Home of the Brave… or land of cringing cowards?

Day after day, week after week, the news cycles have become nothing but a litany of endless terrorist warnings. It has become the topic du jour and the incessant prattle of practically every pundit on the airways.

Consider the Israelis for a moment (and Palestinians for that matter). These people live under a threat of terrorism that is far greater than what we will probably EVER face. I don’t know for fact, but I doubt very seriously that Israeli TV is rife with terror threat alerts 24/7 like we have here in this country now. And think about it… on a per capita basis, any single living soul in the Israeli/Palestinian territory is much more likely to die of a terrorist attack than any given person in the U.S. As a matter of fact, I would venture to guess that an individual in this country is more likely to die of a lightning strike than a terrorist strike. That’s pretty slim odds indeed.

Nevertheless, this is a country deeply obsessed with the fear of terrorist attacks. We eat, drink, breathe, and sleep with this fear constantly as it is thrust upon us day after day through the media. I don’t know about you, but I cannot live in endless fear of terrorism. I have better things to do.

Moreover, if most Americans do live in fear of it, then I think we have created for ourselves a land of faint-hearted fools. Of course, being led by a simpering coward of the highest order does not help steel or calm our nerves… it just makes things worse, of course, especially when it’s our fear that tightens his grip on power.

Can we, and will we as a nation, ever rise above this mass hysteria and tell BuschCo and the media to throttle the alarmist bull-crap, or are we destined to become even more caught up in the “terror trap” than ever, thus proving that this is really NOT the “home of the brave” that our national anthem proclaims, but rather a place of whining toddlers who cannot face their world or their fears rationally and realistically?

and our unfounded belief that we are somehow better - and worth more - than other people. It is the shallowness that arises from a nation of consumers, rather than a nation of citizens.

Were the terra threat not being played for all it's worth, I have no doubt that we'd be cringing in our rec rooms hiding out from America's *last* favorite terror - shark attacks.

The only obsession Americans have is the cheap obsession of their own self-importance and -righteousness.

Americans are, by and large, COMPLETELY IGNORANT when it comes to American History. It's a very sad state of affairs. :cry:

as the premise for our history with guns. That seemed to be the one outlier when compared with other democratized societies.

As an aside, I have a friend who works for a home security monitoring service, who says business has never been better.

What an indictment on where we have come.

Oh, Mommy....don't let them hurt me....

I know what you mean. But that attitude transcends party. I have seen just as many liberals with that pathetic "don't let them hurt the children" attitude as republicans. It's pandemic.

In my mind, that is exactly where the fear came from. Where else? We have everything to lose. Everything that means anything to breeders and drivers. Shop til you drop. You name it. When something, like the state of American consumption, is so out of equilibrium with nature, it is bound to come crashing down to reality. We are living an anomaly. And that is precisely why we have to continue killing and lying in order to prolong the disaster. Meanwhile, the icecaps melt. And the rest of the world grows impatient. Then we'll be land of the dead. It feels to me that we already are. I predict that one day historians will look in retrospect and say that the introduction of the automobile was the beginning of the decline of not only America, but the world. And that's a lot to be affraid of. What the hell was wrong with horses? We grew away from the very thing that supports us. Earth. We should be affraid.

:eyes:

Of course, the fact that I live in Montana might have something to do with that, but still, I think you are overstating.

but I don't think it is so much me who is overstating the fear factor as it is the media. Perhaps my criticism is more about the administration and the media than the "average American".

However, if the drumbeat of fear is continously kept up at this pace by the media and the government, I guarantee you, they WILL succeed in terrifying the country. It's the nature of propaganda.

I just don't think it's working that well.

we want government to keep us safe at all cost and lots of laws, have given schools the power over our children relinguishing our responsibilities, we allow the bully on the play ground cause we dont know what to do. afraid to be old, afraid of the young, afraid of loss, afraid of life. we have given our power away

every piece of who we are as a nation now a days, shows the cowards we are

wink and some humor

color code fear...

.... folks who were scared of Saddam Hussein are about the biggest pusses in the world. They should hide under mommy's skirt until its all better :)

I learned early on (early 2002) to ignore all that bullshit. The thought of a threat of a terrorist attack killing me is probably #31,244 in my priority list right behind re-arranging my empty liquor bottles and finding that old keychain I lost seven years ago.