“This whole thing has already happened.” I said. “We have a man in the White House who was told that United States was in imminent danger from an attack by AlQaeda, he was told, prior to September 11, 2001, that there were credible threats made by AlQaeda against the United States, and he did not listen. He did not want to be bothered. He preferred to enjoy his time away from the oval office at his Crawford Ranch where he spent the summer clearing brush. That man was not a democratic president,” I said. “He was a Republican...”
Daniel said, “I know this has already happened—but next time around it’s going to be worse.” ...”Someone,” he said, “had better start paying attention and the democrats don’t seem to believe that it can happen.” Daniel’s tone of voice seemed determined, or serious. Daniel was convinced of what he was saying.
I felt my head spinning once again. All sorts of thoughts ran through my head. I am one of those democrats who believe that George W. Bush uses fear to intimidate people into submission and to get his way.
I thought of Condoleezza Rice’s statement at Princeton University, “Democratic principles must also be backed with power in all its forms: Political and economic, cultural and moral, and yes, sometimes militarily.” And, I thought of George W. Bush’s statement at the National Endowment for Democracy, “... our new enemy teaches that innocent individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision.” And, I thought of how their lies have sacrificed the lives of many innocent people. I am angry that neither one of them ever admits to, or recognizes the many lives, American and Iraqi, which they sacrifice in pursuit of their domination of Iraq and Iraqi oil.
I thought of how, fear and propaganda, are used by totalitarian states to suppress freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent. I thought of how in repressive and jackbooted states, works of fiction, musical compositions, and other creative projects become propaganda machines intent on spreading, maintaining, and securing the party’s dominant ideology.
This book on Daniel’s hospital table sounded so much like that! A culture of fear book! At least where Daniel is concerned, the book seemed to serve as a propaganda machine for Bush and his administration.
I said, “You know Daniel; fear planting among the people is really helping no one. Seeding fear serves no good purpose. Fear paralyzes people. It stops them from thinking. People are already scared enough as it is... they do not need to be scared anymore than what they are.”
Daniel said, “Yes, I know.” And then he repeated, “But someone had better have fear put in them and they had better start paying attention or we are all going to be wiped out.”
“How do you think the books ends?” I asked Daniel.
“They remove the democratic president from the presidency for dereliction of his duty; the generals [disgruntled Republicans?] are able to come up with a plan to stop the nuclear explosion of the Canary Island volcano, and...” Daniel said...
I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t hear the rest of what he was saying.
“We already have someone who needs to be removed for dereliction of his duties—not someone who lives in a work of fiction or of science fiction, like the, carved out of real life-change the name of the party, president in the book, but someone in real life, and he is not a democratic president. He is a Republican, and he didn’t listen. He wasn’t interested and we got 9/11...” I interrupted him.
“Yes, but, it wasn’t just the president who didn’t listen. There are a whole bunch of people who did not give him the message, going, even, all the way back to other administrations ...” Daniel said.
“Oh! Okay! Go ahead. Excuse him! Make everyone else, anyone else, responsible for 9/11 but him, even when he had already been in office almost a whole year when ...” I thought and wondered what the name of the book on Daniel’s table was and who the author was, but I didn’t ask.
As we were leaving the hospital, my mood somewhat dampened by the exchange which had taken place, I told Daniel, “Maybe I’ll get you some good books to read, like Perry Mason or Ellery Queen, or something like that...” to which my husband, with his ever sense of good humor, added, “Maybe something more like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck books...those might even be better.”
Teresa Simon-Noble is a computer activist for peace. She is a former mental health clinician. A poet and a freelance writer. Her work has been published in several online publications.
As an engineer I am trying on my spare time to come up with some technical solution to the issue of the Canary Island volcano collapse with the subsequent tsunami. I. of course do not consider Hamas, Shamas, Shabat, Al- Mumia and any other mystical organizations. Neither do I consider this to be a matter of politics. It is a matter of global research. But... I so far had just spent money. This author of the book had.. got money.
Smart man. I guess, the Devil does give work to idle hands. And minds like Daniel's. Supply and demand.
by
Mark Sashine (54 articles, 19 quicklinks, 252 diaries, 3603 comments)
on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 8:26:23 AM
1 comments
How would you rate this?
You must be logged in (if signed up) to do ratings.
It's free to signup! And easy. And takes just a minute or two....
Must Read (
Well Said (
News (
Touching (
Funny (
Supported (
Interesting (
Inspiring (
Valuable (
