Yesterday afternoon I flipped on the TV to see if there were any details about the plane that landed in the Hudson.
Blog-post interruption: Every time I fly, when the flight attendant says, "in the unlikely event of a water landing ..." I think to myself, "water landing? Wouldn't that be a crash?" Now I know better.
I don't actually know what station I was watching, but as soon as I turned to a news station there were the remarkable pictures of the plane floating in the river. The talking head said, "your first thought when you hear the news is: was it terrorism?"
Uh, no, actually it wasn't.
Planes crash. Machines break. Birds fly into engines. All of these things are much more common and overwhelmingly more likely than terrorism. Only because we have been conditioned, almost commanded, to live in fear for the past seven years could a thoughtless talking head, reflecting an all-too-unreflective culture, say such a thing.
On the scale of things we need to fear as individuals, terrorism falls somewhere way down the line from slipping in the tub and cracking your head open. Yet our individual lives are disrupted in dozens of small and not so small ways in deference to those who want us to fear terrorism.
On the scale of things we need to fear as a society, terrorism still does not top the list. A lot more of us have died prematurely due to our broken health care system than due to terrorism.
Oh, to be sure, unless you've been living in a cave for the past decade you know that there are people living in caves out there who want to do us harm. They are real, and they are dangerous.
But sitting at the laptop and eating bonbons is far more of a threat to my health and safety than the terrorists.
Yes, it's the bonbons. They are out to get us.
3 comments:
"Only because we have been conditioned, almost commanded, to live in fear for the past seven years could a thoughtless talking head, reflecting an all-too-unreflective culture, say such a thing."
Conditioned and almost commanded to live in fear.
Do you mean like the fear our region, and the visitors to our region, have been commanded to live under during Inauguration Day?
Would you suggest that the security checkpoints on the Mall today were the result of someone "commanding" us to live in fear? How about all those humvees that were visible around town today? More "conditioning" to live in fear?
Or is it more likely that someone really was trying to keep our elected leaders and the rest of us safe from those who really would like to hurt us all very, very badly?
You may suggest that you have much more of a chance of dying by sitting in front of a computer screen eating bonbons than you do from being killed or injured by a terrorist, but I just bet you would been upset if there had been no security on the Mall or around town today.
We'll see whether the Obama administration comes to think, as you apparently do, that security is just some silly endeavor to "condition" us, and to "command" us to live in fear, or whether the Obama administration comes to think that there really are people out there who would do us harm, and that the job of the government is to protect us from them.
Oh, and by the way, I understand that the price for today's Inauguration was something in excess of $150 million. I wait with egaer anticipation to see your blog entry on how that money could have been used to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and save the lives of at least some people who have no health insurance.
anon:
You say you'd like to see a blog entry on "how that money could have been used to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and save the lives of at least some people who have no health insurance."
Because you embrace those causes, and look for opportunities to further them? Because you think you know all about how the author of this blog thinks and would like to compare what actually gets published with your predictions?
What would you write in that entry? And would you include some commentary on the cost of the wars, and alternative ways that money might have been spent? or just on the inauguration? (silly, isn't it: all this fuss over a peaceful transfer of power)
Since you asked, cledster, I do, in fact, have a real concern for the sick, hungry, poor, and ill-clothed, and I do look for opportunities to do what Christ commanded me to do -- feed the hungry, visit the sick, clothe the naked, and tend to the poor.
I still wait for the blog comments about the money spent on Inauguration Day's security, ceremonies, and Inaugural Balls.
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