A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article that dealt with, among other things, unjustified fear. As I read through my notes for this article I realized that not only should we attempt to avoid this emotion as much as we can, we should also understand what may come from succumbing to the practice. It can lead to a chain reaction of consequence that will eventually end in disaster. From the fear itself, to the rationalization of over reacting, to the justification of prejudice in an effort to assign blame, to the action of violence in order to put an end to our fear. It simply becomes an endless cycle that ends where it begins.
Although my first article on this subject dealt with our irrational fears of certain creatures, I will concede, my fellow Observers, that there is one animal that does indeed deserve our caution and we should all fear.... man. Or should I write, man.... afraid. A complex creature that is hard to understand as it lashes out like a wounded animal against anything that it perceives as a threat, be it real or imaginary. As of late, there seems to be one thing that backs a lot of us into a corner without a whip and chair, that not only scares the hell out of some but is used as a tool by every media outlet, periodical, politician and candidate to keep us afraid and serve their agenda. Terrorism or more specifically, the terrorists themselves.
With life since September 11th being as it is, its completely understandable for some of us to feel the way we do, however, we must not let our fears consume us by seeing terrorist plots around every corner, in every shopping center and every neighborhood. We cannot afford to lose the ability to see the world for what it is and we have to acknowledge that we've been a victim of this practice for decades.
In the 50's and the 60's it was the communists.
In the 70's it was the Iranians and the Shiites.
In the 80's it was the Libyans and the Iraqis.
In the 90's it was the Iraqis and the Taliban.
In 2000 it was Al Qaeda.
And now it's Isis.
Over a half a century of people, governments or organizations to be afraid of as we listen to our leaders telling us to be vigilant while putting our minds on standby and at the same time keeping it and our weapons half cocked. Years of overplaying to and enticing our fears and to what avail? What good did it serve? In the 50's and 60's we were told to "Duck and Cover" by Bert the turtle just in case the Cubans fired their missiles at us and more recently we were told to be more Observant and report anything that looked out of the ordinary. We were also advised to make sure we purchased some plastic sheeting and duct tape. The only thing more ludicrous than being told to follow these instructions was actually believing that a grade school desk could protect us from a nuclear attack and that a piece of 3 mil plastic could prevent us from contracting anthrax. It is a never ending repetitive loop that has progressed from a cold war status to an arms race to an inquisition of persecution that envelopes anyone that looks like they may be middle eastern, even though the face of terrorism isn't always so easily identified. Just ask Eric Rudolph's neighbors or congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In other words, the fear we experience for a certain ethnic persuasion is a racial scapegoat to hide the fact that we are our own worst enemy.
According to a research study by The New American Foundation, since 9/11, white, right wing, Americans have killed almost twice as many of their fellow citizens in homegrown attacks than the so called radical Islamists. The FBI has also affirmed that white extremists are more of a threat on our soil than any other known group or organization. Why don't we ever hear a news story about that? Why haven't any of our politicians or candidates ever mentioned Billy Joe Jim Bob and the boys or even just plain Carl being the ones we should be worried about? You never hear about them until after they walk into a crowded area with their weapon of choice and start taking pot shots at anything that moves. Why? You would think that our leaders and the media would want to keep us informed of any potential threat, wouldn't you? So why do they remain silent when it comes to these people while incessantly flapping their tongues over a foreign based menace? Maybe it's because they don't want to admit the fact that our own people are at the top of the leaderboard in domestic killing. It's much easier to put our minds at rest by telling us to be on the look out for Muslim Mike rather than Larry next door. Another thing they fail to tell us is that, on average, 9 people are killed and over a dozen are injured every week by mass shootings where the shooters have no other ties than the good old, star spangled USA. In any event, you may just want to keep a closer eye on Bubba and his Baptist "Let god sort em' out" buddies on a Saturday night bender in the backyard, loosening up their mouths, inhibitions and trigger fingers instead of Hadji two streets over who is just waking to his mosque. I could be wrong though. It all just wears me down. Maybe I'm just tired and cranky.
Another thing that tires me, my loyal reader, is constantly enduring the myth that gun free zones are the reason so many shootings are taking place. The philosophy that if everyone was allowed to pack heat anywhere they wanted, we wouldn't have as many outbreaks of gun violence as we do. This has to be one of the most ridiculous, idiotic, asinine theories I have ever heard and I'll tell you why. The sad truth is that you could arm everyone from infants with pea shooters to geriatrics with fully automatic AK-47's and it wouldn't change a thing because the psycho that decides to arm their person to the teeth and opens fire in a school, club, mall, church or just on Main Street, Anytown USA doesn't care who they shoot. Not one bit. They have already resigned themselves to take out as many people as possible with no thought of their own or their victims safety. Any law enforcement officer, solider, security guard or rational, sane, life respecting human being.... does. I rue the day when some gun happy, gung ho citizen takes it upon themselves to decide just how many of the innocent people surrounding an assailant are acceptable losses and starts peppering away without any regard for who may get injured or killed. The recent Orlando shooting is a perfect example. Even though there were three uniformed, armed policemen serving as extra security that evening, Omar Mateen was still able to kill and injure over 100 people despite their presence. For those that believe that it was just a fluke, the same situation happened at the Glitz Ultra nightclub this past February with the same number of police present. Luckily, the body count wasn't as high that night.
Another thing seems to be difficult for a lot of people to accept is that not every one of these incidents is a terrorist act as we currently perceive them. Shooting and attacks occur every day that have absolutely no connection at all to terrorist groups but we seem to examine every one, as of late, under our Isis microscope. Why are we wasting our time and tax dollars investigating these incidents, like the one in Orlando, as foreign terrorist actions? Why do we have such a problem just calling it as we see it without all the terrorist hype? It's easy, I'll show you. An American citizen, born in New York, who had no ties to Isis or any other terrorist organization, despite his claims, who got excited when he saw two men kissing, couldn't come to terms with his own sexuality while practicing a religion that is a century behind the times, (they all are, but some more than others) reasoned that it wasn't him that had the problem, let his confusion and anger take over his judgment and decided to make the people at the nightclub pay for turning him gay, then played the terrorist card to hide his shame. See?... simple. No matter what type of spin they put on it, no matter what conspiracy that they try to make out of it, that's all it was and all it ever will be. I will admit that what's left of Isis did praise his actions, but despite popular belief, brought on by insinuation, the group was not behind the attack. They may take a certain amount of credit, after the fact, if it serves their purpose, but their actual involvement in the planning and execution of the act is non-existent no matter how much some try to tell us otherwise. It's just another red herring we chase justified, yet again, by fear.
The mistake we make, besides giving into our dread, as misinformed as it may be, is that we try to identify our fear, try to label it, give it a persona that can become a repository for it. In doing so we attempt to dispose of it by telling ourselves that if we could just get rid of these people or that religion or this group we would be safe. The illusion that our leaders, or those that wish to be, sell is only partially within the realm of reality. Yes, we should be aware that certain factions are a threat and we should not dismiss that we may fall victim to one or the other, foreign or domestic, but we cannot live our lives dwelling on it. We also can't disregard that odds are greater that we will encounter one of our own citizens threatening us with violence rather than who most of us believe it will be due to media and political brainwashing. Most of all, we have to accept the fact that there is a better chance one will be subjected to a car accident than from the bullets or the bombs of the aforementioned. That's the problem with terrorism. It makes us do a lot of things we normally wouldn't do. It makes us suspect of others with no logical reason. We let it interfere with the decisions we make, the plans we schedule and the places we go. The worst we do by far in allowing our fear to over take our better judgment is surrendering our rights to a government that uses it against us. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, I'm trying to sell some plastic and duct tape that's been lying around.
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