The Degrading effects of Terrorism fears

[samplegirl]

By Glenn Greenwald

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but David Brooks actually had an excellent column in yesterday's New York Times that makes several insightful and important points. Brooks documents how "childish, contemptuous and hysterical" the national reaction has been to this latest terrorist episode, egged on -- as usual -- by the always-hysterical American media. The citizenry has been trained to expect that our Powerful Daddies and Mommies in government will -- in that most cringe-inducing, child-like formulation -- Keep Us Safe. Whenever the Government fails to do so, the reaction -- just as we saw this week -- is an ugly combination of petulant, adolescent rage and increasingly unhinged cries that More Be Done to ensure that nothing bad in the world ever happens. Demands that genuinely inept government officials be held accountable are necessary and wise, but demands that political leaders ensure that we can live in womb-like Absolute Safety are delusional and destructive. Yet this is what the citizenry screams out every time something threatening happens: please, take more of our privacy away; monitor more of our communications; ban more of us from flying; engage in rituals to create the illusion of Strength; imprison more people without charges; take more and more control and power so you can Keep Us Safe.

[niyad]

1. k and r for a most excellent piece

[AzDar]

2. Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave, indeed.

:eyes:

[seabeyond]

3. yup. nt

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mrcheerful]

5. Those willing to give up liberty for the illusion of safety deserves neither

safety nor liberty.

[TomClash]

6. But it is not the citizenry that says that

It's the MSM that creates the need in order to rack up ever larger communications profits.

[samplegirl]

7. Hysterical American Media

hard at work.

[timeforpeace]

8. We keep hearing about these terrible effects, so when are they going to happen?