Fear Monger
Media Turns 'Home of Brave' into 'Home of Afraid' (Die Tageszeitung, Germany)
"The elite uses fear mongering to consolidate existing structures. This has worked wonderfully well in the past - see the surveillance state. Too well, in fact: Obama is upset about warnings of an Ebola epidemic in the U.S. - warnings out of touch with reality with which politicians, Republicans in particular, are attempting to seal off the country. ... Somehow it seems incongruous: In their national anthem, Americans sing the praises of the 'land of the free and the home of the brave.' At the moment, though, they are afraid of each other and the world. ... Home of the brave?Home of the brave?"
In the United States, the fear industry has won. The country
sees itself as being in an endless war against a sea of troubles.
Without fear of life-threatening enemies, Homo sapiens would
have come to naught.Today, no
saber-toothed tiger lies in wait at the bus stop, but in the United States,
minds have been infected by panic.
The élite uses fear mongering to consolidate existing
structures. This has worked wonderfully well in the past - see the surveillance
state. Too well, in fact: Right now, Barack Obama is upset about warnings of an
Ebola epidemic in America - warnings that are out of touch with reality with
which politicians, Republicans in particular, are attempting to seal off the United
States. In mid-October, a journalism program at New York's University of
Syracuse went so far as to disinvite a photographer for having reported on
Ebola in Liberia three weeks prior. "We don’t want to create a panic,"
the provost explained
to the Washington Post. We’ve
been here before: From 1987 to 2010, the U.S. banned people with HIV and AIDS
from entering the country.
Somehow it seems incongruous: In their national anthem,
Americans sing the praises of the "land of the free and the home of the
brave." At the moment, though, they are afraid of one another and the
world. Over 200 million firearms are in the hands of private individuals; about
a third of households are armed. Supposedly intelligent editorial writers warn
of the growing reign of chaos outside the U.S.: Ukraine, Egypt, Libya, nuclear weapons in Iran, BokoHaram, and the unpredictable Putin. Potential terrorists
are everywhere, above all in the "Islamic State," against whom action
must be taken "before we are all killed here at home," one Republican
senator [Lindsey Graham] recently warned. In the American context of fear, "action"
means bombing attacks.
The Islamic State has replaced al Qaeda as the ultimate evil
– and the Taliban, and Osama bin Laden, whose shooting - USA! USA! USA! - triggered
celebrations, but not an end to terrorism. When a country is afraid, those in
uniform have to be heroes, and as long as they’re at least 21 years old, occasionally
treated to a beer. Nineteen-year-olds are trusted only to shoot people far from
home. The idea that a young soldier might down a Budweiser - that’s
frightening. Home of the brave?
"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we
have to fear is fear itself." This often quoted, but rarely heeded advice
originated with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt at the time of his
inauguration in March 1933. That was at the climax - and rather the low point -
of the "Great Depression," when the nation confronted a severe
economic crisis.Roosevelt
referred to the "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyzes needed efforts."
Fear: Politicians win elections with it, security companies
and "experts" make money on it, and television uses threatening
stories to boost ratings. They sell newspapers and earn online clicks. The
little smartphone screens are dominated by images of
disaster, and although the people involved are suffering, it has little to do with
the life of the ordinary American. Yet they incite fear nonetheless. What events
haven't been experienced by consumers in recent years? Bird flu, swine flu, mad
cow disease, a bedbug invasion, computer viruses of all kinds, Iraqi weapons of
mass destruction, poor air quality on passenger planes. And what doesn't cause
cancer? What about butter? Is it dangerous to your health - or not?
And now we have - Ebola! For people in West Africa, with scant
health care even in the best of times, the virus is an existential disaster. Not
so for people in the U.S. and Europe. Several thousand Americans die each year
from normal flu. A call for hand washing would save more American lives than
warning that Ebola is being brought to country, thanks to Barack Obama - via
the "permeable border with Mexico." Rational governments, in the
interest of human welfare, should with the greatest possible energy organize
West African aid programs regardless of the cost.
The early 21st century has no monopoly on "unjustified"
and paralyzing "terror." Conjuring images of the enemy are part of
the ABCs of politics. In reality, the United States and Europe are to a great
extent safer than ever before. You almost have to admire the ingenuity of the U.S.
government which has managed - in spite of the most powerful military in the
world, and peace and quiet in the "homeland" since the attacks on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon - to convince its people that it is
threatened as never before. Meanwhile, friends and allies are acting as if they
believe it.
Deregulated apparatus
In the "War on Terror," the U.S. government, as
James Risen puts it, has "deregulated the national security apparatus."
Risen, one of the first U.S. journalists to report on the
total surveillance of the NSA (as early as 2004) just wrote a book with the
lovely title: Pay any Price: Greed,
Power, and Endless War. Risen condensed the fear industry to its essence during
a radio interview: "There are numerous motives for the "Warriors on
Terror - ambition, status, power, and money." According to Risen, this war
is comparable to the Thirty
Years' War in Europe during the 17th century, when a "new class of
mercenaries" arose - for the endless war.
It is now regarded as normal for the police to roll through
the streets of the "homeland" in armored personnel carriers, for
telephone and Internet connection data to be captured and saved for an
indeterminate period of time, and for cameras to record public life. Reason tells us that we will never have absolute security.
Anyone who goes for a walk in a seedy neighborhood carrying a lot of money in
his or her pocket will be more nervous than someone carrying a few coins. The United
States is walking the world with a lot of money in its pocket.
