Remember during the aftermath of September 11, when people would say, "Well, if I were on that plane and I knew what would happen, we would have fought back the minute those terrorists stood up and flashed their box-cutters."
Think about it: 19 hijackers on four different planes, using box-cutters, were able to scare and intimidate 246 people into passive observers as the terrorists took control of the planes and successfully crashed them into three targets.
Of course the passengers on Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, mounted a counter-attack, but it was too late. The cockpit doors were closed and locked. It is easy to say we would have fought back, knowing what we know now.
Think about it: there were 13 passengers for every terrorist. Sure a few passengers may have lost their lives in the initial charge, but if every passenger knew that death was certain if they risked nothing, people would have risen up out of their seats, swallowed the terrorists in a torrent of fists and elbows and turned those box-cutters against the perpetrators of 9/11 within seconds.
An important lesson should be drawn from September 11th. A very few people can instill enough fear into the masses to subdue numbers many times greater than the perpetrators.
Think about the Native Americans, who far outnumbered their European conquerers on this continent, at least initially. If they had only known. Instead, they accepted peace agreements and were destroyed by blankets contaminated with Small Pox or night-time raids and broken promises.
As a species, we tend to have our moments of herd mentality. How often have you seen hundreds of people waiting on one line or for a Porta-Potty when an alternate entrance or bathroom is open just 100 feet away? How often have you seen a group of people following each other rather than thinking independently and striking out according to reason?
If I were on one of those planes, knowing everything I've ever seen in the movies and remembering everything I've heard about other hijackings, I too would have stayed in my seat or followed the commands of the hijackers.
We are in one of those historical moments, folks, where a very few bullies (or terrorists) are attempting to bully us into submission with nothing more than the threat of violence. Yet the threat of violence these tea-baggers wield, is nothing compared to that actual violence our health care system will continue to exact on our people if they win. Letting them win is like letting hijackers fly you into a building.
We can't afford to follow the commands of those who would hijack health care reform. Like the terrorists of 9/11, the tea-baggers are very few compared to their would-be victims: the number of Americans who support robust health care reform.
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