I have seen the enemy, been shown the enemy - and it is you

[The Straight Story]

Back when I was a young child we knew our enemies - Russia/China. Cold war and all that.

Now? YOU are the one I need to look out for.

You-----

want to send baked goods to school - and make my kid fat and shorten their life.

Drive a car which spews pollution and is worse for me than second hand smoke (unlike a bar though, I don't have a choice as to whether I want to go or not)

Might do some criminal act or other - so I want cameras all around, insane checks at airports, and more data bases to track what you buy and why.

Maybe you will hug someone in school, or bring meds for a headache - back in my day, that was ok - now I know you are the threat, so you have to be booted out.

Draw a picture of a gun? Scares me. Something needs to be done to protect me.

Smoke pot? Destroying life as we know it here - off to jail with you.

Destroy the economy, rob us blind, kill others for oil and such - you are exempt, we applaud those things.

The real fear I have now, which I have been shown, is YOU and yours - from how much trash you generate to your credit rating. The bad guys are now us, the people I am supposed to fear and try to hold back are you and me. More bans, more laws, to restrict your life and mine - all out of fear of terrorism or lawsuits.

Fear, it sells well in this world. Fear of each other and what we might do to one another.

I don't remember ever being so expected to be afraid of my fellow man than I do now. You are all potential abusers, drug users, molesters, mass murderers, thieves, embezzlers, etc.

The real people who do those things? Well they have gotten away with it all - with our help and money.

You. You are the enemy I am being told to fear. Not the big companies, not the people committing crimes and harming others.

And sadly so many buy into the feel good crap.

We are less free now than just about any time in our history.

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. we live in scary times.

[Odin2005]

2. Nightmare Politics.

"I will protect you from your worst nightmares if you give me ultimate power".

[readmoreoften]

3. Welcome to the culture of anti-solidarity.

Where we can't organize because the other worker is our enemy and we have to appeal to the elite to protect us from our class. That's what they tell us anyway.

[RoyGBiv]

4. "We"?

Who is this "we" that is less free today that at any time in "our" history?

[Biker13]

5. K&R