Letters to the Editor
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The article is excellent, but its message doesn't seem to carry
Andrew O'Hehir summarizes Peter Beinart's argument by saying "The problem seems to be that we're all so shit-scared of being blown up at the mall that we'll sign up for any level of homegrown fascism that promises a remedy." If the discussion in this forum is any indication, that is an accurate diagnostic. Among some more thoughtful letters, there are many motivated by Fear of the Other.
It's part of human nature to fear the Other. But for this basic survival instinct to have any practical survival value, the Other has to be usefully defined. What use can it serve - other than perpetuating the Bush-Cheney regime out of fear - to demonize 20% of the world's population and declare these people an enemy? What use can blacklisting a major world religion serve? You might as well decide that young unmarried men with low incomes are the Enemy. The generalization would hardly be worse.
There was a time when the United States was so much admired around the world that its many transgressions were forgiven by most. Now, mired in fear, corruption, incompetence, and an awful lack of interest in dealing with its internal problems, the U.S. as a whole offers an easy target for derision and becomes feared itself. Individual Americans, communities, cities and state legislatures still do great things and still inspire the rest of the world. The greatness is not gone, but it is getting harder to find behind the clouds of fear and loathing.