It's incredibly nice to know other people who question things.

[Bouncy Ball]

I just got done with a long perusal of LBN, especially threads having to do with Iran, and I just wanted to say in here how incredibly DAMN nice it is to post with a bunch of people who use their HEADS.

Instead of the people I know in real life, who would read news stories of "IRAN WILL HAVE BOMB IN SIX MONTHS" and freak the hell out, people on here actually ask questions and want to probe deeper, check out the movitation for the article, the man behind the curtain.

I've held a theory since 9/11 that some people LIKE to feel scared, they actually seem to get off on it in a weird-ass way. Those people, as you might imagine, are far more likely to vote for bush. Before I blocked a few email addresses, I used to get forwarded urban myth bullshit from a few bushbots who would preface the email (ostensibly about people waiting to knock you out in a mall parking lot with fake perfume or about deoderant causing breast cancer) with
"OHMYGOD THIS SCARED ME SO BAD!!!! READ IT!!!!! IT'LL SCARE YOU TOO!!!"

Tells me all I need to know right there. I'm tired of the musty smell of irrational fear on all these people. I'm tired of the people who are supposed to be in charge blatantly tapping into that and using it for their purposes.

And I'm just glad to be surrounded, at least here, by people who don't give in to or get off on such things, but who use their head for more than a hat rack.

Thanks, DU.

[zbdent]

1. Did you watch Stephen King's "Storm of the Century" a few years back?

It opened with an old woman watching the weather news. They were predicting the "Storm of the century".

She wrapped up Bush's tactic perfectly when she said (okay, maybe not the exact quote, but you get the gist):

"When they tell you to the world's about to end, go on with your life as normal. But when they tell you everything's fine, keep on your toes . . ."

[Bouncy Ball]

2. No, I hadn't seen it, but that's a GREAT quote.

:thumbsup: Exactly how I feel.

[DemonFighterLives]

3. Perfect Storm is all around us

Thank goodness we have found sanctuary here at DU.
:grouphug: :yourock:

[bloom]

4. yes, it is.

All of a sudden my brother has started sending me urban legend pro-right-wing-stuff.

So I've been sending him things.

Now - I'm afraid to check my email. He asked for an explanation about something and I don't think he's going to like what I said.

I figured I would have to come here and be among like thinkers for awhile first.

[Bouncy Ball]

5. This place is fantastic for such purposes.

It was when I found DU (I lurked for a LONG time before I started posting) that my mother in law and other right wing people who were emailing me started backing off, because I started constructing more and more airtight arguments, thanks to what I read here.

[LisaLynne]

6. There is something about people like that ...

I don't know if it's just cowardliness that makes them so obsessed. Or if perhaps it somehow makes them feel special to think that everyone is out to get them. Or do they simply not have any perspective? The world is a dangerous place and even if we avoid disease and crime and terrorists, we're still going to die some day or we might step off the curb tomorrow and get hit by the proverbial bus.

Or maybe it's just as you suggest, they like it. Being afraid makes them feel alive. Maybe it makes them feel as though they are doing enough just to keep breathing -- they don't have to do any more. Staying alive, being able to shop at Wal-Mart, is enough. Maybe it's the same reason that people like dangerous sports. Maybe it's just an excuse for them to turn off the brain, which can make you think uncomfortable things and perhaps even force you to (gasp) move and DO something with your life.

I don't know, but I do know living in fear of things that statistically aren't going to happen to you and making threats up where there aren't any (or they are very minimal) is a dangerous and unproductive way to live. And all the time, that bus is still out there ... waiting for you to cross the street ...

[Bouncy Ball]

7. I honestly think it's a HIGH.

I know that sounds a bit crazy to the rational person, but I've seen the crazed, almost happy look in their glazed over eyes when the terror alert thingie was raised. They would take it upon themselves to personally tell everyone they knew, or call you, or email you, BREATHLESS about it.

I don't think ALL bushbots are like that, but a disproportionate number are. And I am hard-pressed to find Dems who act like they get off on fear. Quite the opposite.

After I told a bushbot (in person) that her chances of being hurt by a terrorist (especially where we live) are less than getting hit by lightening, her eyes lit up and she said, really passionately "OK YOU WON'T BE SAYING THAT WHEN A BUILDING BLOWS UP AROUND HERE!!!"

She was damn serious. I took a couple steps back and said I thought my phone was ringing inside.

Wow.

[atommom]

9. I think it is too. The warnings set off reactions in our primitive brains

(if we haven't yet learned to stop and think first), and that does produce a very visceral high in some people. There's no use in trying to dissuade them with logic once they reach that phase ... it will mean nothing to them.

[LisaLynne]

10. It really might be.

Gosh, I wish I knew more about psychology. I wonder if there would be any insights into this.

I really do know what you mean. My grandmother is like that, actually. There is almost an excitement about her when bad things are going on. And that woman who argued with her about the lighting comment ... interesting. It's like she was MAD that you were raining on her parade. You know?

I wonder if it's similar to the fact that people tend to worry about being murdered or raped by a stranger when statistically, if you were a victim, it would most likely be at the hands of someone you know, even a family member. It's a misconception of the actual threat. Now, the question you're raising is why these people seem to WANT to believe that these events which are statistically minute will definitely happen to them.

There is a book out called "War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning". Perhaps FEAR is an emotion that, as I posted before, gives us a reason to be alive. Or at least feel like it.

I really think you're on to something. I'm going to think about this ...

[4_TN_TITANS]

8. Thanks DU....

I go home and watch CBS Evening News now - not to learn what's going on, but to see what gets edited out. Didn't realize just how uninformed I was until I found DU. Thanks to those who comb all the news sources and post. Knowledge is power...... :headbang:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. I hear you.

If not for the internet, (DU primarily) I would have lost my sanity for lack of a rational conversation some days.

[Bouncy Ball]

12. Me, too. Believe me.

When I first found DU (very early 2003), the home page looked a bit different and I didn't see the link to the forums, so I thought all there was were the articles. So that was all I read for a long time. But I'd read them outloud to a coworker of mine who is also a Dem and she kept saying "What IS that site? Where did you find it?"

Later on, I saw the button for "Discussion Forums." DUH. I was hooked from that moment on.

[mattclearing]

13. Funny...I know some of those scared people. Dead-on. n/t