Wednesday, October 18, 2006

fear part 2

i think that i am seeing my previous post very differently than many other folks who read here. i am not saying that that is a bad thing- everyone sees life differently. i am 35 years old and have never heard or felt the level of fear that i see in this country now. perhaps it was better hidden. i don't remember carter using fear to send troops to rescue the hostages in iran. i remember him looking sad and worried on the news. of course i was like 8 at the time. i don't remember any greater level of fear during reagan's tenure. no more so than any other part of the cold war. in fact, most folks felt safer overall- in spite of his domestic program. bush 1 simply said we had to go and save the innocent kuwaitis- nothing about saddam or anyone coming here to lay waste to our land. clinton had the most 'terrorist' attacks that i can remember- world trade, oklahoma city, uss cole- not once do i remember ever thinking that they would come here. never once did fear grip the nation. people mourned but he didn't fearmonger. so- i wanted to put things into my perspective i suppose. yes, what happened was horrible. watching it unfold was horrible. more folks die every day than died in the world trade- and more folks have died in plane crashes lately due to pilot error and malfunction. i guess i am wondering- why- overall- as a nation that we are so afraid.

i think that altemeyer answered my question. there are many folks in this country who fear change. they fear getting older- which much of the population is doing en masse- they fear technology, they fear young people and those 'awful rap listeners and skate boarders'- they fear loss of control. well, i doubt that they will work through that in time for the next 2 elections. we have to get a progressive , anti fear movement going and it is imperative to get these folks out of office. i have nothing against 'classic conservatives'- but these folks ain't it.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of the movie "bowling for columbine." Canadians have guns. Americans have guns. Yet, we use ours on each other at a far greater rate than canadians do. (too lazy to look up the #s right now). The conclusion: we live in fear, causing us to shoot people. Since this is the way our government acts, who can blame us *sarcasm*.

I am 37 years old and I also do not remember a time period in which the nation was gripped by this much fear. I have to agree with TFWY in the previous comments...part of it at least is due to religous zealots in our midst.

The Future Was Yesterday said...

We all fear being blown up, or murdered. It's why we don't play pick-up-sticks with dynamite!:) But I wonder if the fear you're sensing and seeing, isn't fear that somebody will do something stupid, pissing off the terrorists so bad, that it results in us getting blown up? When I lived in Durham, we had a freeway there nicknamed "the Durham Speedway." It earned it's nickname. For some reason, drivers who used that freeway did some of the most incredible things! My you-know-what used to get so tight you couldn't drive a toothpick in it with a jackhammer whenever I was forced to use that freeway. But it wasn't my fear of driving, it was my fear of the acts of others I couldn't control, resulting in my death.

Fear is fear, no matter how you slice the bread. But I've long wondered how many people are more scared of their so called "leaders" F****** up so bad they get us blown up, vs waves of terrrorists marching over the sand dunes straight for Hicksville, S.C.? Bear in mind, we already have a huge muslim population here. Yes, they're "well behaved" for now....how much more insult can they bear before they strike back? THAT, along with the American Taliban is what I'm truly afraid of.

billie said...

i suppose- but maybe it is my skewed way of looking at things that is making me say- not so much. people genuinely fear that the 'american way of life' is going to be overrun by hordes of brown people from mexico and the middle east. they fear that we will have another 'terrorist' attack. what they should be fearing are the domestic terrorists who are taking away their constitution and civil liberties- but that isn't what they fear.

Sarah said...

I think people in this country are afraid they won't be able to watch "Dancing With the Stars" in peace. Most people hate to be troubled with the actual state of the nation!

I always take at least one hour out of my day to see what is going on with the world. If more people did this, I think things would be much different than they are now.

billie said...

sarah- i completely agree.

shawn (aka blogstud) said...

conservatives? heck no.

poor goldwater is too busy constantly turning over in his grave to rest in peace

Anonymous said...

I think this is true, about fear as a tactic of the curent regime.