her family, and that perhaps instead of marching and demonstrating, I should be figuring out ways our church could make everyone safer. Then I learned on the news that Home Depot has virtually run out of duct tape. What is going on? Now, we appear on the verge of a new wave of mass fear, induced by our leaders to achieve political ends. Bush cannot attack a weak and distant country that is not an immediate threat to the U.S. without first creating hysteria in the population. He wants them to feel that they are under imminent threat of chemical and nuclear death. Our media, having become addicted to sensationalizing all fears, act as an echo chamber, so tonight we have the spectacle of orange flags on screens, anchors talking about not being able to sleep, and Aaron Brown for god’s sake saying he feels safer in the American military base in Kuwait than he would back in America. So OK, everyone, on the count of three, snap out of it, reject the paranoia and hysteria, refocus on the real priorities, refuse to succumb to the endless tirade of fear-mongering by Bush and the media. Tell your politicans and local media to stop ignoring the important issues like education, health care, clean air and water, civil liberties, corporate abuses, insane deficits. Start talking with friends and colleagues about these issues and tell those that are still harping on war and security to either do something useful about it (protest, write your Congressman) or else get a life. Boycott pandering news channels. Learn something new. Blog about something important. Take your duct tape back to Home Depot. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Ready now? One, two… |
Duct tape and, what was it, tarps? I guess that’s the “duck and cover” of current times.