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| Written just a few weeks after September 11, 2001, this commentary is perhaps more timely now for most of the American Public, who--sadly true to form--are "just catching up" with visionaries. We are poised to embark on a military campaign under the ambiguous phrase War Against Terrorism. It is one thing to go after the perpetrators of the atrocities of September 11. It is quite another to announce that the United States will fight and win a global war that will eradicate terrorism from the planet. More spectacular than a trailer for Die Hard 7....more dramatic than Survivor....Jets slamming into golden pillars....fiery orange bursting against cerulean blue. All delivered straight into our living rooms in simulated real time! What self-respecting couch potato or corporate drone could ask for more? Yet something was not quite right. Why was prime time airing in the a.m.? The absurdity quickly dawned. These were not special effects. The people on-screen were not famous actors or pre-screened candidates out for instant fame and a cool mil. America, virtual reality TV became our actuality on September 11, 2001. Networks ran the hypnotic horror in perpetual replay 24/7. "News" commentators told us how to think and feel, as if we were incapable of doing so for ourselves. And why not? Isn’t that how it is done in the Land of the Free To Be Ignorant, Home of the Brave New World? We were told our nation was under attack--surely cause for panic. Yet few of us panicked. Strange? Perhaps not. We were not told to panic, just to stay tuned because we were under attack! From Cleveland to Wichita, Jacksonville to Boise, schools stayed open across the land. Corporations did not send people home to account for, and be with, their loved ones. Emergency sirens did not sound. McDonald’s served millions more. The interstates were not clogged by mass exodus away from urban centers. No reports of fighting for last boxes of Wheaties on grocers’ shelves in a mad attempt to hoard supplies. The Net remained accessible. The lights did not go out. For the most part, the mail was delivered. In New York City and Washington, D.C., the horror was very real, of course. The citizens that work to make these cities great--firefighters, medical professionals, neighbors, and co-workers--met the challenge, showing unflinching courage and unparalleled compassion. Few of us can possibly know what they went through. Word of the deeds and images of destruction struck an emotional chord with Americans throughout the land: we wept, we prayed, we fumed. Our shock, sympathy and outrage were real, to be sure. Yet only a small number of us can truthfully say that we were frozen with fear or unable to get through our day for lack of comfort and safety. According to Dan, Tom, and Peter, however, we were falling apart. We were shocked senseless. We would never be the same. We were angry. We were scared. We were under attack. We were at war. There was only one thing to do--stay tuned! During the initial hours after the bombings it was necessary, even expected, that Americans should know what was happening minute by minute. However, it soon became clear that the media did not have hard facts to report. Perhaps that was the reason they latched onto Bush’s unilateral declaration of war. For those that find deep contemplation a hardship, the logic was clear: we had been attacked thus we were at war. On the day of the bombardments, a giant step was taken without so much as a “mother may I." We moved at warp speed from confirming terrorist bombings to an illegal yet widely accepted declaration of war to abolish terrorism. Missing were in-depth discussions of why we were targeted and by whom. (Not to be confused with assumptive dialogue that it was mostly certainly Osama bin Laden.) There was no clear evidence of who was responsible for the attacks thus no clear enemy. Last and not least, no reminder that only Congress may declare war—not even from members of Congress. (At least not loudly or too publicly.) Never mind the reasons, there could be no explanation. No time for reasons and reason in the “Land of the Free Not To Think, Home of the Brave New World.” When the United States inflicts, directly or through sponsorship, death and destruction throughout the world that harms other civilians, we call it called justice. These actions are never quite real to most of us. Images flashing across TV screens…voices describing human suffering…sometimes we watch, sometimes we switch channels. Like a movie or reality show, we have a voyeuristic interest, which easily wanes when we are asked to use our brains to consider hard realities and moral implications. Our diminished interest in bombings of Iraq since the Gulf War is testament to our infantile attention span. The initial strikes under Clinton were met with vague concern that quickly ebbed. The bombings have increased under Bush, yet media and public pay little notice. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein remains in power and tens of thousand of children, women, and men continue to die and suffer in the name of punishing terrorists. Those that mastermind and create the terror, on all sides, seem to suffer least, if at all. We now are poised to embark on a massive, most costly, and guaranteed deadly campaign under the ambiguous phrase War Against Terrorism. It is one thing to go after the perpetrators of the atrocities of September 11. It is quite another to announce that the United States will fight and win a global war that will eradicate terrorism from the planet. This is a fallacy. War has never proved to be successful, permanent solution to violence. Peace will only be attained through social, economic, and political justice. It is natural to want to retaliate against the atrocities just committed. It is dangerous to do so without asking tough questions and demanding real answers. What is easy is safe: wave the flag, call out the troops, rally for “democracy,” and keep shopping the malls. Symbols and words undefined serve as shields from facing the truth. Our government breathes a sign of relief. Let us speak about and question the irony of being asked to trust a man selected not elected. Let us speak about and question the absurdity of seeking solace from a man whose idea of compassion for the American people has been called into question time and again. A man whose deeds have included increasing arsenic in drinking water, giving billions back to the ultra rich at the peril of senior citizens, children and our economic stability, and who has proudly surrounded himself with less than savory individuals from the Iran-Contra and El Salvadorian Death Squad days. Let us speak out and question why a sane people would embrace a Regime that gives lip service to the need to unite not divide yet opposes a worldwide conference about racism. By all means, let us speak out and question why we should trust a Regime that has given millions of dollars to the Taliban this year, knowing full well they harbored America’s #1 terrorist enemy, Osama bin Laden. Let us, without hesitation, speak out and question the sudden assertion that this Regime has only our best interests in mind. On the issue of domestic terrorism, Bush chose to ignore a bipartisan study on terrorism in January, which called for measure that may have prevented last weeks attacks, as well as warnings in August from various world sources, including Israeli intelligence, about impending threats to America. CONTINUED...- CLICK FOR NEXT PAGE |
| Home of the Brave New World by S.L. McKay |