Saturday, November 21, 2015

Political Rant: Fear Mongering

I have to speak up. The fear mongering in this country is out of control. The Paris Attacks didn't even happen on our soil, and yet we are talking about slamming the door on people in need out of fear of what might happen. We are ignoring the plight of people fleeing brutality and war in an attempt to firewall ourselves off from terrorisism, when we the terrorism in this case was HOMEGROWN. Have we forgotten Waco, Texas that quickily? Or what about Sandyhook, Connecticut? This is the same stupid fearmongering that has us more worried about the ONE addict, when ther are over 100 people suffering in chronic pain PER ADDICT. The unsubstantiated boogyman under our bed frightens us more than the very REAL problem of suffering we see every day. We do nothing sensible about the real problems, and we lose our head over spooky possibilities. And it's destroying this country.

Most people get behind the wheel of a car every day, multiple times a day, never thinking that we are operating a deadly weapon. We require no background checks for these weapons, no psychological exams. We advertize their sale on TV. Nobody thinks twice about it. Yet a car can kill you just as dead as a gun. We tell people who are bullied to speak out, never thinking, "Hey... What happens when there's no grown-up around?" As someone who was bullied as a child, I'll tell you what happens: you get it twice as bad after you've informed a teacher than if you kept your mouth shut. And the bullies at school weren't nearly as bad as the bullies I had to face in my own family every summer break. School was a vacation from violence for me.

Now I'm living in a country I don't recognize. I read about this type of country in school, and the book was 1984. Big Brother is alive and well in Trapwire, in the local traffic and people cameras, and even in the fat-shaming on the TV, even though any look at the numbers will tell us there are more unhealthy skinny people than there are unhealthy fat people (thank you, Science Friday on NPR). We are punishing people for stupid reasons, all to attain some dreamlike society where no one does any wrong, ever. AND IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE.

Our politicians and police keep saying, "We need more power to keep you safe!" Can you keep me safe from my own body? Can you keep me safe from the arrogance of a respected surgeon who let me wake up on the operating table and infected me with MRSA? Because those are the things that have nearly killed me. Can you keep my uncle safe from the cholesterol drug that paralyzed him? I still see the ads for it on TV...

LIFE IS DANGEROUS! We all die of something. And we are letting our fears cripple our lives. This must stop. But as a good scholar of history I know that we will make stupid decisions like locking up Japanese-Americans just because we know who they are and ignoring all the German-Americans because they're white and European looking. We wanted to shut out German-Jews because we feared the saboteurs that might try and sneek in amongst their ranks! How many more died in the Holocaust over our fears?

There is a new holocaust going on. The Kurds have already found the mass graves full of women and children. Yet we'd rather believe the monsters are made over there than admit that they live amongst us right now. We'd rather let hundreds of millions of pain patients suffer and live in torture then deal with the minascule few who use drugs to escape from emotional pain, despite the fact that 50% grow out of their addiction with no intervention whatsoever,, according to the DEA.

Politicians talk big, saying they will keep us safe. But when have you actually seen a mass-murderer stopped before a shot was fired or a bomb exploded? NEVER. We were only able to pacify the Germans and Japanese through occupying those countries for FIFTY YEARS. It takes a generation or two to change people's warmongering ways, but we've lost the stomach for that, wanting quick solutions and fast results. We focus on the small problems like terrorism forgetting that two hurricanes (Katrina and Sandy) did more damage and cost more in economics, and human lives lost and disrupted, than their suicide bombings could ever do.

We are insane in this country. It needs to stop. Reasonable voices and facts are being drowned out by fear and hate. We ignore pain and suffering, then pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. It shames me that we speak of freedom and liberty. We are such liars. This is not the United States of America I was taught about in school. I don't know where She is. We need to return to Her, and I don't know how.

Together, we might be able to. But it's going to take courage-- courage that I don't know we have-- to start doing right again. God(s) help us.

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