When I was growing up in the 50's and 60's we were afraid the Russians would take away our way of

[county worker]

life.

Now that fear is there but not fear of the Russians but fear of our fellow citizens! I use to think that the Supreme Court and the federal and state and local governments were on my side! I use to think we would continue to make steady progress toward progressive ideals.

I'm afraid kids of tomorrow will never know how life was back then. What are they going to write in the history books?

[AlabamaLibrul]

1. That whole Soviets are coming after us was always nonsense anyway

the country has been disintegrating from within for some time now.

[RufusTFirefly]

8. Of course it was.

Like the warnings of terrorism, it had some small basis in fact but it was used as a tool to manipulate us. It's hard to think clearly when you live in fear. Instead, you simply react.

If you haven't seen it already, I'd recommend watching the BBC documentary, "The Power of Nightmares."



In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares.

Link to Part One

[Raksha]

15. Somehow, I always knew that. Never was manipulated by the Red Scare,

even though I grew up during the same period. But I also never thought I'd live to see "our American way of life" threatened from within like it is now.

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. All those hours hiding under the desk for nothing.

I could have been doing something worthwhile.

[liberal N proud]

2. America will never be destroyed from the outside...

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

~Abraham Lincoln


http://antiwar.com/quotes.php

[northoftheborder]

3. yes

[Curmudgeoness]

4. They had to have a boogie man to keep our attention, so

we didn't realize what they were doing to our own country. There will always be a boogie man to divert us. Sadly, too many people play right into their hands. Now if you would just duck and cover....

[KansDem]

9. I've wondered about that, too.

We had the "communist" boogie man dictating our foreign and domestic polices, starting right after the end of WWII. Then the Berlin Wall fell. That was 1989. What happened just four short years later? The first WTC attack.

Enter: the "terrorist."

From 1945 to 1989 it was communism;
From 1993 to now, it's terrorism.

America always needs a boogieman...

[SoCalDem]

13. Miliatry Industrialist Complex MUST keep churning out weapons

To justify that, we have to ALWAYS have enemies..

Having perpetual enemies also justifies keeping a massive interventionist foreign policy as well..

We are meddlers.. Never satisfied with enhancing our own people's lives, but always ready to force "furriners" to adopt "our way of life", at the end of a skewed treaty or a gun barrel.

People who have a meaningful life will rarely be a threat to anyone. A way to make a living, a comfortable living accommodation, enough food, and access to a good education for the kids.. that's about all most people on earth really want.

Providing those things is certainly easier & cheaper than going all around the world killing "people who don't like us".

[jwirr]

22. Wouldn't it be nice if we could make those real problems we have

like food shortages and water shortages and oil depletion and climate change into the targets instead of other people?

[SoCalDem]

23. We would have fewer enemies, but the folks making bombs

might make less money making water purification systems.. we know they would not like that

[Curmudgeoness]

17. Without a boogie man to fear, people might actually pay attention

to things that really matter in their lives. And how poorly the PTB are dealing with those issues. Can't have that!

[walldude]

20. In the years since Vietnam we have had so many boogymen

who were "the next Hitler" it wasn't even funny. Noreiga, Khomeni, Saddam, Gadaffi, and I'm sure I'm leaving out a few.

Every few years we get a new one. It reminds me of V For Vendetta when the Chancellor starts screaming about "reminding the people why they need us"...

[SoCalDem]

24. I predict the next one for you

Moqtada al Sadr Iraq's next Saddam..

with improved Iranian flavoring.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VH0DmsF39UE/R3RnIcRENEI/AAAAAAAAAik/oU4V9b8bPPg/s400/moqtada+al-sadr1.jpg

[jwirr]

25. And if protests should start in Iraq like in Libya this man is a very

likely future leader and NO friend of the USA or Israel.

[HereSince1628]

5. We were TOLD that it was OUR lives, it was really corporations

even then.

DUCK AND COVER, Classmate!

[Greybnk48]

6. the repugs are taking what we feared the Russians would.

Do you remember the scene from "The Hunt for Red October" where those who plan to defect are talking about how wonderful it will be in America where you don't need papers to go from one state to another. That's only a matter of time if the Repugs have their way.

[RKP5637]

7. Yeah, I sure remember that and also watching the Joseph McCarthy crap on

TV with my dad.

[polichick]

10. In between were there terrorists - there's always propaganda to keep...

Americans in line.

[yellerpup]

11. The Republicans are the ones who set out to wreck our

way of life back then. They only planned to blame it on the Russians.

[obxhead]

12. It was BS then, just like "they hate us for our freedoms" is BS now.

A new boogey man was created to stimulate arms building. This one even let them start 2 needless wars.

It's all a distraction. The real enemy is within.

[Boxerfan]

14. It really was diffrent back then. I made fun of "commies" and the propaganda

They had propaganda...And we had some semblance of a fair media back then.

There was also a much more integrated sence of right & wrong that has gone clear out the window. Or in other words Republicans threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Now we have to endure propaganda. At least some of us realize it. The Russians have dealt with it for years & probably could give us a few tips on how to get along in the "free" market.

[Imagevision]

18. Cold war,brrr... today it's Cheney's & Rice's "mushroom cloud"

[TorchTheWitch]

19. we become them - they become us

An irony that no one should have missed seeing coming.

[Sonoman]

21. What History books?

History is going to go the way of Social Studies and World Culture.

Sonoman

[bengalherder]

26. We were also told how awful the russian toilet paper was

Veritable sandpaper compared to the softness of America's brands.

If I had known that my oppression would be financed by quilted Northern, I'd have started using phone books for buttwipe decades ago.

[Hannah Bell]

28. Your post made me smile, but it's sad too. The jobs that people need to live,

the products that they create & need to buy to live = the agents of their enslavement.

Our work just increases their power.

It puts another spin on the work ethic.

I spent a lot of years buying into the calvinist ethic & have rethought it considerably since those days.

I was a silly little twit.

[boppers]

29. There's a boycott for that....

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2011/02/anonymous_koch_brothers.php

[Lorien]

27. I was of the exact same frame of mind growing up

I never, NEVER could have imagined that America would turn into the shitpile of corruption, ignorance and hate that it's become. I want to leave for New Zealand, but I don't have the funds. :-(

[boppers]

30. "I'm afraid kids of tomorrow will never know how life was back then"

Ask a black man how it was in the 50's.

Go ahead, ask.

Now ask a gay man.

Go ahead, ask.

Ask a single mother.

Go ahead, ask.

The 50's were shit.

[mmonk]

31. I still hide under wooden desks like we did when I was in elementary school

to protect ourselves from nuclear bombs (school drills). Americans are gullible at any age or time period when it comes to fear. Today, we have the by product of fear, we fear each other.