Letters to the Editor
rollotomasi
Published Letters: 187
-
The Irrationality of Fear
[Read the article: Selective defenders of free expression]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]John Amato at Crooks and Liars had a great line apropos to Glenn’s topic:
Many people have turned into scared little bedwetters after the 9/11 attacks who threw their civil rights to the wind while supporting a pre-emptive doctrine which will lead us down the road to hell. I talk about the right wing blogosphere and their talk show buddies of course. Being a NYer, the attacks stunned me, but NY picked itself off the floor and went on with life. These people see jihadists in their rear view mirror every time they get on the highway…
One would have expected those who were most directly affected by the attacks (Pennsylvania, New York and D.C.) would have jumped right into the arms of the fear-mongering Republicans, but they all voted against Bush in 2004 just as they did in 2000. Illogically, it seems to be those from areas that would appear have the least exposure to attacks that seem to have the most fear. To carry this a step further, it seems Europe would be constantly shaking in their boots since they don’t have an ocean separating them from doom, and that they would have jumped at the chance to join us in our Middle East escapades, but, no, most of them drew the line at invading countries that had not attacked them or their allies. I guess they think it’s best in the long run not to unnecessarily antagonize their global neighbors.
I posted the following at Daily Kos about a year ago near the five-year anniversary of 9/11 and around the time ABC/Disney tried to pass off that piece of right-wing propaganda, “Path to 9/11,” as historical fact:
The irrationality of fear
The right-wing authoritarians’ game plan of steering the discussion to terrorism at a totally irrational level certainly is working - some statistics:
Deaths in U.S. from 9/11/01 terrorism actions as counted by CNN: 2,973
Approximate number of deaths in U.S. since then from the following causes (from National Center for Health Statistics):
Heart disease: > 4,000,000
Cancer: > 2,500,000
Accidents: > 500,000
Suicide: > 150,000
Murder: > 80,000.
Approximate number of premature deaths in U.S. since then from lack of health insurance (from study by Institute of Medicine finding 18,000 such deaths a year, with study also noting the odds are that the number is higher in reality): > 90,000.
Rough percentage of space in the last five days on Daily Kos and like-minded sites devoted to postings and comments on terrorism-related issues: 75% (Daily Kos has been significantly lower than most due to campaign/poll/daily feature content).
Rough percentage of space in the last five days devoted to medical and social care issues: <2%?
{skip rest of post}
by rollotomasi on Sun Sep 10, 2006 at 08:48:47 PM PDT
Wouldn’t one’s time be better spent trying to find ways we could improve our nation’s physical/mental health and crime/accident prevention instead of gathering anecdotal evidence from dubious sources on a few bad guys in a pitiful attempt to raise others’ fears and hatred to the level of their own?
-
Posted this damn thing under the wrong column
[Read the article: Selective defenders of free expression]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please disregard above comment - will re-post in Glenn's column re: Jamie Kirchick.
-
The Irrationality of Fear
[Read the article: Jamie Kirchick's fantasies of the grave Muslim threat]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]John Amato at Crooks and Liars had a great line apropos to Glenn’s topic:
Many people have turned into scared little bedwetters after the 9/11 attacks who threw their civil rights to the wind while supporting a pre-emptive doctrine which will lead us down the road to hell. I talk about the right wing blogosphere and their talk show buddies of course. Being a NYer, the attacks stunned me, but NY picked itself off the floor and went on with life. These people see jihadists in their rear view mirror every time they get on the highway…
One would have expected those who were most directly affected by the attacks (Pennsylvania, New York and D.C.) would have jumped right into the arms of the fear-mongering Republicans, but they all voted against Bush in 2004 just as they did in 2000. Illogically, it seems to be those from areas that would appear have the least exposure to attacks that seem to have the most fear. To carry this a step further, it seems Europe would be constantly shaking in their boots since they don’t have an ocean separating them from doom, and that they would have jumped at the chance to join us in our Middle East escapades, but, no, most of them drew the line at invading countries that had not attacked them or their allies. I guess they think it’s best in the long run not to unnecessarily antagonize their global neighbors.
I posted the following at Daily Kos about a year ago near the five-year anniversary of 9/11 and around the time ABC/Disney tried to pass off that piece of right-wing propaganda, “Path to 9/11,” as historical fact:
The irrationality of fear
The right-wing authoritarians’ game plan of steering the discussion to terrorism at a totally irrational level certainly is working - some statistics:
Deaths in U.S. from 9/11/01 terrorism actions as counted by CNN: 2,973
Approximate number of deaths in U.S. since then from the following causes (from National Center for Health Statistics):
Heart disease: > 4,000,000
Cancer: > 2,500,000
Accidents: > 500,000
Suicide: > 150,000
Murder: > 80,000.
Approximate number of premature deaths in U.S. since then from lack of health insurance (from study by Institute of Medicine finding 18,000 such deaths a year, with study also noting the odds are that the number is higher in reality): > 90,000.
Rough percentage of space in the last five days on Daily Kos and like-minded sites devoted to postings and comments on terrorism-related issues: 75% (Daily Kos has been significantly lower than most due to campaign/poll/daily feature content).
Rough percentage of space in the last five days devoted to medical and social care issues: <2%?
{skip rest of post}
by rollotomasi on Sun Sep 10, 2006 at 08:48:47 PM PDT
Wouldn’t one’s time be better spent trying to find ways we could improve our nation’s physical/mental health and crime/accident prevention instead of gathering anecdotal evidence from dubious sources on a few bad guys in a pitiful attempt to raise others’ fears and hatred to the level of their own?