Okay, I realize that no one is trying to ban king-size candy bars, any more than anyone is trying to ban salt (New York City), or sugar-sweetened beverages (Cambridge, MA). No one is trying to ban toys in Happy Meals (San Francisco) either, but that doesn't mean they haven't thought of it. The problem is not what they will tell us we can't have next, the problem is that they think they can tell us, and that we seem to give them the power and authority to do so.
How did this all begin? It's a long story.
Humanity has a long history of people telling other people what to do, what to think, and how to feel. In fact, until about 2 centuries ago, it was considered normal and right for one group of people to have total control over another group. Whatever they claimed as authority, whether it came from God or the sword, there have always been rulers and ruled.
That is until the American revolution. For the first time in the history of mankind, a people would purport to rule themselves. They reasoned that, because man is endowed with the capacity for reason, he should be the master of himself. Sounds reasonable.
So what happened between then and now? What happened to us that we would go from revering a man like Ben Franklin, who said that " A man that would sacrifice liberty for security deserves neither" to people actively supporting policies like the Bush administration's, and continued by the Obama administration's, response to the 9/11 attacks. How did we go from patriotism to the PATRIOT act. Well, I don't have an answer to that. But we need to go back.
Sacrificing liberty is easy, especially in the face of some grave threat to our safety, be it physical, financial, or phony.
"Never let a good crisis go to waste." Rahm Emmanuel.
There have always been crises that have threatened the very existence of the species, but let's just stick to the one's that affected our existence as a nation.
I will say for the first time, but certainly not the last, that this is not meant to be a history book. There are volumes written about the subjects I will simply touch upon in passing, these are merely my interpretations of the events and their meaning, and I strongly urge you to do your own research and draw your own conclusions.
Speaking from personal experience, the most recent crisis to our way of life has been the threat of terror. I don't mean the isolated incidents of Columbine or Oklahoma city, or even the most recent tragedy at the Batman movie. What I'm talking about is good-old, raised in the desert, Islamic terrorism.
Exhibit A would be 9/11. That day transformed this country. It showed us, as a people, that we were not immune to attack. It was the most poignant reminder since Pearl Harbor, or the movie Red Dawn, that it was possible for a foreign invader to wreak havoc on our soil. That day was a sort of loss of innocence for us as a people.
I remember sitting, glued to the television as the wreckage was cleared. I remember getting misty-eyed as each body was hauled from the wreckage, saluted by the rescuers, and taken away. I remember the anger that prompted me, for the first time in my life, to purchase a handgun. And finally I remember what a stupid idea that was.
I had no business owning a gun. And George W Bush, as much as I love and respect him for leading this country through a time of incredible hardship and difficulty, had no business pushing for the expanded powers that were included in the PATRIOT act. But, those in power "Never let a crisis go to waste."
We were ripe for the picking. Even noted America haters like, insert democratic representative or senator here, were compelled to wear an american flag pin on their lapel or risk being called, well, anti-American.
Those were the days of "Freedom Fries".
I hate the French as much as anyone, but french fries aren't from France any more than Obama is from Kenya, but that's another chapter.
Those were the days when we were constantly reminded about the threat of Anti-Muslim backlash, which of course, I am proud to say, never materialized.
We were told that not all Muslims were terrorists, which is actually true. We were also told by some that not all Muslim terrorists were Muslims, which I can say without a doubt, and any one of them will back me up on this, is decidedly untrue.
Once the dust settled and the smoke cleared over ground zero, the left and right wing zealots were at it again, fighting for the souls of every American.
What's worse, an enemy that tells you that it aims to kill you, that despises your very existence and claims, openly, to want to destroy your very way of life, or an enemy that claims to be looking out for your best interest, to be "Looking out for you" in the words of Bill O'Reilly.
An enemy that comes in the guise of friendship and guidance, or an enemy that says, It's either you or me, and I'm willing to die to see that you don't live.
In retrospect, this chapter should have been called "The enemy within, the assault on our freedom of thought by the American media", but that may have been too wordy.
The fact remains that, more than anything or anyone, the media has played upon our fears, stoked our paranoia, and feasted on our dissension all in the name of...what exactly?
What does the media have to gain by keeping us apart, driving us into sharply defined, easily accessible, and sharply divided camps? They have nothing to gain, but their evil corporate sponsors have plenty.
Let me now take you on a trip through paranoia the likes of which Michael Moore and Charlie Sheen have only dreamed of. Let me take you on a trip through the mind of... the whackjob.
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