Fear Itself
On a serious note...
Today on Fox News, commentator E.D. Hill went into a berserk frenzy over the NYT story and exclaimed: “We want to be safe! We want to be safe! The government’s #1 job is to keep us alive. You can’t pay your taxes if you’re dead.”
This is exactly the kind of fear-induced hysteria Karl Rove loves. Rove wants Americans fearing for their lives and willing to sacrifice anything to be kept safe.
That way, Americans stop caring about torture, extraordinary rendition, corporate influence of elections, political corruption, illegal wars, presidential lies, egregious civil rights violations, environmental degradation, the evisceration of the First Amendment, and all of the other American values and principles that Rove wants to trample and destroy.
But this course is precisely what has made our country weaker. By torturing, using extraordinary rendition, launching illegal wars, etc., we have bred more terrorists, created more terrorist attacks, and given terrorists legitimate reasons to want to kill us. The facts back this up 100%.
The lesson is clear: fear makes us weaker. These Fox News arguments are declarations of weakness and cowardice, not strength.
A few years ago Kofi Annan said, "America is the world's greatest power; everything it does should be exemplary." I was embarrassed as hell when I heard that, because I couldn't believe that Americans had so quickly forgotten it themselves.
This country shapes the world. If we torture, others will. If we launch unjust wars, others will. If we spread lies to do what we want, others will. If we brutalize civilians wantonly, others will. We are creating the antithesis of the world we want with our current policies, and that makes us weak, not strong.
For all their chest beating, this administration rules by cowardice, not courage. Things have to change before it’s too late and we have completely forgotten what America is supposed to be.
Today on Fox News, commentator E.D. Hill went into a berserk frenzy over the NYT story and exclaimed: “We want to be safe! We want to be safe! The government’s #1 job is to keep us alive. You can’t pay your taxes if you’re dead.”
This is exactly the kind of fear-induced hysteria Karl Rove loves. Rove wants Americans fearing for their lives and willing to sacrifice anything to be kept safe.
That way, Americans stop caring about torture, extraordinary rendition, corporate influence of elections, political corruption, illegal wars, presidential lies, egregious civil rights violations, environmental degradation, the evisceration of the First Amendment, and all of the other American values and principles that Rove wants to trample and destroy.
But this course is precisely what has made our country weaker. By torturing, using extraordinary rendition, launching illegal wars, etc., we have bred more terrorists, created more terrorist attacks, and given terrorists legitimate reasons to want to kill us. The facts back this up 100%.
The lesson is clear: fear makes us weaker. These Fox News arguments are declarations of weakness and cowardice, not strength.
A few years ago Kofi Annan said, "America is the world's greatest power; everything it does should be exemplary." I was embarrassed as hell when I heard that, because I couldn't believe that Americans had so quickly forgotten it themselves.
This country shapes the world. If we torture, others will. If we launch unjust wars, others will. If we spread lies to do what we want, others will. If we brutalize civilians wantonly, others will. We are creating the antithesis of the world we want with our current policies, and that makes us weak, not strong.
For all their chest beating, this administration rules by cowardice, not courage. Things have to change before it’s too late and we have completely forgotten what America is supposed to be.
posted by Highly Agitated at
6/28/2006 07:11:00 PM
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