Letâs not fool ourselves. Fear is winning.
The Los Angeles Unified School District received a threat against its schools. Today it proceeded to shut them all down out of an “abundance of caution”, that term with which weâve become so familiar. Seven hundred thousand students have been locked out of their schools based on a threat which New York City public schools also received, but which the NYPD determined to be a hoax. Hundreds of thousands of students disrupted from their routine has a ripple effect, forcing parents to stay home, affecting the economy.
Iâm old enough to remember when Osama bin Laden said that his strategy was to bankrupt America by making it do stupid things. Although he sleeps with the fishes, his successors seem to be sticking to that strategy.
It doesnât help that fear isnât being stoked solely by jihadists. Our politicians on the Right are quite content to go along with stoking that fear, seeing it as a sure road to victory in 2016. So what if the country becomes a shell of what it was? So what if hate crimes spike as a terrified populace searches for scapegoats? None of that matters. All that matters is that they terrify the electorate into voting for a party which thrives on nothing but fear, as it has no other program on which to run.
Of course, fear as a motivator in American politics is nothing new. The Red Scares of the 1920s and 1950s, and the internment of Japanese-Americans are evidence of this. But in the Age of Obama, one could have been forgiven for thinking such fear-mongering was done with.
However, Barack Obamaâs election kicked the fear up to 11. A vast minority of Americans saw “their country” being destroyed. Every action taken by Pres. Obama seemed to confirm their fears. And the fact that he was “exotic” just fueled their paranoia.
ISIL doesnât have to carry out mass casualty attacks on US soil. It can just phone in a threat and someone will take it seriously, paralyzing a city, a state, a nation. Eight years of the Bush administration telling Americans to be afraid have shattered this nationâs psyche. Eight years of Pres. Obama trying to assuage fears are too little. Fear sticks in your gut. Once itâs there, itâs almost impossible to get out for some people.
The Democratic candidates are, along with Pres. Obama, doing what they can to fight the fear. But, of course, theyâre not aided by a feckless media whose ratings depend on a fearful public tuning in to get their next hit of fright. The media is part of the Department of Fear.
Next yearâs election will determine whether we remain a republic, or descend into a war of all against all. In the main, I am hopeful. But, today, the Department of Fear is winning.
Opening the hatch now, Dudette :)
Iâm watching! đ
Thanks a million for your post LL, I sighed heavily when I saw the reaction to the ‘threatâ - I know they have to be careful, but Jesus, if there is going to be this level of over-reaction every frigginâ time, fear will truly have won.
Thanks again Mister.
Indeed!
WTG, Dudette! We need to hold on to HOPE and help our circle of friends do likewise. Fear is paralyzing. Yes, too many in our corporate media pour gasoline on the fires of fear for profit.
Growing up in the 50s and early 60s, I idolized FDR so much. I especially loved his 1933 fearless innogural speech when he told the country that “the only thing we had to fear is fear itself.”
The first victim
Oh how awful!
LOL! đ
:D :D :D
Break over …. back to work … hope the hatch opens soon … wonder how many 1000s of people are watching!!!
http://m.nbc.com/running-wild-with-bear-grylls
Apparently the president was allowed to rope down Denali glacier? Pretty sure secret service loved that?? Lol
Just heard them say “need to wait a little bit”
“the station crew is waiting impatiently”
Now all the terrorists have to do is email things and America comes to a stop?
Sad!
Truly sad Jovie!
This young man is very wise.
THEY MADE THE RIGHT CALL IN CALIFORNIA…THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYONEâS CHILDREN AND NEW YORK HAS ALOT OF NERVE..GUESS THEY FORGOT TO LOOK UP WHEN THE PLANES HIT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER…FOOLS!
THEY WILL EMAIL THINGS TO CALCULATE YOUR RESPONSE CAPABIILITIES………………..THEY HAVE BEEN DOING SO FOR SOME TIME…ENJOY THE RIDE!.
Yeah, like terrorists are going to announce themselves like that. How silly.
THEY WILL USE THESE OPPORTUNITIES TO TEST PUBLIC REACTION… THEY ARE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK…………………
Well said! FDR must be turning in his grave! The GOP and the Corporate media are pushing “FEAR” 24-7! While FDR reminded us that the “only thing we have to fear is fear is fear itself,” currently the GOP, aided and abetted by corporate media, is urging all of us to be “AFRAID” all the time about non-whites, non-Christians, who are, allegedly, destroying the country! Never mind the reality that during the 7 years the Obama presidency: the unployment rate is down drastically; Federal deficit has gone down by more than 50%; and more than 13 million Americans now have health care insurance than was the case before President Obama was elected.
Finally! Greetings and hugs!
Um….what hatch?
Da doh on da space station, man! Where ya been?
Now, as a librarian, if we were to receive a bomb threat, we would have to take it seriously and close the building. Likewise, if the entire system received a bomb threat, Iâm pretty sure all of our libraries would be closed until the threat was determined. I understand why LAUSD acted the way it did. I really donât have any easy answers. Do you ignore threats, or do you panic every time?
honestly LL,
I think they probably get threats all the time. But, there was something different about this one.
IF YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SOMEONE ELSEâS CHILDREN…YOU HAD BETTER DAMN WELL NOT IGNORE THE THREAT!
I remember vividly way back in my college years In Portland at PSU just a little while after we had a new athletic building open for PE classes having to go outside in Winter wrapped in a towel. We had a bomb threat and even though I was in the shower after a class we all were required to go out of the building while they checked it out. Standing outside wrapped only in a towel freezing in Winter was so embarrassing, but better safe than sorry. Bomb threats are not new. There used to be ones during high school too. I think it was mainly students trying to get out of tests in those days and there were no cell phones in then.
Yesterday my son and I sat in front of the computer and got his Christmas gifts, all day at work I was kinda excited at the prospects of looking at video games and remote controls helicopters and hover boards. Yesterday when the time came I asked my son what did he want, my son picked out âplants vs zombiesâ stuffed animals and âfive nights at Freddyâsâ tee-shirts. When I was his age it was all about bikes, and racing car sets, and rockâem-sockâem robots. When he was younger I tried to bribe him with toys that I thought that he would enjoy, weâd go to the hobby shop and I buy these remote control cars and airplanes, but my son wouldnât touch it. Heâd walk over to the stuffed animal isle and pick out stuffed animals, he was in heaven. It took me a while to understand that what he wanted was different than what I wanted. And Iâm happy he picked out what he wanted.
I was heavy into sword and sorcery games as a kid. Give me a new D&D adventure and I was set.
Youâre a good poppa!
One of my favorite movies with Will Smith. The new one Concussion looks good too……
THE CORRUPT NFL IS GOING TO FIGHT THE MOVIE CONCUSSION TOOTH AND NAIL AND PARENTS HAD BETTER THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE EXPOSING THEIR CHILDREN TOO INSTEAD OF SELF GRATIFICATION BECAUSE THEIR KID MADE A TOUCHDOWN!
Excellent, Don.
When my son was younger, I would buy toys that, like you, I thought he would like. He would have more fun taking a piece of foil paper and a straw and making his own toys. I eventually learned that I was projecting onto him the things that *I* liked and soon learned to pay more attention to what he really wanted.
Memories Don - when I was a child I wanted a train set - never got one because I was a girl - so I bought my daughter a train set - all she wanted was Barbie dolls. Her cousin took the train set. My granddaughter wants a bike - a blue one - labelled “boys bike”.
Love your post :)
Well thatâs something. Wondering out loud: How will they get there?
That area of LA is transit rich. Easy to get there by bus.
Ah good! Wonât do much for greater Atlanta unless you live right in middle of town or blocks from one of the few MARTA stations. Our transit system sux! But we all know why.
Progress…..
With the current US House - the term intelligence committee is a massive contradiction of something.
good piece
During World War II when London and other cities were being bombed - actual bombs - regularly - the people went about their business as usual. They understood that if they were paralyzed by fear, they would have no chance of winning. Thatâs not to say that they were not afraid, but they didnât let fear get the best of them. They put up blackout curtains, taped the windows, put up with rationing, took down street signs, kept an eye out for spies, and ran to the air raid shelters when the sirens went. (I know many other countries suffered through bombings during the war. I speak about England because my mother was in the Observer Corp and was in London during the Blitz.) They showed their mettle for six years. What do we have to put against that to justify our irrationality now? We are so afraid of what MIGHT happen, Youâd think we would empathize with people two whom terror is a daily occurence, whose homes have been bombed away, and who flee from a situation where they lived with the constant, clear, and present danger of death. But no, we turn our faces away from them.
I know the LAUSD Superintendent and I believe that he would not have a knee-jerk reaction to a threat. So, if he felt that it was credible enough for the whole school system to be off-limits to students and staff, then thatâs good enough for me. Now, because of this threat, I believe he, the Administration, the Mayor and other Officials will work out a system.
There was something in the way he spoke this morning that said he knew more than what he was revealing.
GGail, I completely understand the lockdown decision. Yesterday, the high school, middle school, and one elementary were in lockdown all day because someone had phoned in threats to shoot up the business district just a half mile away from the schools. When the police lifted the lockdown after they had a suspect in custody (around 2:00) the district decided to keep those schools in lockdown for the last hour in case they did not have the right person. Those children were inside their classrooms all day - from 7:25 in the morning! Itâs better safe than sorry with school districts. My comment was in reaction to LLâs essay and the irrational fear and the Department of Fear.
Thanks maryl1, I glad you understand
Thanks GGail, that is good to know.
My niece is in high school at one of the LAUSD schools and I would rather them be safe than sorry. I would never ever never 2nd guess anyone as long as they were putting the safety of the students and staff ahead of any criticism. I think of the businesses, the police, and people in general who went back to work or told people to go back to work after the first plane hit the WTC. I would have gotten my stuff and hot tailed it out of there even if it meant losing my job.
FDR was absolutely right: “The only thing we have to fear is FEAR itself.” As far as I am concerned, the fear that all the schools in LA School District were under the threat of terrorist attacks defies elementary common sense.
First British astronaut aboard the Space Station
LL,I agree that some Americans are making fools of themselves right now with their irrational fear of bogeymen behind every corner. But I would say that Americans have always been foolish, just as they have always had a tendency toward violence. I grew up in the post Hiroshima and Nagasaki years when the fear of the atom bomb was so palpable it would keep you up at night. I remember ‘educational filmsâ that actually showed what a nuclear bomb would do to an ordinary family and for years I worried that one would come in the night and annihilate everyone I loved. Fear was everywhere as we learned the drills for getting under our desks or lining up in the halls to protect our heads from ‘the bomb.â And years later, on New Years Eve,1970, I remember someone saying that this was the decade that the bomb would finally destroy all of us and I actually believed it.
Right now, extremist presidential candidates on the right are priming the fear pump for all theyâre worth, with the media acting as their willing dupes, but the time is going to come soon when other voices are going to be heard. I believe that because we are the other voices and we outnumber the paranoid and we are going to be very powerful in the coming months as we gather in numbers for a presidential election that we MUST win. We canât be mealymouthed about this next election. We have to give it our whole hearts, just as President Obama, FLOTUS and VP Biden will do. PBO believes in the good and decent people in this country and so do I.
Thank you for this. We need to hear it. The enduring accomplishments of our President depend on it.
I add to my expression of gratitude to JackieG for her comment and agree with you, fully, Bill.
#Hope4ALL …. through it all, as President Obama knows, it is always those who never stop hoping that humanityâs sustainability depends. At TOD, weâre “ALL IN”!!!
“We have to give it our whole hearts, just as President Obama, FLOTUS and VP Biden will do. PBO believes in the good and decent people in this country and so do I.”
Jackie - excellent comment. As you said, the fear is being ginned up by the GOP and their friends in the media to sky-high levels because there is an election around the corner - and the GOPâs only way to win is to stoke fear that borders on racial or xenophobic paranoia. They did the same thing last year for the midterms - it wasnât terrorist bombs, but it was EBOLA - something which we heard very little about once the 2014 elections were over.
“but the time is going to come soon when other voices are going to be heard. I believe that because we are the other voices and we outnumber the paranoid and we are going to be very powerful in the coming months as we gather in numbers for a presidential election that we MUST win. We canât be mealymouthed about this next election. We have to give it our whole hearts, just as President Obama, FLOTUS and VP Biden will do. PBO believes in the good and decent people in this country and so do I.”
jackieg, A deeply felt thank you….your words above, gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes and it reminded me of this:
One Voice Can Change A Room…… Letâs Go Change the World
AMENNNNNNNNNNNNNN
It makes me laugh, jg, to think of hiding under a desk, or sitting in the school basement with a book over our heads as ‘protectionâ from a nuclear attack.
LL, you have done it again. Excellent Piece, LL. Bravo! >-I
Fear is Crippling, Stagnant and it Renders Thoughts.
One becomes incapacitated and it retards logical reasoning.
Congrats Dudette, Another Au :star: :?: Yes! :cool:
Good evening, TOD! Busy day — med treatment, grocery shopping, then a cookie photo shoot at my Momâs apartment… Me and my bright ideas… My Mom gives cookies as gifts to about 200 folks; this is the last year that sheâs doing it due to the cost and the physical strain. I suggested that she do a cookie recipe booklet to give with the cookies. My Mom doesnât know who to work a computer AND sheâs on a fixed income. Guess whoâs doing the books… One of these days Iâll learn to keep my mouth shut! LOL
One of these days Iâll learn to keep my mouth shut! LOL
Probably not :) - but what a great idea.
I know… need to relearn to engage my brain BEFORE opening my mouth…
From Daily Kos
The self Professed can do nation has become this Follow Your Leader Dittoheads. It is ugly!
I share that thought!
I donât why people keep thinking itâs important to choose whatâs worse or who created this mess: Trump or his followers; Trump and the MSM. They are ALL disgusting horrible people! We donât have to choose!
Sharing this story from todayâs WaPo. My personal connection, Iâm acquainted with Rosalyn Stanley; her husband was one of my mentors, was the reviewing officer at my Change of Command, and retired me from the Marine Corps. Whenever I felt I couldnât make it, I thought of them and kept pushing forward…
Alycee, you never cease to amaze me. What a life youâve lived!
Meta, I have. I sometimes pinch myself because Iâve had opportunities that most folks only dream about. If the book Forrest Gump hadnât been written, I could write it about me… I am gathering pictures and stories for my family history. When Dr. Seussâ book “The Place You Will Go” was written, I felt that he should have paid my family royalties as that was their message to me from the day I was born.
You should definitely write a book! One way to start is just to record your stories, one by one.
What meta said
Thank you, Nena for the WaPo tweet!
Simply …
We know the weapons industry suckers will show up on 8 Nov 2016, open question is how many of us will show up …
Thanks LL good post - and as well as fear currently winning - so is expenditure on “security” (my world is reducing welfare but increasing security) and Trump. I keep telling myself it has to get better & the majority of Americans surely will not elect Trump - but the fear of this is worse than any fear about terrorists.
And I do thank whatever power made it so that Barack Obama is the President of your United States.
DONâT FORGET THEIR BEER AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES!…MAKE SURE YOU ADD A DEER CARCAS AND BLOWFLIES…OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE REDNECK BURGER!
A librarianâs life.
An antidote to the Department of Fear? “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” — I bought this book along time ago but the link is a nice distilled primer of it.
“We have both fear and courage within ourselves. Hereâs what Iâve learned: you cannot purge either one. However, you can weaken the emotion of fear by starving it. Whichever impulse we feed dominates. When we feel fear, but act anyway, we deprive fear of nourishment and strengthen the impulse of courage inside us.”
http://www.johnmaxwell.com/cms/images/uploads/ads/Feel_the_Fear_and_Do_It_Anyway.pdf
A personal note: Today I had the nuclear heart stress test and ultrasound. I am fine. The reason I had it is because, three weeks ago I went to the ER with chest pains, not knowing what was going on. No heart problem, an anxiety attack. With what Iâve been through in the last year, that was, I suppose, to be expected eventually. I got good care, and a funny doctor. He said, Now, I donât want to sound mean, but you have had 75 birthdays, and you need a cardiologist. You do need to be checked out. I knew he was right; I have a history of heart trouble in my family. So, the hospital got me an appointment with a cardiologist. I had my first appointment, and really liked him and his entire staff. Warm, friendly, approachable…..he then decided I should have a baseline stress test. So, this morning I arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. for the test. I do not get up at 5:00 very easily, but did so. The hardest part was that I could have NO caffeine for 24 hours before this morning.
The results are very good. I am thankful I did this, because I know I have to take care of myself, especially for my son and his children, and also, I do enjoy living and there are still things I want to do, places I want to go…..Very glad itâs over, very glad I did it. I was even more impressed with the doctorâs office today. Feel very fortunate.
Glad youâre gonna be with us a lot longer, dear!
Very, very good news, Carolyn!!!!
BLESS YOU CAROLYN……………THANK YOU LORD FOR THIS WONDERFUL AND ENCOURAGING TEST RESULT!
Happy for you, Carolyn.
Wonderful news, carolyn. Glad youâre okay! How many cups of coffee have you had tonight, to celebrate? (I know I would have a bunch, after that!) :)
OUTSTANDING news, Carolyn!
“I do enjoy living and there are still things I want to do, places I want to goâŚ..” Thatâs the spirit Sister, keep it moving!!!!
Good news (((((Carolyn))))! So happy for you, best wishes & Happy Holidays :)
Great News… :D
Iâm able to visit so sporadically that I may just have missed her, but I have the impression that GoBrooklyn hasnât posted for several days (or more). Sure hope she is ok.
Think I saw her a few days ago Bob - but may have been longer - Iâm not much here at the minute. She is twittering - mainly retweets
https://twitter.com/gobrooklyn
Thank you, 99. I should have remembered to check her twitter account!! Yes, she seems active there, so thatâs good news.
GOING TO ADIOS…FINAL ANSWER…NEW YORK HAS ALOT OF BALLS CRITICIZING CALIFORNIA AFTER 9/11 HAPPENED TO THOSE PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN BACKYARD. I HAVE GRANDCHILDREN IN THE LOS ANGELES SYSTEM…FUCK NEW YORK!
It looks like SOS Kerry and Putin might have a deal on Syria.
If I may make a guess, it would be that Russia keeps its military installations on the Syrian coast at Latakia and Tartus, Assad stays in power (Not what USA wants, but maybe necessary) and Assad gives up large areas of Syrian territory—maybe to the Kurds? or other Syrian forces.
These are my guesses, not facts. Time will tell.
PBO and SOS Kerry are statesmen like no other. Giants!
Wow…Vicki…if any of that is true….it will be utterly amazing…
We are Americans. Standing up for each other is what the values enshrined in the documents in this room compel us to do…especially when itâs hard, especially when itâs not convenient. Thatâs when it counts. Thatâs when it matters. Not when things are easy. But when things are hard…Being part of a democratic government is hard…it is a challenge. Itâs supposed to be. Thereâs no respite from our ideals. All of us are called to live up to our expectations for ourselves, not just when itâs convenient, but when itâs inconvenient…when itâs tough, when weâre afraid.
This guyâs sentiments echo a lot of what weâve been saying here on TOD and striving for.
Please retweet and fav youâre on Twitter and have a chance. :)
Thank you hf2 :)
Chat away
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/12/15/chat-away-714/