Peddling Fear

We are the most fearful group of citizens. More fearful than Serbs in Kosovo, more fearful than Jews in Nazi Germany, we are more fearful because we believe everything that is thrown at us. We wait in mortgaged shelters, weighted down with debt and hope that calls from an authority figure will not arrive. Piped in sounds of war and death are inescapable. Our TV’s having become the Oracles of Delphi and we the patient worshiper. Never questioning and never disobeying the call to service.

It is clear, like the sun during a direct stare, which terror threats and overblown fear is pressing against our nature as free individuals. We are closed off in our own cities and afraid of anyone with differing pigment. Naturally we want peace and naturally we will war and it is this state of flux that is squeezed by our national leaders. The push of fear and the pull of self preservation is a deadly combination.

The subway ‘scare’ and the new Al Qaeda letters are old news. Do you truly believe that current and relevant information will be released as soon as our government becomes aware of it? Hot off the press, terrorism in the subway, at the mall, in your hometown!! Naive notions of governmental protection only lead to greater panic, thus a means to an end. Shadowing the citizenry with false or dated information and when nothing occurs, rejoice in the protection of the governmental father. This game of cat and mouse is old and hopefully tiresome.

We must, as a people and a nation, question the judgment of our elected government. It is not foolproof and not absent of error. The function of government is to protect. Unfortunately, this protection has become faulty and self-absorbed. Its defect is all consuming with one lie and misinterpretation after another. Or the fear you feel will one day replace the pride you have for your nation.