Thursday, July 26, 2007
Pacifica Commentary for July 19, 2007
FEAR
Fear of the other is used to manipulate people to sustain our permanent war economy. The Communists are coming, the Russians are coming, the Chinese are coming or is it the Cubans? The actor Ronald Reagan even claimed that Nicaraguans were about to invade the United States and he declared a National Emergency to protect us from the very people we were indiscriminately killing. So our nation came under the control of militarists and militarism by way of fear. The legislators then fall into line and vote for endless war because they fear losing elections for being, "soft on defense."
And then there are the police. The reporting of crime is up 500%, not crime but the reporting of crime on television. This increases the level of fear as the police continue to punish people at will. This, in spite of the fact that police may never punish anyone. That's right, police may arrest when there is probable cause of a crime being committed, they may also defend themselves as any other person may do legally. But they may never punish anyone prior to the decision of a court. But the sordid reality of police punishment continues unobstructed as part of the culture of fear.
So the national government fears the militarists, and gives in to their whims, the local government fears the police and ignores their culture of law breaking. And governors in California only get elected if they bow before the barbaric practice of state sponsored murder. Yes, we are speaking of capital punishment, that foul example of class justice which is primarily directed to people of color and the poor. And fear of crime is manipulated to sustain this ongoing atrocity.
And then there is the fear of further terrorism within our borders. 9-11 remains in our minds as the unanswered questions about 9-11 create the stench of an untreated wound.
And before our freedom turns to ashes through the application of the existing anti-constitutional legislation or by way of even greater repressive measures, we must use our precious time to shout out the current factory of fear now at the helm in Washington.
Sadly, we are at a point where we have no reason to believe anything the president might say. All credibility was killed in action with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our message must be to impeach all the criminals in this administration including Bush and Cheney. Our good people can't wait, they want to construct a new and better world. After all, perfect love casts out fear.
Fear of the other is used to manipulate people to sustain our permanent war economy. The Communists are coming, the Russians are coming, the Chinese are coming or is it the Cubans? The actor Ronald Reagan even claimed that Nicaraguans were about to invade the United States and he declared a National Emergency to protect us from the very people we were indiscriminately killing. So our nation came under the control of militarists and militarism by way of fear. The legislators then fall into line and vote for endless war because they fear losing elections for being, "soft on defense."
And then there are the police. The reporting of crime is up 500%, not crime but the reporting of crime on television. This increases the level of fear as the police continue to punish people at will. This, in spite of the fact that police may never punish anyone. That's right, police may arrest when there is probable cause of a crime being committed, they may also defend themselves as any other person may do legally. But they may never punish anyone prior to the decision of a court. But the sordid reality of police punishment continues unobstructed as part of the culture of fear.
So the national government fears the militarists, and gives in to their whims, the local government fears the police and ignores their culture of law breaking. And governors in California only get elected if they bow before the barbaric practice of state sponsored murder. Yes, we are speaking of capital punishment, that foul example of class justice which is primarily directed to people of color and the poor. And fear of crime is manipulated to sustain this ongoing atrocity.
And then there is the fear of further terrorism within our borders. 9-11 remains in our minds as the unanswered questions about 9-11 create the stench of an untreated wound.
And before our freedom turns to ashes through the application of the existing anti-constitutional legislation or by way of even greater repressive measures, we must use our precious time to shout out the current factory of fear now at the helm in Washington.
Sadly, we are at a point where we have no reason to believe anything the president might say. All credibility was killed in action with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our message must be to impeach all the criminals in this administration including Bush and Cheney. Our good people can't wait, they want to construct a new and better world. After all, perfect love casts out fear.
