tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post2344274669772084599..comments2023-12-31T03:18:37.403-06:00Comments on "E pur si muove!": The New Politics of FearLester Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-10825157562675231012007-10-22T17:44:00.000-05:002007-10-22T17:44:00.000-05:00I'm astonished that you can present George Bush an...I'm astonished that you can present George Bush and Al Gore as more or less identical specimens in the same Orwellian zoo of power-grabbing fear-mongers. Bush has more than once intimated that we are in a state of perpetual war, that our enemies are even now lurking in our midst, and that it is only through the exercise of his exclusive and highly secretive powers that we and our children have not already died in our sleep. He spies without court warrants on our domestic communications, and fiddles with the word torture in order to define his nefarious activities as lawful and innocent after the fact. All the while, he ignores habeas corpus and conceals actual arrests and interrogation techniques under the all-justifying cloak of national security. "Of course what we do is within the law," he tells us reassuringly, "and, no, you cannot be trusted to know what we do, or where, or when, or to whom." He insinuates that anyone who opposes his exercise of power is weak on terror and a comfort to the enemy. He resists congressional and judicial oversight of his activities and enjoins as a patriotic duty silence and passivity on the part of the media and public. -- So there you have Big Brother in his larval state. <BR/><BR/>Now compare Gore. He produces a movie about global warming and gives lectures and organizes concerts to raise public awareness of the issue. He speaks in the open, uses arguments and evidence, and engages in dialog with all and sundry. He definitely wants to impress upon people the urgency of the problem, but he does not do so in order to freeze their hearts with fear and cow them into passive submission. On the contrary, he offers all kinds of advice on how average citizens can get involved, modify their wasteful and fuel inefficient practices, and have a real impact on solving the problem. There is certainly no evidence that he is seeking to leverage fear of climate change into a power grab. He knows and we know that he will never be president. Now, you see him as some sort of clown and pseudo-saint and therefore a worthy recipient of the Nobel prize; but he is not, say what you will, a sinister figure, and his influence on bringing the issue of global warming to the public's attention has in fact been very significant. I fail to see how his efforts in this regard are a cynical attempt to rob people of their freedom and wealth. <BR/><BR/>Let me ask this question. How exactly does one get peoples' attention about an imminent threat or crisis without vividly representing to them the dangers involved? My own feeling is that people are far more inclined to disbelieve and ignore warnings than to take them seriously. Despite the human appetite for simulated frights and terrors of all kinds, we actually don't like the real things at all. In fact, we're astonishingly adept at pretending that everything is perfectly alright even when it isn't. The threat of nuclear holocaust, to take your example, by no means disappeared when the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union disintegrated. Where did you hear that it had? Even today -- and I do mean this October day, 2007 -- Russian bombers are probing the fringes of American and European airspace, and U.S. subs are menacingly hugging the coastal waters of Russia. Along with the routine practice of these old, cold-war games of chicken, there's always the possibility of an accident caused by the complacent belief that our systems are fail safe and running smoothly. Last month one of our bombers, in an outrageous breach of protocol, inadvertently flew over Texas armed with three nukes. And just today I see a report in AP that the crew of the nuclear sub U.S.S. Hampton is being investigated for neglecting for an entire month to do the daily safety checks on the ship's reactor. How does a whole crew forget something like that? This leads me to wonder just how much sloppiness and dereliction of duty go on in the day-to-day management of the world's many and ever-growing nuclear arsenals. But let's by all means not call attention to this disquieting state of affairs; someone might presumptuously take it upon himself to make a movie about it, and then we'd find ourselves lying awake nights for no good reason.<BR/><BR/>There, now you've made me be sarcastic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-20351271229403083892007-10-22T16:24:00.000-05:002007-10-22T16:24:00.000-05:00Fear sells.Fear sells.Craig Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09411024383213082193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-43218866519223981132007-10-22T07:46:00.000-05:002007-10-22T07:46:00.000-05:00Right On The Money!!If you watched last night's Re...Right On The Money!!<BR/><BR/>If you watched last night's Republican "Debate" on FOX News you will see they switched their genre to "Fear Of Hillary".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-20366946664019274802007-10-21T17:20:00.001-05:002007-10-21T17:20:00.001-05:002007 REPUBLICAN DEBATERon Paul: Well these threat...2007 REPUBLICAN DEBATE<BR/>Ron Paul: Well these threats aren’t real, we went into those countries and antagonized those people. We’re just wasting a lot of money on homeland security!<BR/><BR/>Rudy: You’re a bad man Ron Paul!<BR/><BR/>Ron Paul: It’s all a big coverup while multimillionaires get huge tax cuts!<BR/><BR/>Mitt: You’re a very bad man Ron Paul!<BR/><BR/>Ron Paul: These are all Cheney’s ideas! Just look at Bush he’s suffering from Stockholm Syndrome!<BR/><BR/>Rudy: I’m going to send you into an Iowa ethanol corn field!<BR/><BR/>Mitt: And I’m going to turn you into a Mormon!<BR/><BR/>Fred: Now take it easy everyone…Ron tell Rudy and Mitt you didn’t mean it!<BR/><BR/>Ron Paul: Mean what?<BR/><BR/>Tom: C’mon Ron, you know?<BR/><BR/>Ron Paul: Oh!...ok….911!<BR/><BR/>Duncan: That’s good!..those are good thoughts!<BR/><BR/>Ron Paul: ….they’re coming to kill us!<BR/><BR/>Mike: yeah..yeah…those are real good thoughts!<BR/><BR/>Rudy: Bad man!<BR/><BR/>Mitt: Very bad man!<BR/><BR/>Fred: Now Ron?...c’mon..you know?<BR/><BR/>Ron Paul: ohh…tax cuts..<BR/><BR/>Fred: easy Mitt, easy Rudy…now Ron, tax cuts for who?<BR/><BR/>Ron Paul: Tax Cuts for rich bastards like Mitt and Rudy and Fred!!!!<BR/><BR/>BOING….BOING…BOING!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com