My heart goes out to the Muslim family detained from their holiday flight to Orlando on New Year's Day. And my heart aches for what this country has become under 8 years of the Bush propaganda machine: Fear Nation.
Yes 9/11 did happen; it was a horrible attack on our country by al-Qaida. But terrorism's success depends on the reaction to the event. Under Bush, al-Qaida has been highly successful. Going to Afghanistan and crushing Bin Laden and his network there was the right decision -- but we quickly were diverted by right-wing hawks who for years advocated going pre-emptive attacks (which became known as the Bush Doctrine) on whom they termed "rogue nations" and saw Iraq as an opportunity to test their theory. Combined with a president not-too-well versed on the ways of the world, they took advantage, and we have the Iraq quagmire we hope to get out of with the Obama presidency.
Our reaction to 9/11 has led to a perfect-storm victory for al-Qaida: Bin Laden remains free, Iraq is his prime recruiting ground, the US is going into massive debt supporting an unending war (this was the mujahideen's role in taking down the Soviet Union with President Ronald Reagan's help.) The by-product contributes to a nation gripped by fear. GOP politics plays on this, and really has since the 1960's as
Paul Krugman's column in yesterday's New York Times points out. Playing on people's fears of the unknown, the foreign, the "liberals" is all the Republicans have to offer, and they force it home by absurd "terror levels" in the airport, searching random travelers, while our ports -- our real vulnerability -- go totally unprotected. Do we need all of this? Frankly, no. Terror-attack-by-jet was stopped on 9/11 by United Flight 93.
Our culture of fear led to the two teenage girls "reporting" what they thought they overheard in a crowded New Year's Day airport. I imagine if I had a conversation about where the safest place to stay on an airplane with one of you and these girls overheard, they might even have joined the discussion. But when they saw people with darker skin in Muslim dress (read: different from "us") they became alarmed. They reacted as our society has told them to react -- BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID. I just can't wait for the inane new reality TV series "Homeland Security USA," can you?
So while I want to apologize to this American family detained on a holiday trip, I mourn for what this country has become. Whatever happened to "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"?
Note: The final link is to a video; as a newbie, I don't know how to embed a video into the layout, but will learn soon.
What You Should Know About This Year
3 years ago
2 comments:
It is very sad what Bush's fear tactics have done to our people, expecially our youth with no knowledge of anything other than what their parents tell them. 3 cheers for ignorance.
You have any ideas about what involvement the lame duck Bush regime has in the dramatic decision to send ground troops, tanks, and artillery into Gaza yesterday evening?
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