From 11/26/2003
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (Reuters) – Saying the threat of another terror attack remained high, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge urged Americans Tuesday to be vigilant as they set off on their travels for the Thanksgiving holiday.
So, what form should this call for vigilance take? Should I react as my government wishes, cowering under the covers before the big bad terrorists come to sucker-punch us all? Should we invest in plastic sheeting and duct tape, perhaps buy more canned goods and shotguns? And exactly which terrorist should we fear – the remote Osama-like one that we no longer really care about or the one much closer to home Bush, Cheney, Ridge >cough< ? Should my vigilance enable me to set random foreigners on fire with BBQ lighter fluid and a match or should I just let the air out of their tires and report their suspicious breathing habits to my local SS Officer FBI Officer (>cough<) ? While I'm wallowing in the new shiny Fear EverythingTM Module provided to me by my government, my vigilance will be keenly felt by all around me as I refuse to change my behavior just because some be-suited moron tells me to be afraid.
As a people, we’re supposedly more terrified than our founding father’s slaves ever were… it’d be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragically sad.
I can imagine that both George Orwell and Eugene McCarthy are spinning in their graves, in opposite directions, of course.