Climate of Fear

Well, here I am...actually sitting in a building in Washington, D.C...trying to get work done, when in the back of my mind, I can't help but feel fear. The building I work in is one of several buildings in Washington, D.C. and New York City that have been supposedly targeted by Al Qaeda for terrorists attacks. At least that's what our newly minted "Department of Homeland Security" is reporting.

Honestly, they should rename the place. How about.."Department of You Are So Fucked!". I mean really! All they do is freak us out on a daily basis. I really don't want to know unless a threat is eminent, what they are planning. I mean, all it does is increase the fear levels.

I happened to go to see the new M. Night Shyamalan film The Village yesterday and I couldn't help but be struck by how much the film is an allegory for our current climate of fear. I've ready many reviews, and none of the reviewers seems to have picked up on this, instead, wasting time judging the "scare factor" of the film instead of trying to stand back and understand the greater message behind it. Shyamalan has created this amazing story that in many ways echoes and comments on what is going on in the U.S. today. His work reminds me of Miller's work in The Crucible, although instead of paranoia and injustice, the theme in this one is how a community can isolate itself to the extreme when it is overcome with a painful experience and the intense fear that experience can cause.

We have become slaves to our own fear. In the words of one of our greatest leaders, Franklin D. Roosevelt.."we have nothing to fear, but fear itself". I can't help but think, that while a lot of the caution and preparation makes sense and is understandable, a lot of it is just irrational and so stressful that it's better to try to temper it with a dose of reality.

Is this really all worth it? Or is it all a ploy to get a certain moron re-elected to public office? I can't help but think each time the terror alert is moved up a notch, that it's just this administration's way of saying: "You are all our bitches! Don't move!"

I really don't know anymore who to trust. This can't be normal, can it?