Fear is a weapon of mass destruction
In his book, Courage Matters, Senator John McCain (this is the 03 McCain, noth the flip-floper of 08) wrote, " fly on the damn plane! Calculate the odds of being harmed by a terrorist! It is about as likely as being swept out to sea by a tidal wave." Wise words indeed from a serious and brave man. So why is he trying to scare us into voting for him? What could be the reason for John McCain to change almost every position he had in O4 (see Bush tax cuts, drilling in Anwar etc) The answer is McCain knows he can win by scaring up votes and acting tough. He publicly said, "he will be Hamass's worst nightmare." This might generate cheers from the unthinking crowd (it is a good soundbite) but what does it really mean? Is a 71 year-old man going to go to the middle east and sort those people out? Is the United States not going to recognize the DEMOCRATICALY elected government? Because we are in Iraq for democracy right, so we respect however they vote......right? We will NEVER be able to prevent a small band of determined individuals from striking the U.S. This is simply a fact of life that we all deal with on a daily basis. I always ask my students, did more people die from terrorism in 2001 in the United States or die in auto accidents? They ALWAYS say more people died from the terrorist attack. I tell them it is not even close, fatalities from auto accidents are way more than terrorist attacks for the year 2001. They look at me with wide eyes and ask, "Mr. Riley if cars are so dangerous than why do we drive cars every day of our lives?" I tell them that fear is a weapon of mass destruction and that is why you MUST VOTE FOR SOMEONE TO KEEP US SAFE! You know, Ralph Nader because he DEMANDED seatbelt laws! So Susan, if you want to be safe, vote Nader!
posted by dole2obama @ 8:33 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
So what's your answer, if we can never stop a small band of determined individuals from attacking us, what do we do?
Also a point about politicians and flip flopping...yes of course McCain has done so, but so has Obama, he said in 2004 that to prematurely withdraw from Iraq would be a slap in the face to the troops (meaning before the reigon is stable) The reigon is still not stable so an argument can be said that he is a flip flopper too.
Can't we stop this politics of personal destruction and stick to the issues? (:
Please source your Obama quote. I am not sure what you are asking me in your comments. The point is NOT to live in fear. This post was not about how to catch terroist but how to live in this world. We should NEVER live in fear. Also, the reason I cited Susan by name is because she said on my blog that she did not trust Obama to keep us safe. Life is all about how you deal with your fears. I had a parent who wanted to keep her kid out of the water after the shark attack in San Diego. I told her the odds of being killed where .ooooooooooooo1, about the same as being killed by a terroist.
This is from a Christopher Wills article in the AP.........
From the September 18, 2004 AP:
Democratic Senate candidate Barack Obama said Saturday he would be willing to send more soldiers to Iraq if it is part of a strategy that the president and military leaders believe will stabilize the country and eventually allow America to withdraw.
"If that strategy made sense and would lead ultimately to the pullout of U.S. troops but in the short term required additional troop strength to protect those who are already on the ground, then that's something I would support," he said.
America cannot afford to withdraw immediately, said Obama, an early opponent of invading Iraq.
That would create more chaos in Iraq and make it "an extraordinary hotbed of terrorist activity," he said at a meeting of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association. It would also damage America's international prestige and amount to "a slap in the face" to the troops fighting there, he said.
In the early 1900's in this country 18 million or so people died from a plague. Now that is something to be scared about! I remember from one of my college classes one of my professors talking about in 1870 if someone fell off of a Mark Twain steamer and died, no one would think of suing because as Hobbes said "life is nasty, brutish, and short" and that was just part of life.....now we are a culture titilated by fear....we sit in our comfortable living rooms watching news tease after news tease..."Coming up at 11, 'is your child playing with a toy that could kill them?'" There is a great book called "Culture of Fear"
Anyways we need to figure out a way to balance Order and security, without sacrificing our freedoms...it's a tough balancing act.
This topic of fear is very powerful. All humanity is driven by it, and those in power use it mercilessly to control the masses.
Afraid of getting shot by a terrorist? Vote for ______ , he'll protect you.
Afraid of dying and not having your life mean anything? Believe in __________ and he'll promise you eternal bliss.
Afraid of those mean looking animals or those crazy looking dard-skinned ________? That's OK, just kill all of them(or at least enslave them).
I just returned from a great trip to the Pacific Northwest where we saw wild orcas and saw a wolf sactuary. Did you know early settlers were afraid of orcas and just shot them up until the 1950's? We all know how the wolves were slaughtered out of fear. Guess the total combined attacks on humans ever reported by orcas and wolves?
Zero. Pretty scary!
Your fear is being played like a banjo at a hootanany by somebody.
Aloha.
Yes indeed Pauly, yes indeed.
Can you imagine what would happen if "terrorists" blew up one of our major ports?
Oh my gosh we would be parylized!!!
But wait, one of our ports, New Orleans was destroyed, (by a hurricane) but our economy grew that year.
It's all about perception.
And of course fear of death is the number one reason people cling to their superstitions.
But I say don't fear death because as someone once said,
"I don't fear death because while I am alive it does not exist, and when I am dead I don't exist"
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home