Monday, March 27, 2006

The Culture of Fear

Ever since 9/11 happened, the BushCo administration has done just about everything in its power to make the American public afraid. Afraid of the bogeyman of terrorism, afraid of illegal immigrants, open borders, whatever.

The most recent reports from the GAO will no doubt be spun further into the topic of the porous borders into the US (instead of pointing out how utterly laughable the various "security" initiatives actually are).

Goons like Tancredo will use this as an excuse to fence the US in on itself along all its frontiers. Meanwhile Bush will yap on still more about tightening up the Mexican border. (an effort that has gone on for decades - and has yet to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico)

Along with the recent posturing towards Iran, and the fear campaign about "porous borders", this little revelation will no doubt be spun as fast as possible into massive conspiracies being seen all around the US.

Why do this? Political power - no more, no less. The Republicans are coming up on mid-term elections, and desperately don't want to lose control over the legislative houses. They've discovered that if you can scare people badly enough, even someone as utterly incompetent and mean-spirited as BushCo has proven to be can be sold to the public. So, scare them they will.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't it ironic that any American who wants to see a society of law and order is labled by those who are either participating in illegal behavior or have a vested interest in those who do.

Calling Tom Trancredo a "goon" is just a lame attempt to further the cause of a class of people who are demanding "rights" they've never earned.

The Mexican flag waving and the demand for full rights for illegal aliens should be a wake up call for people like you who would rather see this country become a second Mexico than stand up and demand consequences for those who are breaking the immigration laws.

MgS said...

Clearly you missed my point. Tancredo is spouting (and has been for quite some time) all sorts of fiction about immigration. It's 95% BS, mostly formulated to play on people's fears rather than coming up with actual solutions.

With several million "illegal aliens" in the US, the problem is much more serious than merely "rounding up the criminals". These people are, whether or not you like it, part of the population of the United States - part of its fabric and economy.

At 12 million (I think that's the last estimate I've seen), there's enough people involved that mere criminalization is simply asking for violence to break out.

Tancredo is fear monger. No more, no less. He wants to scare people into militarizing every square inch of the United States - at the cost of civil liberties, mobility, trade and goodness knows what else. (according to him, Canada is a hotbed of terrorist cells just waiting to attack - of course, he can't prove that - it's just an assertion)

My point remains, the propaganda machine in the White House and the GOP continue to spin things as something to be "afraid of".

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