The Practice of Selective Fear...
We've all done this. From one side of the world to the other, we have systematically, meticulously used our knowledge and skills with the help of electricity and our brains to choose our fears. It doesn't matter exactly why we do it, but it's a curious anomaly all the same.
For example, Paul is terrified of spiders; if he sees one in the office, he immediately points it out and expects a helpful shoe or broom to come to his aid. However, just outside our back door sits a very large garden spider, sitting inside a very large spider web, blocking any exit to the outside world from the office. Does he want it killed? He does not. He is not afraid of it, as long as it stays outside. When our pest exterminator came for a routine spray, he begged the poor man to stay away from the creature, saying that since it was in its natural habitat, it should be left alone.
Selective fear. He doesn't fear it if it's not inside the house.
People standing behind our president 100% practice it every day. For instance, they are terrified of a terrorist attack; that some maniac might try to poison our nation's water supply, or ram a large plane into the Sears Tower at high noon, or worse, a nuclear weapon detonated in the middle of Times Square. We can't blame them for being a bit afraid of that, granted.
But these SAME people, these blind, unfeeling people with the temerity to support a leader promising to save them from these threats because they fear them, do NOT even listen to a predominantly-liberal base that warns we are seeing effects of global warming. They laugh at them, scoff them, call them crazy, can't be happening, they say. This is puzzling, because we're talking about the fate of our world here. No terrorist attack is going to mean all that much if we've got another Ice Age beginning, is it? What's the point of sparing the Sears Tower from a 747, if a monstrous wave is going to rise up and nail it anyway? What's the point of sparing New York from a nuclear holocaust, if it's going to be buried in ice soon enough?
Selective fear. Bush supporters would rather fear a terrorist attack than a global climate change, because they think they can control terrorists. They would be sadly mistaken though. You CANNOT stop terrorism; it is the equivalent of stopping drugs, smoking or Keith Richards. It can't be done. Guess what? You can't stop nature either. Bush supporters would probably also choose to fear terrorism because the mostly-liberal base is trying to tell them to show courage, to hold their heads high, to not be so damned paranoid. And what Bush supporter wants to be proven a coward by a lowly liberal?
Selective fear. Bush supporters fear 9/11; they have since the first day Bush stood upon a pile of rubble and declared vengeance. They fear it could happen again and they stand behind Dubya's efforts, no matter how unlawful, immoral and inhumane, to stop it from becoming a cold reality. Yet, if you tell these same people that the Bush Administration could have stopped it the first time, that doesn't seem to scare them. If you point out a growing number of people in this country, 70 million strong, do not believe the official story of September 11th, that as uncanny and unfathomable as it sounds, our government could have somehow been involved in this nightmare...
Well, Bush supporters don't want to hear THAT either. It doesn't seem to frighten them that this government dropped the ball the first time, that they COULD have stopped 9/11. The Commission Report in 2004 proves it, beyond a shadow of doubt. Richard Clarke tearfully said before the board, "Your government failed you." It doesn't seem to concern them that the Bush Administration COULD have indeed played some role in the catastrophe, that their could have been some diabolical method played out like some awful Hollywood film, complete with thermite leaking from the Towers as they collapsed.
Selective fear. Bush supporters choose to fear another 9/11 because they think this time it can be stopped. To think of the alternative, no way. They won't even entertain that notion. Forget the fact that we've lost several liberties and freedoms, nevermind that possibly innocent civilians are right now being tortured somewhere in a foreign country, screw the fact we've lost nearly 3,000 U.S. troops in an unjust war that should never have begun. What matters to them most is the protection of George W. Bush, who like a mother hen placing a wing on her chicks, promises to keep them safe and secure, that there will not be another 9/11 while he's president. And yet, every now and then, usually in those election years or when approval ratings are bleak, that motherly wing comes up and he says, "Well, we're not safe yet."
What a TEASE!
Bush chooses selective fear too. Bush doesn't fear a country that despises him, but he fears a voting base that can make all the difference in November. It doesn't seem to register in his mind just how much the world hates him and fears him. But then, arrogance, stupidity and a desire to make up for 40 years of wasted, drunken life, makes a man blind to anything else around him.
There is a wonderful quote: "People should not be afraid of its government; the government should be afraid of its people." No truer words can be said. We are still the people of the United States of America, who swore by a piece of paper more than 200 years ago to form a more perfect union, establish justice and domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.
Americans just aren't doing that if they follow Bush's lead...
And it terrifies us...
Much more than that spider on the ceiling right now...
...TheScribes...
For example, Paul is terrified of spiders; if he sees one in the office, he immediately points it out and expects a helpful shoe or broom to come to his aid. However, just outside our back door sits a very large garden spider, sitting inside a very large spider web, blocking any exit to the outside world from the office. Does he want it killed? He does not. He is not afraid of it, as long as it stays outside. When our pest exterminator came for a routine spray, he begged the poor man to stay away from the creature, saying that since it was in its natural habitat, it should be left alone.
Selective fear. He doesn't fear it if it's not inside the house.
People standing behind our president 100% practice it every day. For instance, they are terrified of a terrorist attack; that some maniac might try to poison our nation's water supply, or ram a large plane into the Sears Tower at high noon, or worse, a nuclear weapon detonated in the middle of Times Square. We can't blame them for being a bit afraid of that, granted.
But these SAME people, these blind, unfeeling people with the temerity to support a leader promising to save them from these threats because they fear them, do NOT even listen to a predominantly-liberal base that warns we are seeing effects of global warming. They laugh at them, scoff them, call them crazy, can't be happening, they say. This is puzzling, because we're talking about the fate of our world here. No terrorist attack is going to mean all that much if we've got another Ice Age beginning, is it? What's the point of sparing the Sears Tower from a 747, if a monstrous wave is going to rise up and nail it anyway? What's the point of sparing New York from a nuclear holocaust, if it's going to be buried in ice soon enough?
Selective fear. Bush supporters would rather fear a terrorist attack than a global climate change, because they think they can control terrorists. They would be sadly mistaken though. You CANNOT stop terrorism; it is the equivalent of stopping drugs, smoking or Keith Richards. It can't be done. Guess what? You can't stop nature either. Bush supporters would probably also choose to fear terrorism because the mostly-liberal base is trying to tell them to show courage, to hold their heads high, to not be so damned paranoid. And what Bush supporter wants to be proven a coward by a lowly liberal?
Selective fear. Bush supporters fear 9/11; they have since the first day Bush stood upon a pile of rubble and declared vengeance. They fear it could happen again and they stand behind Dubya's efforts, no matter how unlawful, immoral and inhumane, to stop it from becoming a cold reality. Yet, if you tell these same people that the Bush Administration could have stopped it the first time, that doesn't seem to scare them. If you point out a growing number of people in this country, 70 million strong, do not believe the official story of September 11th, that as uncanny and unfathomable as it sounds, our government could have somehow been involved in this nightmare...
Well, Bush supporters don't want to hear THAT either. It doesn't seem to frighten them that this government dropped the ball the first time, that they COULD have stopped 9/11. The Commission Report in 2004 proves it, beyond a shadow of doubt. Richard Clarke tearfully said before the board, "Your government failed you." It doesn't seem to concern them that the Bush Administration COULD have indeed played some role in the catastrophe, that their could have been some diabolical method played out like some awful Hollywood film, complete with thermite leaking from the Towers as they collapsed.
Selective fear. Bush supporters choose to fear another 9/11 because they think this time it can be stopped. To think of the alternative, no way. They won't even entertain that notion. Forget the fact that we've lost several liberties and freedoms, nevermind that possibly innocent civilians are right now being tortured somewhere in a foreign country, screw the fact we've lost nearly 3,000 U.S. troops in an unjust war that should never have begun. What matters to them most is the protection of George W. Bush, who like a mother hen placing a wing on her chicks, promises to keep them safe and secure, that there will not be another 9/11 while he's president. And yet, every now and then, usually in those election years or when approval ratings are bleak, that motherly wing comes up and he says, "Well, we're not safe yet."
What a TEASE!
Bush chooses selective fear too. Bush doesn't fear a country that despises him, but he fears a voting base that can make all the difference in November. It doesn't seem to register in his mind just how much the world hates him and fears him. But then, arrogance, stupidity and a desire to make up for 40 years of wasted, drunken life, makes a man blind to anything else around him.
There is a wonderful quote: "People should not be afraid of its government; the government should be afraid of its people." No truer words can be said. We are still the people of the United States of America, who swore by a piece of paper more than 200 years ago to form a more perfect union, establish justice and domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.
Americans just aren't doing that if they follow Bush's lead...
And it terrifies us...
Much more than that spider on the ceiling right now...
...TheScribes...
posted by ScribesUnlimited | 8:24 AM
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