Al-Qaeda Targets Smokey Bear in Terror Plot “They hate our forests,” explains Woody Woodchuck. This past Saturday marked a personal first for
me. Fox News Channel, rather
than disgusting me to the point of cursing and silencing the TV, actually
made me laugh. I mean
really laugh. Out
loud. For those of you who
haven’t yet heard it, allow me to let you in on the joke (because
surely, this has to be a joke): According to our friends at State-TV, the
latest “terrorist threat to
(On a related note, I expect any day now to
hear that the ASPCA has been dissolved. Now that animals can reasonably be
named potential victims of terror as well, there’s no point in campaigning
for their rights, either.) Now seriously, people, does anyone
really believe this?
Tighten that slack-jaw, breathe through your nose, turn off the TV,
and let’s think about this for a minute, shall we? Assuming for a moment that
“Al-Qaeda” really is some third-party terrorist organization (as
opposed to, say, US and Israeli intelligence assets), do you honestly
think that they’d take the risk of sneaking three or four operatives into
(and back out of) this country for the sole purpose of constructing and
planting time bombs to be detonated out in some forest, far from
civilization? Is that how
“Al-Qaeda” typically operates?
No human casualties, no damaged infrastructure, no disruption of
civil or governmental operations . . . just forest fires? If these guys really did train in
Iraq, no wonder it took only three weeks for “us” to take Baghdad (as much
as Baghdad can be considered “taken,” anyway); sounds like pretty weak
sauce to me. Listen, John Q. Public, “Al-Qaeda” (whoever
they really are) doesn’t have any plans of the sort, you can be
sure of that. It would
accomplish nothing; and wouldn’t be worth the risk and
resources. If “they” are
really planning to sneak in here and start planting bombs, it’s not going
to be out in the woods somewhere, believe me. What we have here instead, my
friends, is another classic case of government fear-mongering propaganda,
and it isn’t quite as silly as it appears on the surface, either. My first thought when I heard this
laughable report was that the real terrorists, the people in
Washington whose job it is to keep us in a state of fear, must be running
out of ideas if they’re so desperate as to try and put a ridiculous tale
such as this one over on us.
But I was wrong; it’s not ridiculous at all. It’s actually brilliant, and will
serve its purpose quite well.
It has planted another seed of fear and doubt in the American
consciousness. Silly though
the story itself may be, the past two years have well demonstrated the
effectiveness of trigger-words like “terrorist” and “Al-Qaeda.” The stories themselves are
unimportant; nobody pays attention to details anymore, they just hear the
trigger-words, an emotional response is created, and the propaganda has
done its trick. Think about it (you did turn off that
TV, right?). It’s summer
time, there are record temperatures in
“So far, authorities say they have no reason
to suspect terrorism . . . .” How many times a week do we already hear that
phrase? Be it a train
derailment, a gas-line explosion, a water-main break, or even a flu
epidemic, we are constantly reminded of “the terrorist threat,” of the
“imminent danger” we’re all supposedly in. That’s called conditioning,
folks. It’s textbook
psychological manipulation.
There doesn’t even have to be a real terror attack, as long
as there’s always the question, as long as “the T word” keeps
getting mentioned on a daily basis, the end result is the same: FEAR
and SUBSERVIENCE. Likewise, no matter who you personally
think “the terrorists” really are, or who really is behind them, once
again the end result is still the same: YOU LOSE, THEY WIN. You’ve been told that these
terrorists “hate your freedom,” that they want to destroy the much-touted
“American way of life.”
Hasn’t that already happened?
Aren’t you just about back to where your ancestors were when they
were under the Crown of King George? Are you still reasonably guaranteed
not to wind up in a jail cell somewhere just because you’ve
committed no crime? Are you
still entitled to tell the police or the FBI to go bugger off if they show
up at your home without a warrant?
If you do find yourself in a cell somewhere, are you still
guaranteed the right to speak to an attorney, to let someone know where
you are, and most importantly, the right to a trial to prove your
innocence? The answer to all of the above questions is
“NO,” you are no longer guaranteed any of those rights. Perhaps you didn’t notice; perhaps
you were too busy being scared of “the terrorists” to realize that “they”
(whoever “they” may be) have already destroyed said much-touted American
way of life. Actually,
they haven’t destroyed anything (other than perhaps a few
buildings); at least not if you believe “they” to be Middle Eastern
fanatics. They don’t
get to vote in Congress, or sign laws on the White House rose garden. “Your” government changed all
those things, in case you were too busy being frightened to notice. How and why did “they” do it? That’s simple: you were
afraid. You were too afraid
to speak out, too afraid to stand up to “your” government, too afraid to
talk to your friends, family and neighbors, too afraid to point out the
hypocrisy and evils of restricting liberty and calling it the defense of
freedom, too afraid that “the terrorists” you keep hearing about were
going to somehow take from you that which the State had already stolen at
its first opportunity to do so.
You’re still afraid, aren’t you? If you really care about liberty, or
even if you’re one of those “my country, right or wrong” people and you
really care about “ Will you raise your children and grandchildren
to live as serfs, to never know the sanctity of private property and the
right to due process? Will
you be able to look them in the eye and tell them that YOU had those
things when YOU grew up, but that “times changed,” and that YOU did
nothing, because YOU were too afraid to act? If so, will those children look
upon you with pride, or with shame?
Will you raise your children to be cowards, to accept tyranny? The tyrant’s greatest weapon is
fear, yet it’s also the weapon most easily defeated. Choose not to be afraid,
and the rest will come easily. |