Reply #3: Calling bullshit on the Fear mongers (Occams Hatchet, Kossack) [View All]

[Stockholm]

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Say, didja know that the Terror Alert Level® spiked last week? Yeah, all the way to Red! Huh - you probably didn't even notice. Or how about a few days later, when it went back down to Orange - didja catch that? No. No, I didn't think so - I'll bet you didn't miss a beat. Hmph. Chances are, nothing in your life changed at all last week: you still went to the store, you still filled your car up with gas, you still watched reruns of "Desperate Housewives" on TV, you still barbecued hamburgers in your backyard on Saturday, you still took your kids to the park on Sunday.

No, not much changed, I'll bet. Outwardly, anyway. But if Karl Rove is doing his job right, what might have been different was that your anxiety level might have been raised juuust a little bit. You might have noticed - if you had been paying really close attention - a vague sense of impending disaster, an undefined unease, a small - very small - twinge of fear that wasn't there previously, nibbling away at the edges of your consciousness.

For the Republicans pulling the levers behind our country's National Insecurity Apparatus, your response was perfectly in line with their intent. They don't want to see too much outward change in your day-to-day behavior, they don't want to see you transforming your habits - your shopping habits, your driving habits, your viewing habits - they don't want you to feel as though you've had to make a sacrifice to accommodate the "change" - from Yellow to Red!!! - that they would like to have you believe has occurred in the level of risk to our nation's security.

They don't want you to do anything differently in your everyday life. They only want one small change in your behavior, and they only need it every couple of years or so, in November. What they want, of course, is for you to go into that voting booth and vote for a Republican, because you're terrified.

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more http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/8/17/135837/353