Title: Do we really crave fear and poeha ... the consequences of the war on fear.
Poll after poll suggests that the fear has seized hold of the North American
public. In the most unlikely corners, people are apparently afraid of the
potential of terrorist attacks, as if somehow places like
Watertown, NY show
up on the list of targets assembled by a few angry
madmen with a mission !
This is not to minimize the severity of the attacks, but rather to suggest that
we are starting to
victimize ourselves when we submit to such
irrational fears.
Particularly given the likelihood that the current (
biochemical)
scare tactics
are the work of deranged
copycats taking advantage of the media scrutiny, and
unlikely to result in anything more severe than a spike in profits for media
companies and the drug companies that manufacture the antibiotic remedies used
to cure the disease.
Current attempts to cast criticism of the war against terrorism as
unpatriotic
is a cynicism of the Administration and the press; a worrisome sign, especially
because the enemy is a faceless one --
terrorism is a method, not an enemy one
can declare war on.
There are other signs, too, that the current crisis is proving almost too much
for the
Bush Administration to handle. To be fair, the nature of the attacks
against the USA are without precedent. But that said, the warning last week
given by an ashen-faced
John Ashcroft of "unspecified but credible threats",
seemed of highly questionable value and close to irresponsible.
As if not to be outdone, the governor of
California added his voice to the
fear by announcing the
possibility of threats against West Coast bridges based
on
unconfirmed reports from
unnamed sources that an
unspecified type of attack
might occur.
Both of these announcements where subsequently accompanied by chorus from other
Bush Administration "officials" (such as the newly appointed
Tsar of Homeland
Security:
Tom Ridge) that Americans should at the same time be at a heightened
state of alertness and carry on with business as normal.
What makes these missteps particularly unfortunate is the economic backdrop
to the current crisis; causing that what ever woe that can befall a company,
chances are it is linked to the current "post
September 11th" climate.
This
smoke-and-mirrors behavior might cause forward predictions to falter and
cause permanent damage to "
free speech", true
patriotism and any
Libertarian
fundamentals.
Anyway, create a
fool-proof system and someone will
invent/
elect better fools.