Scared senseless

(Read time: 2 minutes)

Since 9/11, there has been a false premise in this country that all Americans live in constant fear.

We have been bombarded by terror alerts, color-coded security levels and continous reminders of our vulnerability.

Americans are, in short, in danger of becoming brainwashed.

Let’s examine what crime writer Ann Rule (“The Stranger Beside Me,” “Small Sacrifices”) says are the four basic elements necessary for brainwashing to occur:

1) “A severe traumatic shock.” September 11, 2001.
2) “Isolation. Being taken away from persons or surroundings where a person feels secure.” On that fateful day, our whole world changed.
3) “Programming. Hearing what the mind controller wants the subject to believe - over and over and over and over.” Constant fear has been a central theme of the major speeches of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
4) “The promise of reward, often the subject's very life.” Since 9/11 the Bush administration has portrayed itself as the protector of your life. This theme, along with the theme of constant fear, permeates every press conference or major speech.

“Drinking the Kool-Aid” and “through the looking-glass” have become common phrases among those trying to cope with persons who put aside morals to push the madness of their ideology.

In my opinion, far too many Americans have been wooed by warmongering wimps and zeitmeisters of malaise.

It's time to stop listening to persons who want Americans to hate each other.

We have a choice: a future of fear or a future of hope. It's time to get on with the United States of America.