The Fear Card - Are Americans Afraid?.........

[global1]

I recently came back from a 2 week trip to Europe. I was in the the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. I have to say that security at airports was present - but in no way was it to the degree that we have here in the U.S.

After my European trip - I had to go to Las Vegas for a meeting. I flew out of a Chicago airport and back to Chicago via McCarren Airport in Vegas. The security lines were long and intrusive. Most people seemed to tolerate the scrutiny - but none seem too happy having to put themselves through it.

As I stood in the security lines - I pondered whether I was fearful of something happening. Then I thought that I really wasn't afraid of anything happening - and seemed to have just the same anxiety that I've always had about flying.

The question is - are Americans afraid? Does the general public worry about being a target of another 9/11 type hit? Or have we just resigned ourselves that we're going to have to put up with this scrutiny for the rest of time?

Bottom line - the Europeans that I met on this trip seemed to enjoy life and were reasonably happy. I can't say that for Americans. I'm actually jealous of Europeans.

[villager]

1. afraid, gutless, cowed and buffaloed!

n/t

[Taverner]

4. Yup

[we can do it]

7. Land of the Fraidy Cats-

[mrbarber]

17. Speak for yourself.

I'm none of those.

[villager]

18. Tad defensive?

Was talking about the polity in general, not you in particular.

See you on the streets, then! :hi:

[depakid]

2. Threat level ORANGE!

Blasted over the speakers at the San Fransisco airport. Nothing like that in Portland (and nothing even close in Sydney).

Worst airport for paranoia I've been to in the last few years was (of all places) Cincinnati. You could actually see the fear on people's faces and smell it in their sweat.

[chandler2]

3. All that BS is about corporate welfare, not security. However,

it DOES serve the twin purpose of making sure that Joe Sixpack and family remain in a somewhat heightened state of fear about
Mooslims, so that there is no fear of demands that concerns of average Americans are more important than the greed of our
military/security complex.

[Jamastiene]

9. Bingo

Big business is safe. Americans are on our own. We got the message. We know the score.

[tularetom]

5. I'm afraid we are...

[elehhhhna]

6. europeans have a safety net, relaxed work schedules, protectionist

govenments, are not wasting billions on war, etc. OF COURSE they're happier. They have invested in themselves.

[Jamastiene]

8. America: once bitten, twice shy.

Americans felt all comfy, cushioned, and safe before 9/11. Actually, we were too innocent and thought no one would ever attack us again on US soil. We also thought our tax dollars were going to protect us, at the very least. We thought our government cared about us. We thought wrong.

We were clueless about how the rest of the world feels about us. We were clueless about how our government, especially the CIA, riles up sentiment against us everywhere our foreign policy is implemented. We were clueless just how "on our own" we really are when it comes to our very own government too.

That was the worst shocker. Our own government thought of only themselves during that time and took actions to cushion themselves against us, as if we were the terrorists. They couldn't even be bothered to call on our own military to protect us. The American dream didn't die on 9/11. It died when our government further terrorized us with the paranoia and enacted The Patriot Act to take away our rights and protect big business and government only.

Our reaction to 9/11 was to overreact. The shock that we were so hated left a lot of people once bitten, twice shy.

The fear mongering of our own government hasn't helped. We all know how the Bush administration acted. Shrubya was frozen in terror for almost 20 minutes while they got his getaway plane ready. The coward circled the skies for hours before landing and talking to the American people. When he did talk to the American people, he looked like Barney Fife after seeing a ghost. Later, after he was sure the attacks were over and he was sure HE was safe and Cheney was down in his bunker making all the decisions for him, he sent our troops to go rough up some Arabs, took away most of our rights, then strapped on a packie and declared mission accomplished. That was honestly his answer to 9/11 when you stop and think about it.

But, Congress wasn't much better. Their posturing to get together and sing "God Bless America" after the attacks, proved how inefficient and clueless they really are. Then, they punished us for getting attacked by taking our rights away and hassling us everywhere we went, like we were the enemy. I've got news for them: Singing "God Bless America" and taking away our rights didn't do shit to fight terrorism or make Americans feel safe again.

It just proved who our government REALLY wanted to protect; their ATM (big business) and themselves.

The actions of the Bush administration and Congress during that time ensured big business would be safe and our government would be safe. That is IT. We were on our own. They only thought of themselves, not us. In all their efforts to protect themselves, they made us feel like we were on our own to protect ourselves. And when you really think about it, we are. If only we could protect ourselves from our own bloated, self-centered, greedy government.

[BeFree]

16. Don't forget Congress got anthrax in the mail.

Raygun was finally proven right just once: government was the problem.

JUST ONCE!!!

[EmeraldCityGrl]

10. I just returned from the Dominicon

and made a similar observation. Even on the street with police and military, they are more likely sitting around playing dominos than watching for
terrorists. Once I started the process of entering back into the country and going thru customs there was a pervasive uneasiness which is difficult
to put into words. It's similar to that feeling you get when your driving and there's a cop car behind you. Even though you know you have done
nothing wrong, you are being observed and evaluated constantly. The security people would randomly approach people, ask for their passport and
take them out of the line to question further. When boarding the plane, I was approached before I stepped on the plane and frisked by a security person.
This was after going through security. An elderly man was being frisked in security. He looked so confused and embarrassed. He looked at my and just
rolled his eyes in disgust.

We are a entering into a future that will be dominated by this mentality. We are never going back. I went to the DR on business but am seriously considering
other places to live. I just don't want to live like this any more.

[kenny blankenship]

11. AFAICT, Americans will pee their pants on command

all you have to do is tell them there's a threat out there.

Other parts of the world are maybe a little more familiar with what real threats are since they've lived through major wars fought on their territory, occupations, revolutions, coups, actual sustained terror campaigns (as opposed to one-off events), paramilitary campaigns against dissenters, and other nightmares. The relative isolation and security of the United States and the absence of historical enemies of any size on our borders paradoxically makes the American civilian unusually susceptible to being easily scared. Throw in a fantastic element like flying saucers or mobile chemical weapons labs --something that can't be evaluated because no one has actually seen it--and the American people could be made terrified of Luxembourg. I'm not saying Luxembourg has put their mobile chemical weapons facilities on flying saucers yet, but I'm not prepared to rule it out either. And there you have a perfectly valid American casus belli.

And they certainly have become conditioned to the onerous security measures becoming permanent. Do you know, post WWII, of any security measures that didn't become permanent once they went into effect? Everything is for keeps because of the high political bias against being "soft on" stuff. Once one piece of the police state puzzle drops, there it remains. I mean, you could get Americans to agree that cavity searches in airports are maybe a little extreme in view of the past 5 or 6 years, but that's the past...how can you be sure you know what Luxembourg is planning? The future is a mighty big place and in it we are all transparent and radiated.

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. Biggest pussies in the world. n/t

[Duer 157099]

13. I am a thousand times more afraid of corporate America than any terrorism

My fear has completely to do with financial and health security. I accept the risk that everyone in the world shares with regards to having some asshole wanting to kill me for his crazy religious zeal -- it's the same degree of risk I accept about driving a car or flying in a plane, etc.

I *do not* accept what corporate America is doing to We The People

[global1]

15. Sounds Like Someone Or Some Organization Should Take A Poll Of What Americans Are Afraid Of........

I'm thinking if the question is asked right and not biased by the way the structure the question - that 'terrorism' would wind up down the pecking order under things like fear of losing one's job or one's house; fear of getting sick and not having insurance or being dropped or going bankrupt because one can't afford to be sick. I'm sure that there are other things that people are afraid of that would trump 'terrorism'.

But we all know that this question won't be asked - because they don't want it to come out that as things go - terrorism is not the most prominent fear.

[Gregorian]

14. It's called intelligence.

So much depends upon what is going on in people's heads. I see far too many scared people. It's pathetic. But then I can run into a room that's on fire, and have, and keep my cool.

I think a combination of things have lead this nation, and much of the world, into a sorry state. Having things done for us instead of doing them ourselves. And poor education. Lack of knowledge of what goes into making a modern society run.

People are disconnected from much of what makes us human. Cell phones, cars, fluorescent lighted offices all lend to a world of people out of touch.

I like strong, not weak. And intelligence is what makes us strong. I don't think many people realize that. It's what brings humor. It brings a kinder society.

Much of what we see in our society today is due to what I believe is lack of knowledge. And that is what let's the fear grow.

And I don't know what fraction of this society is the kind of person I describe. It may actually be small. But it's present enough to have a perceptible affect.

[EFerrari]

19. I don't think it's fear as much as learned helplessness.

We're told to write, call, demonstrate and vote and none of those activities have any visible effect. After you try every strategy you can think of and the right wing media is pounding you every day, after a while the logical response is to withdraw. :shrug: