Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!

(Video from Maury Povich)

Franklin Roosevelt said...

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

A lot of Americans have forgotten these wise words. But you can't really blame them, what with Bush and Co. constantly using fearmongering as a tool to try to keep people in line. Their not-so-subtle message is...

"Terrorists are everywhere. They're gonna get you (and your little dog, too)." The ONLY way you can save yourself is to support the Iraq war and vote Republican come election day. If you don't, you are unpatriotic and not a true American.

Their constant mantra is "9/11, 9/11, 9/11," a shameful exploitation of that national tragedy that is an insult to the memory of the victims and their families. The national press doesn't help matters by reporting every potential threat as if it's the end of the world.

Are there terrorists out there who want to harm us? Of course there are. We see the latest evidence of that in the botched attempts to attack London and Glasgow. But is it too much to ask that we intelligently go about assessing the threat so that we can come up with sound and logical strategies to combat it rather than trying to scare the bejesus out of everyone?

After all, if we spend all our time cowering and hiding under the bed, the terrorists have accomplished what they set out to do.