We all know that beauty and brains usually are not synonymous. Some people are fortunate to have it all I suppose…but there are those that don’t have that entire package going on for them. Yet that moniker may be transcended with beauty of mind and spirit…and I feel that perhaps embodies my subject for today…Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski. For the sake of my Sirens Feature today…he shall be known as Z-Big…not much of a looker…but he’s got BRAINS. He’s a hot commodity to come by in Washington…rather hard to find these days. He also gets respect and that counts for something in this world we find ourselves in just now. He’s had a book out for a while and a great article about what the “War On Terror” really means…or rather…what it shouldn’t mean. Follow me on this journey if you dare…you won’t need your imagination…just your time and thought.
There’s a culture of fear in America…thanks to our Decider’s administration creating the”war on terror”…calling it a national mantra. A terrible effect of impact on American democracy, it’s psyche…and our standing in the eyes of the world. This phrase (as we know already) has undermined our ability to effectively confront real challenges America faces from fanatics who may use terrorism against us. We have our own sheeted head-covered citizens in this country we have to deal with…and I’m not talking Muslim people either… those I refer to have a somewhat southern drawl to their speechifyin’…!
The damage of these three words? Z-Big calls it a classic self-inflicted wound infinitely greater than that of the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks when they were plotting in distant caves. I quote…“the phrase itself is meaningless. It defines neither a geographic context nor our presumed enemies. Terrorism is not an enemy but a technique of warfare – political intimidation through the killing of unarmed noncombatants.”
He goes on to say that those who sponsored it…deliberately (or instinctively) calculated a vagueness to the phrase. Sneaky Monkeys! They think they’ve got us fooled. Sure some people were fooled by it because they trust their government to do right by them…they don’t expect betrayal on all levels. Poor deluded citizens! So…the constant reference to a “war on terror” did accomplish something…it started the beginning of a culture of fear among the populace. They fell into step with the agenda quite neatly…Rove heaved a contented sigh of relief.
Z-Big…“fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue. The war of choice in Iraq could never have gained the congressional support it got without the psychological linkage between the shock of 9/11 and the postulated existence of Iraq weapons of mass destruction. Support for President Bush in the 2004 elections was also mobilized in part by the notion that “a nation at war” does not change its commander in chief in midstream. The sense of a pervasive but otherwise imprecise danger was thus channeled in a politically expedient direction by the mobilizing appeal of being “at war.”
He goes on…“to justify the “war on terror”, the administration has lately crafted a false historical narrative that could even become a self-fulfilling prophecy. By claiming that its war is similar to earlier U.S. struggles against Nazism and then Stalinism (while ignoring the fact that both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were first-rate military powers, a status al Qaeda neither has nor can achieve), the administration could be preparing the case for war with Iran. Such war would then plunge America into a protracted conflict spanning Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and perhaps also Pakistan.”
He’s correct when he likens the “culture of fear” like a genie that had been unleashed from its magic lamp. It starts to get a life of its own…and can become quite demoralizing. We know right now in America that we are not the self-confident and determined nation that once engaged itself responding to what happened in Pearl Harbor…nor is it the America that knew great crisis and listened to the famous words of Roosevelt…“the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Neither is it the America that lived through the Cold War days biting our nails quietly knowing that a 3rd World War could happen abruptly and within minutes many millions of Americans would be dead within a few hours. This country is divided to its core with uncertainty and very susceptible to PANIC if another terrorist act rears its ugly head on our soil. It is after all the only soil we have known…therefore we do have a certain attachment to it I should think.
So we have the result of five years of what I consider continuous national brainwashing on the subject of terror, unlike the quieter reactions of several other nations that also have suffered painful terrorist acts. Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan and others that I don’t remember right now. So Dub’s latest justification for his war in Iraq? He claims that he has to continue waging it lest al Qaeda crosses the Atlantic to launch a “war of terror” here in our backyards of the United States. I hope they have some good water wings for their plan.
Z-Big…“such fear-mongering, reinforced by security entrepreneurs, the mass media and the entertainment industry, generates its own momentum. The terror entrepreneurs, usually described as experts on terrorism, are necessarily engaged in competition to justify this existence. Hence their task is to convince the public that it faces new threats. That puts a premium on the presentation of credible scenarios of ever-more-horrifying acts of violence, sometimes even with blueprints for their implementation.”
We are spending needlessly on “some” security measures and wasting even more time by using some of the techniques on buildings that simply just don’t need it. But, it does manage to keep a lot of people afraid, in-line and always thinking of that “war on terror.” An objective that the administration wants is that of people thinking they are actually doing something for security. We certainly are no safer now than we were on 9/11…if you think we are…you are deluding yourself friends!
So long as the government has you paranoid on just about every level…you’ll believe. Come on! We have to look at what we are being fed on television and also what the journalists throw at us daily. They’ve bought into the Kool-aid too…so naturally they are going to reinforce the sense of the unknown yet lurking danger that is increasingly threatening the lives of all Americans. We must read through the “fog of baloney” that they want to feed us because the Cowboy Wizard has told them to. Pay attention to how many times the bad guy seems to look like someone with apparent Arab features…and the whole package that goes with it by implication…you know exactly what I mean. They are helping to stimulate Islamophobia…and I feel needlessly.
“CAIR”…Council on American-Islamic Relations apparently has been harassed for its attempts to emulate, and not successfully, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Some House Representatives recently described CAIR members as “terrorist apologists” who should not be allowed to use a Capitol meeting room for a panel discussion. These are the people that at their own expense in order to promote understanding and good relations with Americans gave away copies of their beloved Qu’ran. I am the recipient of one of these books. It must have cost a pretty penny…it truly is a beautiful book. They sent along a very nice request that their holy book be treated with respect and not desecrated. They didn’t have to give me this book in the first place…and certainly not such a quality as this was. I assumed it would just be some soft cover edition being that it was free…nothing special. But it was a large and beautiful volume inside and out.
I even felt guilty…I am an atheist…but I did want to learn about their culture and see what they feel about their holy book such as other people feel about their Bible. There is equality in these feelings of people and how they both would treat their revered pages. I also wanted to understand their culture before outright condemning it…that is a fair thing I feel.
So now we come to Muslim air travelers. What a fun thing it must be for them to need to travel elsewhere like other humans need to at times…because we all now know that they can’t make it there by MAGIC CARPET rides anymore. That went out with Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves some time ago. Even those Muslims with no ties with the Middle East have had their share of high blood pressure and ill feelings mixed in…while America’s reputation as a leader (cough) in fostering good inter-racial and inter-religious relations has suffered greatly.
Our record is even more dismal and shameful in the civil rights area. This mongering of fear has bred much intolerance, suspicion of foreigners (for generations!)…and the adoption of legal procedures that undermine simple notions of justice. We all know that the saying “innocent until proven guilty” has undergone some major changes of meaning. Its very core has been disastrously pilfered if not outright ruined…with some U.S. citizens jailed for lengthy periods of time without proper and prompt access to due process. Yes…even our citizens! This won’t be a pretty thing to look back upon and be remembered with anything but shame…that of intolerance against a few people that certainly didn’t deserve it.
So…we Americans…in the meantime…have been greatly damaged in the international arena because of this “war on terror.” The hostility toward the United States in part is prompted by their treatment of Iraqi civilians by the military that is seen similar to that of the Palestinians by the Israelis in the eyes of Muslims. The news that Muslims watch on television that angers them isn’t the “war on terror”…it’s the victimization of Arab civilians. And I’m afraid those feelings are not limited to Muslims. A poll some few months back from the BBC of 28,000 responders in 27 countries sought peoples’ assessments of the role of states in international affairs resulted in Israel, Iran and the United States being rated (in that order) as the states with “the most negative influence on the world.” I guess that now makes us the new “axis of evil”…and I don’t blame their perception at all.
Things could have been so much different for us after 9/11 if a different path had been taken. There was the possibility of global solidarity…unified against terrorism and extremism. A global alliance so to speak…including Muslims…engaged in a deliberate campaign to stop the specific terrorist networks and to stop the political conflicts that give birth to terrorism would have certainly been more effective than a man strappin’ on his six-shooters and proclaiming the United States forever as a “war on terror” magnet against “Islamo-fascism.” And as Zbigniew Brzezninski finally said…“Only a confidently determined and reasonable America can promote genuine international security which then leaves no political space for terrorism.” So simple.
We need a U.S. leader that will say we’ve had enough of hysteria…enough of paranoia. The likelihood of future attacks is real…we certainly cannot deny that and be breathing…but we must also show some sense. We know what makes us the America that we are…that the world has known us to be. We must become that America again…our traditions must speak for themselves…we owe it to the rest of the world to reflect. We must make better what once was…we must correct that which a few madmen tried to corrupt…Americans must search their hearts for what deep down is right…and simply do it. We must be wise in the people we give that office over to in 2008…if we are allowed to vote for another president at that time. Our future could be uncertain at best if it falls into the hands of the conservatives again. We must be vigilant and willing to do out part.
18 Comments
Fear is certainly THE thing that people need to overcome. So many are buying into it. I feel it creeping in once in awhile and I quickly push it away. It’s no way to live as I like to tell my family.
http://www.alternet.org/story/57001/?page=1
around half of our population wants someone to fear, someone to hate. i think that the left gets it- we don’t trust the government anymore. but we are able to think critically and flexibly. the right isn’t willing or perhaps able to do so. what can we do about that? are there enough of us to overcome this? that’s where we are at right now.
“They rush through the Rush-list of liberals who hate America, who want her to fail, and I ask them – why are liberals like this? What’s their motivation? They stutter to a halt and there is a long, puzzled silence. ” It’s a good question,” one of them, Martha, says finally. I have asked them to peer into the minds of cartoons and they are suddenly, reluctantly confronted with the hollowness of their creation. “There have always been intellectuals who want to tell people how to live,” Martha adds, to an almost visible sense of relief. That’s it – the intellectuals! They are not like us. Dave changes the subject, to wash away this moment of cognitive dissonance. “The liberals don’t believe in the constitution. They don’t believe in what the founders wanted – a strong executive,” he announces, to nods.”
“of course” Republican politics is “about class. Republicans are the party of winners, Democrats are the party of losers.”
Mary I agree, it’s no way to live.
betmo…when I read the alternet article…this was on of the particular spots that bled into my brain. This is the kind of stuff that strikes fear into me (figuratively) when I find out how some of America’s citizens actually feel. The right is a scary place in their minds to me. They are the party of winners…so look what their little war has done to the rest of the world. Bet THEY don’t think of that!
no, they really don’t. they look at us like we are children to be disciplined and everyone else on the planet to be conquered. i have difficulty wrapping my mind around this irrationality.
the mental two-step (us/them, winner/loser greed/altruism) is a dance even the most conscious among us fall into at times. it takes a long, arduous and never ending focus to break free from that dance for any length of time. it is unsurprising to me that the republican party seems to be filled with vacuous and superficial types to whom the echolalia and hebephrenia of Der Boosh and his ilk appeal.
i think Z-big is correct about the calculated nature of the catechism (War On Terror) foisted onto the general public’s impressable state of consciousness. i also think that there is a long history of trying to instill the “culture of fear” amongst the citizenry of this country that didn’t just start 6+ years ago. studies are conducted to determine the optimal display of and access to consumer goods in a store’s aisles. Fear is being peddaled in very much the same way, probably by very similar types of (executively priviledged and ultra-classified) studies – bushco is, again, taking advantage of some one else’s efforts.
although i see it in the eyes of so very many and hear it in their plaintive and heartfelt pleas, i, for one, will boycott Der Boosh’s particular brand of product. I just wish that Z-big had not chosen to soil the term mantra in association with the foulness that is this administration and its tactics.
Well Said Aballoflight! I second that
“I just wish that Z-big had not chosen to soil the term mantra in association with the foulness that is this administration and its tactics.”
Right on…Aballoflight…if I were a praying person…I would say…Amen to that! I sometimes wonder how many people they have turned off of religion…wonder if there are any statistics on that one? Probably not…if I had been religious before…I certainly wouldn’t be now after experiencing THEM!
Sumo, what a powerful post. The biggest deterrent to fear is reason, intellect and education. The Right’s biggest base eschews intellect, and willingly abdicates responsibility to become properly informed.
Like you, I grew up during the Cold War. I lived in a suburb of Chicago, and not far from my house was one of many NORAD tracking stations. We used to go over there to flirt with the soldiers (but that’s a whole nother story.) We were, perhaps, the only people in my neighborhood who flatly refused to build a “bomb shelter” – although, being a child of the Depression, my mother did overstock flour and sugar and canned goods – but Dad said the “bomb shelters” would do nothing against what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I feel fortunate that my family treasured education. It was the most important thing – get a good education, all the rest will follow. Read. Read more. Do research. Do more. When I was a girl Chicago had FOUR solid newspapers; two liberal, two conservative. We read all of them in my house, to get as many points of view as possible.
We watched Playhouse 90 on television – live, theatrical performances. REAL theater, on television. Today, American Idol gets more votes than does a person running for President. The blogger Mentarch refers to it all as intellectual sloth.
Mr. Brzezinski is quite articulate. His message is important. We need to keep shining the light of truth onto what this administration does in order to create peace.
Thanks Diva…and I agree whole heartedly. I knew you’d get a kick out of that Alternet article. I’m still mulling it around in my head…mostly shaking it in disbelief. I remember Playhouse 90 very well…and the American Idol debacle is a reflection of our society that I find hard to take. The search for fame has caused a lot of problems in our country on many levels.
sumo
There is so much to this and why the fear, the resultant allowed 9/11, the loss of our Democracy, the Patriot Act then used to gain absolute power by Bush to implement his new order here and around the world.
I have it all saved in articles I have written in the past but I just changed to a new Computer and server and I have to wait for help from a nephew to learn how to transfer the myriad of info I have.
I will be very pleased to forward it to you when someone shows this challenged guy how to. Peace
Jim…you poor thing…you are challenged like me then…you have my sympathy. I’d love to get that info from you…I’ll look forward to it.
Oh yeah, like someone already said: There’s nothing to fear, but fear itself……in otherwords…..
Well, it’s all so silly, I’m surprised there isn’t more said on the subject and it’s use as a manipulation tool! ; (
We definitely have to keep that at the front of our consciousness. There are things I regularly scoff at and wonder at their hubris. They know this is something that they have to constantly work at and nurture. There are plenty of people buying it too…unfortunately.
Hi, Sirens, got the invite from that Dude, Jood! Great blog. I’ll put it on my links soon as I finish this comment.
Regarding fear, the same weapon has been used by Howard in Australia. He told us that Iraq had nuclear missiles that could reach Down Under. What a crock but some people believed him!
How come people are so gullible? Makes you wonder about so-called ‘education’, eh!
Cheers.
I have dislike for the Z-man due to his being one of the creators of the Tri-Lateral Commission, which is the building block of the New World Order.
Daniel…welcome! I’m afraid that’s what leaders seem to think is an okay thing to do…LIE! And…I think some people are gullible because they don’t want to take the time to find out the facts. I have to find the facts…and I’m perfectly willing to be corrected if I am mistaken.
Larry…I understand about the commission…but he’s right on the mark with the terror bit.
Wonderful post, Sumo! (I can’t pronounce the man’s name, so I like the “Big-Z” designation.” He makes too much sense.
I’ve long thought that Bushco has seized upon 911 to create the culture of fear & loathing to a degree that is truly astounding, & to destroy any rational thinking in the form of more moderate & sensible voices. But then, we had ample warning that something like this was coming in the campaign strategy of the neocon juggernaut–that was to divide & conquer by pulling so far & so hard to the right (& providing sufficient propaganda platitudes & nonsense for all the anti-intellectual non-thinkers in their base to toss mindlessly at the demonized “liberals”) that any semblance of moderation & critical thinking was out of range.
One mistake I made early on was in looking on with bemusement–surely people can’t be stupid enough to swallow this hogwash wholesale! It’s SO obvious! However, to my great chagrin, Bushco has & continues to manipulate the American conciousness with what should be laughable & obvious sales campaigns & propaganda devoted to keeping themselves in power with this “strong man” routine.
No doubt the “terrarists” would like to bring us down for good, but the supremely ironic thing here is that Bush is both bringing our way of life to a grinding halt AND destroying the freedoms that the “terrarists” supposedly hate us for ALL by himself. Who needs terrorists when you have George Bush doing all their work for them? It’s twisted, twisted.
Right on…I couldn’t have said it better myself! Yes…Dub is doing the heavy work himself on this one. He’s giving all the aid and comfort that a traitor can possibly give…I’m sure there is a special place waiting for him to get his reward. Personally…it feels like the end of my foot sometimes…I’m sure I’m not the only person that gets that urgent feeling.