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Recent
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May
16, 2003
Website
of the Day
Iraq and Our
Energy Future
May
15, 2003
Ayesha
Iman and Sindi Medar-Gould
How
Not to Help Amina Lawal: The Hidden Dangers of Letter
Writing Campaigns
Julie
Hilden
Moussaoui and the Camp X-Ray Detainees:
Can He Get a Fair Trial?
Tanya
Reinhart
Bush's Roadmap: a Ticket to Failure
Laura Carlsen
Here We Go Again: NAFTA Plus or Minus?
Kenneth
Rapoza
The New Fakers: State Dept. Undercuts
New Yorker's Goldberg
Stew Albert
A Story I Will Tell
Steve
Perry
Bush's Little
Nukes
Website
of the Day
Strip-o-Rama
May
14, 2003
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Jason
Leopold
The Pentagon and Hallburton: a Secret
November Deal for Iraq's Oil
David
Lindorff
Fighting the Patriot Act: Now It's
Alaska
John
Chuckman
Giggling into Chaos
Jack
McCarthy
Twin Towers of Journalism: Racism
and Double Standards
Wayne
Madsen
Assassinating JFK Again
M.
Junaid Alam
The Longer View
Paul
de Rooij
The New Hydra's Head:
Propagandists and the Selling of the US/Iraq War
James
Reiss
What? Me Worry?
Steve Perry
More on Saudi Arabia Bombings
Website
of the Day
A Tribute to Ted Joans
May
13, 2003
Saul
Landau
Clear Channel Fogs the Airwaves
Michael
Neumann
Has Islam Failed? Not by Western
Standards
Uri
Avnery
My Meeting with Arafat
Steve Perry
The Saudi Arabia Bombing
Jacob
Levich
Democracy Comes to Iraq: Kick Their Ass and Grab Their Gas
William
Lind
The Hippo and the Mongoose: a Question of Military Theory
The
Black Commentator
Fraud at the Times: Blaming Blacks for White Folks' Mistakes
Stew Albert
Asylum
Hammond
Guthrie
An Illogical Reign
Website
of the Day
Sy Hersh: War and Intelligence
May
12, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Bush, Bin Laden, Bechtel, and Baghdad
Dave
Lindorff
America's Dirty Bombs
Sam
Hamod and Elaine Cassel
Resisting the Bush Administration's War on Liberty
Uzi
Benziman
Sharon and Sons, Inc.
Jason
Leopold
The Decline and Fall of Thomas White
Rich Procter
George Jumps the Shark
Federico
Moscogiuri
Going to Israel? Sign or Else
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 5/12
Book
of the Day
Fooling
Marty Peretz
Website
of the Day
T-Shirts to Protest In
May
10 / 11, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
Rosenthal Faces the Music in Key
Med Marijuana Case
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Labor in the Dawn of Empire
Annie
C. Higgins
The Last Time I Saw Mus'ab
Ron Jacobs
The Devil in New England
William
Mandel
One on One with Sen. Joe McCarthy
Jason Leopold
Halliburton Still Flouts the Law as It Profits from Terror
Patrick
Cockburn
The Iraqi Quagmire
Larry Magnuson
William Bennett: Next Viceroy
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Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The Good Terrorists?
Anthony
Gancarski
Chalabi: Drowning in Ba'ath-water?
Steven
Sherman
A Letter to My European Friends
Khaled
El-Bizri
Mr. Bush Comes to Santa Clara
Bruce
Jackson
How Fear Curdles the Soul
Adam Engel
Flag in the Rain
Poets
Basement
Reiss, Guthrie, Hamod & Albert
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 5/10
Website
of the Weekend
Killing Again
May
9, 2003
Rahul
Mahajan
Don't Lift the Sanctions Yet
Wayne
Madsen
When Lying Pays Off: Neo-Con Fabricators
Chris
Floyd
The Karamazov Question
Don Monkerud
The Great Christian Schism: War or Peace?
Sam
Hamod and Elaine Cassel
Drunk on Power: Bush, Power and the
Pathology of the Dry Drunk
Hammond
Guthrie
Bombastic Promise Keeping
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 5/09
May
8, 2003
Julie
Hilden
When It's a Crime to Visit Your Son
Mickey
Z.
Partisan Protests?
Mark
Zepezauer
Evil is as Evil Does
David Lindorff
The Coming Senior Revolution
Abu
Spinoza
The Detention of Dr. Huda Ammash
Ben
Tripp
The Other "F" Word
Norman
Madarasz
God in the Service of the Security
State: a Dispatch from Brazil
Stew Albert
Pushovers
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 5/08
Website
of the Day
Department of Sexual Security
May
7, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
Quoting Under the Influence: Breasts,
Martinis, Hitchens
David
Krieger
Winning the War; Alienating the World
Sen.
Robert Byrd
Bush's Troubling Speech
Bruce Jackson
Bill Kunstler's Last Big Speech
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 5/07
Website
of the Day
The Truth About Bush's Military Records
May
6, 2003
Paul
de Rooij
An Activist in the Trenches: an Interview
with Gretta Duisenberg
Anthony
Gancarski
Money to Burn: in Defense of Bill Bennett
John
Stanton
Bush's War on Jesus
Sam
Hamod
W. Bush: the Little Snot, the Little
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Robert
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Bush Says the War is Over: Tell It to
the Shi'a
Kathleen
Christison
A Roadmap to Nowhere
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 5/06
May
5, 2003
Gary
Leupp
Phase Two: Syria and Iran
Jorge
Mariscal
The Militarization of US Culture
Ishmael
Reed
A Family Values Man
Tarif Abboushi
Sharon's Confidence: Bush Won't Come to Shove on Roadmap
Leila
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Regime Change Begins at Home...Literally
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars
Sam
Smith
Coalition of the Shilling
May
3, 2003
Ron
Jacobs
Tears of Rage: Remembering May 1970
Elaine
Cassel
William Bennett, a Freudian Perspective
Sam
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Understanding the Shi'a of Lebanon
Scott
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Getting Shot on the Oakland Docks
Mickey
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Cuba and Puerto Rico: 100 Years of Terror
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Don't Take Col. John Boyd's Name in Vain
Dr.
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Cluster Bombs Over Iraq
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Ilian Pappe
Searching Jenin
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MacDougall
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Seth Sandronsky
Incarcerated and Invisible
Rich
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Over Our Dead Bodies
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How Bob Dylan Found His Voice
Adam
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American Bulk
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Bush's War Web Log 5/03
May
2, 2003
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Butterly
Crowd Control American-style
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Gordon
US: No Right to Know About the Disappeared
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Tom Friedman's Life as a Pet Hamster
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Burston
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Harvey
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Bush's Military Defeat
John
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Question Those Writing History
Saul Landau
The Cuba Conundrum
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 5/02
Website
of the Day
Moussaoui's
Quiz
May
1, 2003
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Santorum: That's Latin for Asshole
Iain
Boal
A May Day Message to the FCC: "We
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Johnstone
About Cuba
Sam
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Killings at Al Fallujah, City of Mosques
Veteran
Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
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Lee Sustar
Greed Air: Airline Workers Agree to Pay Cuts, While Bosses Stuff
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Peter
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May Day at Kut and Kienthal
Stew Albert
Straight Shooters
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Bush's War Web Log 5/01
Website
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South Bay Mobilization
April
30, 2003
Ashley
Smith
Under Uncle Sam's Thumb: a History
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Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/30
Gary
Leupp
Shooting Schoolboys: Preliminary Thoughts on the Fallujah Massacre
Robert
Jensen
Fighting Alienation in the USA
Wayne
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The Four Horsemen of Propaganda
Ahmad
Faruqui
Bush's Strategic Myopia About the Middle East
Gabriel
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Iraq, the US and the End of the European Coalition
Adolfo
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A Nobel Laureat's Letter to Bush:
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April
29, 2003
Gary
Leupp
Disorder and Opportunity: the Results
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Uri
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Don't Envy Abu-Mazen
Anthony
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Brush with the Law
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Robert
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Bush Telegraphs His Punches on Syria
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May
16, 2003
Fear Itself
It's Like That
Stain on the Couch
By BEN TRIPP
Fear is the sensation one experiences when confronted
with the possibility that circumstances could get worse. Terror,
on the other hand (or for seals, the other flipper) is the sensation
one experiences when confronted with actual evidence that circumstances
are definitely going to get worse. For example, one experiences
fear when seated in an airplane that is making "prrrrt-krunk-pffft"
noises from the smoke-belching starboard engine. One experiences
terror when same airplane has broken into two separate pieces
and one has been precipitated out of the fuselage, especially
if the airplane in question was not parked on the tarmac when
bifurcation occurred. Fear and terror are simply points along
a scale, with "mild unease" at one end and "life
flashing before eyes" at the other.
I broach the subject of fear because
some of my correspondents are afraid, and some are terrified.
They feel that America is plunging into an abyss, and yet the
general mood is one of apathy. You have to wonder what's the
matter with the vast majority of people currently mouth-breathing
through their days on the "mild unease" end of the
spectrum. Surely they notice something is wrong? Surely they
experience a frisson of mild dread, or a subtle dread-like frisson
at least, when their tiny but serviceable imaginations turn to
the subject of the future? Or are we merely nervous nellies,
me and my correspondents? My word, what a lot of rhetorical
questions. Let's start with something simple: am I afraid?
To answer this question in some way other
than "yes", we must first ask what there is to be afraid
of. I am speaking now of the sociopolitical realm, not the commonplace
personal fears such as fear of heights, self-immolation, public
speaking, Schnauzers, or getting caught reading 'Das Kapital'
in the lobby of the Heritage Foundation. What is there to be
afraid of from American civic life? After all, if you're not
a minority of any kind, or a Muslim, nor female or poor or an
outspoken critic of the venal Administration of pirates who have
propelled our nation into the darkest era in modern history,
why worry? Unless someone holds a grudge against you, or a government
computer attaches your name to the wrong list, or you happen
to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, you're perfectly
safe, right? All twenty-two of you who don't fit into one of
these risk categories can stop reading now and go back to your
caves in the forest, secure that without a social security number
or name you will not get caught in the gears of the Big Machine.
Me? I'm scared shitless.
In correspondence with this writer, gentle
readers applaud my courage for speaking out in a bold manner
against the mad exploits of our runaway American government.
But am I not afraid of the consequences, they shudder? After
all, the way I put things is kind of tart is the wrong word,
maybe caustic? But certainly the sort of speech that gets a
fellow thrown into double secret detention, at any rate. This
of course terrifies me and I think I've gone too far and spend
the weekend hiding under a dumpster in the Garment District disguised
as a bolt of soiled Nankeen silk. My cowardice backfires when
a bumptious Polish dowager has me made into a set of cushions
for a left-handed chaise longe.
In other words, it is risky to speak
out in these times, but it is riskier to remain silent, and not
just because there are feckless upholsterers abroad in the land.
Find a fight and stay in it. One can be forgiven for avoiding
anti-Bush Administration sentiments at monster truck rallies
and the like, as the persons who attend such events will tend
to be unquestioning supporters of same-- unless it's the Joe
Stalin Truck Stomp in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But when is silence
mere common sense, and when is it an abrogation of one's duty
as a citizen? This is a difficult question to answer, especially
if you answer it in Schwyzerdütsch with pencils through
your cheeks. But we must explore the subject while we still
can. Freedom of speech begins and ends with the willingness
to speak freely. Boy, it sure is hard to concentrate with all
these Feds hammering on the door.
Anybody who is not afraid in these times
is a dolt or poltroon of the first water. Overseas, the war
on terrorism has led to the military invasion of two countries,
the reopening of the arms race, and the dissolution of America's
historic alliance with Western Europe; Americans abroad are advised
to pose as Canadians to avoid recriminations from an angry world
(insert Canadian joke here). As American fear of the world has
spiraled out of control, so has the world's fear of America.
Meanwhile at home, we are afraid of everybody. Libertarians
see a massive government digging its talons into our cherished
freedoms and so lash out at Liberals; Liberals see the government
loosing all restraints on corporatism and so lash out at Libertarians;
Corporations lash out at mortals, which group includes Libertarians
and all Liberals except apparently Noam Chomsky, who is 3,000
years old; Conservatives lash out in all directions irrespective,
because if you're not one of them, you're one of those Other
People, and Other People are bad; and Other People lash out at
each other, depending on their particular animus. All this lashing
out leaves the near-mythic nasties at the top pretty much free
to do whatever they want, which is nothing good. It's a frightening
situation. We've definitely hit the 'fear' end of the scale.
But should we be terrified?
I'm not terrified, which has less to
do with innate courage on my part (I suffer from irrational fears
of marzipan, parrots, faint twanging sounds, and boiled wool)
and more to do with the subtle difference between fear and terror.
Back to that airplane, because it's so fun to make airplane
analogies. The engine is smoking. No, it's on fire, and the
condition of the portside engine cannot be determined because
the wing has fallen off, and the airplane in general is trending
in the downward direction at 500 knots. Fear is an appropriate
response, because there is a very real possibility that things
will get worse. But call me an optimist- I believe we can
pull out of this tailspin (the airplane is also in a tailspin
and cabin service has been discontinued). The time for terror
has not yet arrived.
The path down which America has been
shanghaied is a disastrous one. (I have given up on the airplane
analogy. It was making me anxious.) But Americans are an ingenious
people, inventive and spirited and willing to transform ourselves.
As the patriotic music swells, read on, dear reader, read on:
I believe we can once again reclaim the glories of the American
experiment and become a great and proud nation, our greatest
glory not the triumph of arms but the triumph of the human spirit.
I believe America can once again embrace the greater family
of mankind and rejoin humanity's eternal march toward the garden
of peace and understanding, the fruits of which are freedom and
justice. But these noble outcomes will only arise from acts
of courage, deeds of selflessness and determination untempered
by fear for ourselves and our small comforts. The times will
pass, and us with them, my friends, and our only epitaph shall
be the future we leave to our children. (Author now rises from
his chair as shaft of sunlight breaks through clouds and illuminates
his waxy yet shining face, riven with tears of hope and joy.)
Do not fail to act upon your conscience out of fear! Do not
fail to uphold that which is good and right because so many others
have forgotten that goodness and righteousness cannot be won
by the detonation of a missile, the crushing of a nation, or
the reviling of a people. Do not dishonor your freedoms by failing
to exercise them. And most of all, do not let fear conquer your
spirit, because fear makes slaves of us all. (Author starts
singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and embraces bust
of Abraham Lincoln while Old Glory unfurls in background.)
A paranoiac is someone who regards the
absence of evidence of anything to fear as proof that there is
something to fear. We must not succumb to paranoia. But the
opposite extreme is complacency in the face of overwhelming evidence
that something awful is going down. Yet there are so many complacent
people that those of us who are afraid of what is happening may
be lulled into the sense that maybe if we do nothing, our fears
will go away. Did that weird stain on the couch go away just
because you ignored it? No, it got worse, and turned black,
and began to smell, and you ended up leaving the couch on the
curb. But you cannot leave your rights on the curb, or they
will be taken away and used for landfill. If today we fail to
uphold what is right because we are afraid, tomorrow it will
be too late, and we will be terrified, or something epigrammatic
like that. Don't let fear keep you silent, dear readers, because
this airplane is a train wreck waiting to happen.
Ben Tripp
is a screenwriter and cartoonist. He can be reached at: credel@earthlink.net
Yesterday's
Features
Ayesha
Iman and Sindi Medar-Gould
How
Not to Help Amina Lawal: The Hidden Dangers of Letter
Writing Campaigns
Julie
Hilden
Moussaioui and the Camp X-Ray Detainees:
Can He Get a Fair Trial?
Tanya
Reinhart
Bush's Roadmap: a Ticket to Failure
Laura Carlsen
Here We Go Again: NAFTA Plus or Minus?
Kenneth
Rapoza
The New Fakers: State Dept. Undercuts
New Yorker's Goldberg
Stew Albert
A Story I Will Tell
Steve
Perry
Bush's Little
Nukes
Website
of the Day
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