Barons - Enemy Within

     We need a new enemy of the people to come along and shake everything up. The terrorists are doing their part to keep the great hate and war machine greased and oiled, but they aren't as scary as they were a few years ago. The thought of Iran and North Korea firing nuclear missiles is damn frightening but unoriginal. That menacing scenario was done to death during the cold war, when the Soviet Union aimed 7,000 nuclear warheads at western Europe and the continental United States. "Duck and cover, kids, there goes the flash."
    

     Of course, the iron curtain came tumbling down in 1989 as thermo-nuclear war was avoided. We had a damn good scare, lasted some 40 years. The kids lived in fear and the grownups were paranoid and mistrusting. The Russians went broke building bombs and the United States created a nuclear arsenal capable of blowing up the world a thousand times. Those were the days when the enemy was clearly defined, such as North Korea and North Viet Nam. Both of those wars were waged to stop communist expansion in Asia. Otherwise, we were warned, the communists would soon be fighting on American soil. This kind of fear mongering, whether based in reality or not, worked to rally the nation toward war. It worked then and it works now.
    

     We are told that we need to stop the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them here. Children listen to horrible sound bites on television about boogey men called radicals and extremists bent on killing them and their parents. They overhear grownups talking about the "axis of evil." They don't know what it means, but it is clear in their little minds that there are enemies everywhere and no one can be trusted.    

     In the days following the September 11 attacks, the blind patriotism in the United States was enough to frighten a witness of Hitler-era Germany. The hate and war machine fired on all cylinders and plowed into the Middle East with one eye open. Donald Rumsfeld, former secretary of defense, said, "Criticizing any aspect of the war in Iraq encourages the terrorists." Now
the little minds were told to distrust anyone who disagreed with their government's decision to go to war. Television evangelist Pat Robertson said the threat to the United States from activist judges was "probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings."
    

     Here is an updated fear list: Osama Bin Laden, Kim Jung Il, al Qaeda, liberal judges, the visions of Pat Robinson, your parents and peace-loving people anywhere.
    

     "We're still not completely safe," said ex President George W. Bush. "People want to harm us for what we believe in...Islamic fascists will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom." If that is the case, Mr. President, can we expect terror attacks in Canada or the Scandinavian countries any time soon? Perhaps it is botched American foreign policy and not our love of freedom that puts us in harm's way.
    

     Missed is the color-coded fear meter that popped up on our television screens from time to time. How afraid should we be without first checking the fear meter? Here's a start: Fear luggage, shoes and carry-on items like eye drops, shampoo and baby formula. Fear your neighbor and fear your employer. 

     Terror is the black widow in the web of evil. Terror is our boogey man, our very own bump in the night. Living in fear of a terrorist attack is reminiscent of living under several thousand Soviet nuclear warheads; an acute feeling of fear is omnipresent in both cases. Whether the fear is exaggerated, non-existent or completely justified is irrelevant. What matters is that fear will take a toe-hold in the masses, then it will spread like an infectious virus. Soon the people are so beaten down by fear that they do not realize they are living in fear. And the crap gets piled so high that I can't believe it.
    

     Fear job security, social security, national security and drinking water purity. Fear dirty bombs, suicide bombs, car bombs and the ghost of Sadam. Fear the tax man, political man, policeman, Son of Sam, spam and "Silence of the Lambs." Fear the influence of the spooky religious right and fear godless sodomites. Live in fear of poverty and fear longevity. Fear loss of love and fear there is no help from above.
    

     Fear for your child's safety and hope for enough money for food at the end of the month. Hope for affordable health care and fear unforeseeable illness in your family. Fear unscrupulous politicians selling out your future for the fast buck instead of looking after what is in the best interest for the public at large.

Stick a fork in my ass and turn me over, I'm done

by Randy Schaefer