The government and media have sold out to fear

Posted by admin on Sep 22, 2009 in Back Issues, Issues & Ideas, Volume 14 Issue 1 | 0 comments

It’s been eight years since the deadliest terrorist attack in history took place, and with every year the day becomes more terrifying. The reason is that we are beginning to forget. We, the people of the West, are beginning to become complacent in our stance against radical Islamic bigotry and the violence we experienced in the heart of New York City. America’s resolve was shattered in one day, and fear has been running our lives and government ever since. It seems instead of learning the proper lessons from 9/11, America lost its freedoms, goals, and dreams—the ugly by-product of the devastating event that is fast fading from our memories.

I can remember the rebirth of unity amongst the American people after the 9/11 attacks, the fierce patriotism and “oneness” in mission and identity. Unfortunately, it took only several years for that unity to turn into distrust and cynicism towards everyone from George Bush and Barack Obama to any grandma who walks through an airport. The liberty of Americans was exploited overnight, being replaced by legislation that invades personal privacy in an effort to monitor terrorist activity. This would be fine if the people trusted their government—the problem is that they don’t. Racial profiling, a controversial stance on policing considered to be politically incorrect, has been replaced with the confiscation of shampoo bottles and telling elderly people to remove their belts and shoes.

Why does the media avoid stories like the honour killings of Sandeela Kanwal and Amina and Sarah Said, who were all killed by their Muslim fathers in America? Fathima Rifqa Bary is another Muslim who narrowly escaped being killed by her father after converting from Islam to Christianity. CBS tried to discredit a recent documentary on homegrown jihadist terrorism by the Christian Action Network (CAN), and the State of Maine has sued CAN for hate speech while there are dozens of jihadist paramilitary training camps in the U.S. operating unopposed. Instead of the media dealing with reality head on, stories of how Islam is quickly becoming a violent threat are still seen as small, individual cases, when they should be seen as a disturbing modern trend. Intelligence should require us to differentiate, in our media and government policy, between Muslims who are for or against peace.

A recent poll done by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation indicated that 34 percent of Americans believe an act of terrorism is likely to occur in the U.S. in the next few weeks. As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” We fear Saudi Arabia enough to bow to their contempt; we fear political correctness enough to paint all of Islam as peaceful; we fear for our security enough to reject racial profiling yet embrace the loss of liberties; we fear terrorism enough to consider ourselves as the problem while trying to appease the failing societies of the Middle East. I am afraid that we have sold ourselves to fear, and until that fear is conquered by common sense rationalism, we will continue to endure threats to our freedom.