Americans just won't stay scared.

[NOTE: In writing this post, I am not suggesting that one political party is superior to another, or that one political ideology is superior to another. This is not an issue of Republican vs Democrat or liberal vs. conservative. The post would be exactly the same if the parties involved were members of the other political party. I have no political agenda in writing this post in terms of Democratic or Republican positions. I do not associate the belief in the rights established in the US Constitution with one party or another, nor do I believe that efforts to take away those rights are associated with one party or another. If you are reading this post in the Politics Forum instead of "Political Conspiracies", then someone disagrees with the sentences I have written above.]

Americans just won't stay scared - vuoto

Fear has always been the friend of people in power. Going back to the Roman Empire, it was fear of the hordes of savage tribes that made communities as far-flung as England and Eastern Europe willing to turn themselves over to the rule of the Emperor. I’m sure that fear of strong and hungry outsiders made fealty to the early kings attractive to the smaller, less powerful tribes in Asia, Africa and throughout the Western Hemisphere. Fear of the savage Indians made small towns in the Western United States beg the Army to send troops and build forts, and made them willing to provide a portion of their property and wealth available to feed and run those armies.

In the 20th Century, the use of fear by those in power was raised to a high art form. During the “Cold War” we were told that the horrible Communists wanted to kill us in our beds and brainwash our children. Political careers were made by men who convinced large portions of the population that Communists were infiltrating every level of our government, and that thousands of nuclear missiles were pointed in our direction, and at any minute the insane leaders of the Soviet Union were going to send those missiles flying.

Once convincing us that we had much to fear, the people in power always offered the same bargain: Safety for Power. They’ll keep us safe, if we give them power. In the case of the Cold War it worked for a good long time, too. After WWII, the US had the greatest accumulation of military might and governmental power in its history. A national security and intelligence apparatus bigger than had ever been seen in the world was made, enough nuclear bombs to destroy the entire world scores of times were bought from companies that specialized in providing governments (and not just the US) with the material of a war that… never came. Our entire foreign policy was driven by fear, in fact. It was a policy known as “Mutually Assured Destruction” (MAD), which posited that if we could just keep everyone scared enough, then we’d never have to use the weapons that were…keeping everyone scared. And we weren’t just scared of the other guys. Knowing that our own country was prepared to annihilate the world if it was attacked, and that our arsenal was greater than theirs, made us as afraid of our own government as we were of the enemy. It was a time when the level of pure, unadulterated power that was given to the governments of both sides was raised to a level unknown even to the great Emperors of history. It was the power of fear.

But sometime after Viet Nam and Watergate, and a little part of the veil of secrecy that covered the workings of this vast engine of fear was lifted, people became a little less afraid. Here in America, we learned that Karl Marx wasn’t quite the Antichrist, but rather an economist who was trying to figure out how to take care of a large number of people, providing them with food and shelter, jobs and education, and how to give those people a minimum expectation of a good life for their children. He may have been wrong about how to go about it, but after enough veterans of WWII, Korea and Viet Nam went to college on the GI Bill, and actually read Das Kapital, we realized he wasn’t actually Satan Himself.

Then, the worst thing possible for the purveyors of fear happened: One of the players in the great Cold War Game had to forfeit, because they simply didn’t have enough money to keep playing. The great and Evil Empire of the Soviet Union collapsed, and that great boogyman of the 20th century, “World Communism”, ceased to be more than a handful of Central American idealists, intellectuals with berets and a lot of time on their hands, and insane children of East Asian dictators.

From the time that the Cold War ended right up until September 11, 2001, the United States enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity unlike any other in our history. More Americans improved their standard of living, bought houses, invested money, educated their children than any period before or since. Even the unimaginably huge deficits of the Reagan Administration turned into (gasp!) budget SURPLUSES. The government actually took in more money than they spent. Unemployment was lower than ever. The stock market was growing steadily and people had jobs. There were more ways to communicate and to be entertained than ever before. A majority of the American people said that they were happy and had an expectation of a good future. Fewer people than ever were afraid.

And the people in power decided this could not go on.

It’s not like there weren’t efforts to create fear during this period. We had an AIDS “epidemic” and the people whose job it is to tell us that we’re going to suffer in Hell if we have a good time or listen to Howard Stern were busily trying to remind us that there was something to fear. But generally, people were doing pretty well. The few men who have most of the wealth and power in the world saw the possibility that a great number of the people who are at the bottom of the great pyramid of prosperity could actually move closer to the top, threatening a centuries-long balance of the haves and the have-nots. I mean after all, if everyone’s financially comfortable, who’s going to clean our toilets? How will the credit card companies make money if people have cash in their pockets. Most importantly, if people aren’t afraid, how will the companies who specialize in the weaponry, the tools of fear, make a living?

ENTER 9/11

For fear to really work well, there has to be an unknown enemy. If we see that the boogyman is really just a guy, then it’s not nearly as scary. And we learned from the Cold War that having a country for an enemy means that we may actually win the war and then we’re back to square one, fear-wise. No, we need an enemy who will last forever, it has to be a faceless enemy, someone who is invisible and pervasive, someone preferably with facial hair. Thus, the terrorist.

There have always been people who will not play by the rules. When the British redcoats were marching in a line and announcing their presence with drums and bugles and getting shot right down, the rag-tag American Army, who mostly didn’t wear uniforms (at first) and who sat in trees and behind bushes and picked off the red coats like shooting fish in a barrel were considered by the military minds of Europe, to be inhuman, ungentlemanly terrorists. When the American Army infected blankets with small pox and gave them to the Indians, what was that but a terrorist act using biological weapons of mass destruction? This stuff was nothing new.

But take those terrorists and give them an accent, a funny headdress and, of course, facial hair, and you’ve got…Al Quada. The most perfect enemy that could ever be invented to produce fear.

The problem is, as I said at the very beginning, Americans don’t stay scared for long. More people die in the US from complications of toenail fungus than have been killed by terrorists. Seriously, all of you ATS folk out there (the ones who aren’t paranoid psychopaths), are you really afraid of being killed by a terrorist? If you live in a major metropolitan area, are you more afraid of being killed by a terrorist or by a drug addict in a mugging? Despite all the constantly replayed images of the World Trade Center coming down, half a decade later, it’s finally dawning on people that terrorism isn’t the biggest thing we have to be afraid of. In fact, it’s dawning on the American people that the War in Iraq, which we are told is a front in the War on Terror, which conservative estimates put at costing us over a TRILLION dollars, is pretty damn stupid. Americans have figured out that the Babe Ruth of Fear, the very President of Fear, really isn’t all that bright of a guy and hasn’t done such a great job after all. That’s why we’re seeing approval ratings of the current administration stuck at about 1/3 of the population, less than half of the ratings of the President of Oral Sex who even at the worst of his terrible behavior, was approved of by 2/3 of the population.

Worst of all, when the President of Fear, who had become used to a population shaking in their boots giving him every single thing he wanted realized people were…Asking Some Questions, he decided he needed to be able to listen in on phone calls without any one else knowing about it. Questions could not be tolerated. ENTER, NUKES IN IRAN.

The helpful members of the Whacked Out AM Radio Talk Show Host community, in the last 2 weeks, have pushed Iraq, Domestic Terror, Bird Flu, and Hurricanes off the table and, being willing to carry water for the President of Fear, are now telling us that IRAN is the GREAT and HORRIBLE SATAN that will BLOW US ALL UP and KILL US IN OUR BEDS.

A show of hands, please. Do any of you think that Iran could have developed nuclear weapons if the United States really didn’t want them to?

Which is why at last, I come to my point: Iran will either actually get those nukes, or will come right to the edge of getting those nukes, because the people in power need them. They need an enemy. They need us to be afraid. It didn’t work too well in Iraq because it got out that Saddam didn’t really have the ability to KILL US ALL IN OUR SLEEP (and boy, they sure got the guy who let that secret out, by ruining his wife’s career). So a new enemy is needed, and it has to be someone with a little staying power.

But the fact remains: Americans just won’t stay scared.


[edit on 1/27/2006 by vuoto]

[edit on 1/27/2006 by vuoto]

[edit on 1/27/2006 by vuoto]

So, you are suggesting that the Iranian leader, a man who hates us and also hates the other target of nuclear weapons, who is also not in line with the NWO organizations Bush is in line with, is going along with Bush?

You know, the aggravating thing for being a conspiracy theorist is trying to separate what "they" are doing and what is actually happening on its own direction and momentum.

While this is not occuring because of "them" in my opinion, there is no doubt that "they" will most certainly profit from the turmoil and chaos.

Of course I don't believe that Iranian leaders are in league with our government. I'm surprised, Thomas, that you would take that from what I've written.

Instead, I think that certain other countries, or foreign organizations are being used by those in power to create an environment of fear.

North Korea, Iran, the whole "Axis of Evil" is exactly what the Administration wants right now. The fear created after 9/11 was a boon to their ability to seize power and enrich themselves and their friends, but the fear factor created after 9/11 is wearing off in this country. In fact, the level of fear and hysteria created after 9/11 is all out of proportion to the event and the reaction of American institutions who took advantage of the attack to consolidate power was suspiciously well-integrated.

We need a bad guy. Saddam is just a kooky guy in a jail cell now, and Osama just won't make enough personal appearances to be an effective foil. Americans are starting to question the restrictions being placed on our freedoms and privacy and are asking some sticky questions about the Administration's methods. So the Iranians and their wild president make a perfect villain to use to resurrect the nuclear boogeyman that worked so well in the 50's and 60's. They don't have to be complicit to be useful.

Finally, the Administration (and if they're to be believed, all the world's intelligence agencies) were so thoroughly wrong about Iraq's nuclear program, exactly WHY should we believe what they say today? What moral authority to they have left to say what should and shouldn't be done after their miserable showing so far?

And please don't tell me we should trust them because there haven't been any attacks in the US since 9/11. Since there haven't been any earthquakes in Philadelphia or typhoons in Lake Michigan, does that mean President Bush deserves credit for his anti-natural disaster program?

I am afraid that ultimately, Israel will be destroyed and the "superpower" will let it happen because then they'll have no argument in creating the Totalitarian state that they so badly crave.

Originally posted by vuoto
The fear created after 9/11 was a boon to their ability to seize power and enrich themselves and their friends, but the fear factor created after 9/11 is wearing off in this country. In fact, the level of fear and hysteria created after 9/11 is all out of proportion to the event and the reaction of American institutions who took advantage of the attack to consolidate power was suspiciously well-integrated.

Maybe it's time for a new catalyst then?

I mean, all these 'experts' keep suggesting that there will be more terrorist attacks in the U.S., even Warren Buffett said back in 2002 that there will be more terrorist attacks, even nuclear ones ... what exactly does he know about terrorism? It isn't really his field of work, as far as I know.

Then there's the debt, the U.S. government debt is at about $8.165 trillion and the current debt ceiling is $8.182 trillion, which will be acheived in February this year.

Currently, the Yuan is tied to the dollar, but China is beginning to move away from the dollar and is diversifying it's currency-basket.

The two richest men in the world, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have now moved their money away from the dollar to the euro.

In March Iran is going to begin trading oil with the euro in it's new oil bourse.

A cloud of uncertainty has been brought over the Middle East as recent developments progress.
Iran seems to be continuing with it's nuclear ambitions and is more or less backed by Russia and China.
A civil war is brewing in Iraq.
This could mean the price of oil could go through the roof.

Russia is beefing up it's strategic nuclear forces and space weapon systems, aswell as it's early warning radar system.

The Pentagon has been silently moving troops to West Africa over the last couple of years to protect more secure oil reserves.

In recent weeks, Bank of America and Compass Bank managers have been instructing their employees how to respond to customers in the event of a collapse of the U.S. economy.

Venezuela and China signed a major energy deal in 2004.

Gold prices are going through the roof, it has doubled in less than a year. Gold is the canary in the coalmine; it tells us when major investors see structural vulnerabilities in the system and begin to bail out.
This is almost a sure sign that the dollar is heading for the dumpster.



Of course nothing is for sure, but these are some indicators that show something big might go down in the not-so-distant future, like say a U.S. economy. Desperate times call for desperate measures, no?

In any case, I think 2006 will be a very intresting year

[edit on 27/1/2006 by SwearBear]

[edit on 27/1/2006 by SwearBear]

that is mostly likely what happend and although there are some grey or unexplained areas it is true and i think someone should do more research and repost!

--YOURS TRULY--

cooldude76

You have voted vuoto for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.

I agree completely, vuoto.

Look at Bush's latest comments about education and oil? He believes none of what he's saying, but I think he's saying it because he knows he's desperate for credibility. Even Repubs I know are distrusting him now, and these were people who had froth coming from their mouths when defending him a year or two ago. He's on the ropes.

Problem is, I think they'll bring force to try and make Americans behave (and feel fear). Like how an abusive parent will say to a child, "Keep crying and I'll GIVE you somthing to cry about." They will not hesitate to create a situation like Kissinger said:

"Today American's would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government." --Henry Kissinger

HK was a tool of the NWO, but I think what he's saying is that if Americans ever think they have no reason to fear the NWO, we will give them something to fear. I do believe this will happen, but you know what? I'm STILL not afraid.




[edit on 1-2-2006 by smallpeeps]