[FoRK] Another one bites the dust

[Stephen D. Williams]

Jeff Bone wrote:
> On Feb 27, 2008, at 5:33 PM, Stephen D. Williams wrote:
>> Jeff Bone wrote:
>>> On Feb 27, 2008, at 11:09 AM, J. Andrew Rogers wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm having a really hard time getting worked up over the quote.
>>>
>>> Even in context this quote is an example of some of the most 
>>> pernicious right-thinking of the last several decades, namely: 
>>> security needs justify any excess, any tyranny, etc. At the end of 
>>> the day this may well be true, but this philosophy has been 
>>> egregiously abused over the years and is to blame for the rampant 
>>> fearmongering of the right.
>> And nanny-state on the Left, no?
> Absolutely.
>
> Both sides want to "take care of you." They both want to scare the 
> shit out of you. On the balance, it appears that the right has
I think it is clearly a valid point that some on the right, neocons et 
al, have disingenuously pumped up the scare to staggering levels for 
their own purposes, political and in some sense ill-gotten commercial 
benefit.

It's hard to make that case on the left other than standard, shallow 
political campaign levels.

sdw
> done a better job w/ the scaring; witness the statistical risks 
> associated w/ terror vs. the very personal fear that they've worked so 
> hard to instill into the gullible American public; my Mom won't even 
> go to Manhattan despite the fact that she's in more danger of being 
> killed by lightning living in West Texas...
>
>> Both sides of that fear mongering and implicit promise of zero risk 
>> through sacrifice of rights and freedom make me want to throw up.
>
> Absolutely.
>
> Blaming either isn't the same as giving the other side a free pass.
>
> jb
-- 
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Stephen D. Williams 703-371-9362C 703-995-0407Fax 94043 AIM: sdw