We are all part of an American society that continues to silently watch
as our government pursues a foreign policy that threatens the very future of our
democracy.
A large segment of this society is currently in a state of conditioned
silence. It watches as America is undergoing radical changes that are
transforming this nation into an instrument of world domination with the
objective of controlling this planet's energy resources. The overriding
question is: what will bring this society out of this state of conditioned
silence -- does it have the will or any desire to say, "Enough is enough,
we will accept no more?" Or have the American people completely lost their
will to dissent?
It seems that we have become a society that no longer may know
what is right versus what is just plain wrong. We collectively watched the
illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. Then came the "shock and
awe" and the complete destruction of the city of Fallujah. We began to
hear the bizarre stories of the inhuman torture of prisoners at Abu Grahib and
Guantanamo. Now we are beginning to hear details of the horrendous story
about the village of Haditha, a potential time bomb of immense proportions. The
senseless deaths of our military and Iraqi civilians continue each and every
day; this is complete madness! Is Big Brother wiretapping you and me? Does
anyone care? America remains in a state of conditioned silence.
Where is the rage? Where is the outrage? National opinion polls have
determined that there is dissatisfaction, uneasiness, and a tiredness in the
American people. The public now feels the Iraq war was a mistake and not worth
it. Is America disillusioned simply because we are not winning? God, I hope
not. Is there anything at all that can reach the American mind so that so many
of us who profess "family values" can just get real damned mad when
we witness our foreign policy going berserk?
We in this society also watch as America changes in so many different
ways domestically. We watch as our remaining jobs continue to be outsourced to
countries all over the world as our corporations brazenly reduce the American
workforce to achieve greater and greater profits. Our trade and budget deficits
are spiraling out of control and our government now has to sell $2 billion of
treasury securities each and every day to finance these deficits. China, in
particular, along with Japan, various other Asian and European nations now
virtually own our nation. We are the greatest debtor nation in history and have
no conception of how to end this massive bleeding that is rapidly leading us to
national bankruptcy. And the people watch and there is no outrage. Only an
eerie silence.
Yes, there is only silence, only a weary acceptance of these travesties
foisted upon the American people, only the passive condoning of this insidious
wrongheaded direction that those in control of our government are taking.
Americans seem to have lost the will to question and challenge. Thomas
Jefferson, one of our greatest patriots said, "Dissent is the greatest
form of patriotism" and truer words were never spoken. If we completely
lose our ability to question, to challenge and to dissent when our democracy is
in jeopardy, then we will have become nothing more than passive sheep.
We in America are so very content with our lifestyles, our gas-guzzling
SUV's, Hummers, huge pickup trucks, bigger and bigger homes that many cannot
really afford, interest-only loans; and now, believe it or not, 50-years
mortgages. We see the price of gasoline rapidly escalating and we watch as our
government, the auto companies and the energy corporations have no plan or any
desire whatsoever to try to solve the energy problems that are endangering our
very future. It seems that the American mind is so fixed upon personal gain,
the accumulation of wealth and material possessions that this fixation has
negated and wiped out the former great influence of moral values in our
society. It appears we have become slaves of consumerism and that this
addiction has virtually wiped out the will, incentive and courage to dissent.
We need to discuss 9/11. Yes, it was one of the most terrible,
destructive, events in our history, Yes, a great tragedy, but It certainly is
not of the same magnitude in total destruction of lives and property as other
major events in our history such as the Civil War, Vietnam and several notable
domestic disasters. But we need to understand the more destructive long-term
psychological damage that it stamped into the fragile American psyche.
The criminal perpetrators of this vicious act knew exactly what they were
doing. Bush & Co. knew they had accomplished one of their major objectives
-- instilling fear and paranoia into the American mind.
The Bush administration pretended to go after alleged 9/11 perpetrator
Osama bin Laden with a vengeance in Afghanistan, an action that a majority of
Americans fell for. However, thereafter, those in power made one of the
greatest foreign policy blunders in American history. While, in this essay, I
will not explore the underlying issues of WMD, Saddam, liberation of Iraqis,
bringing democracy to Iraq, lack of any legal or moral justification. -- when
this Bush administration made that ill-conceived military invasion, when they
then filled the American mind with more fear and foreboding about terrorists
hiding behind every bush, they effectively gave any real terrorists an
important victory.
These seeds of fear and extreme paranoia had been deeply planted into
the American mind by the 9/11 perpetrators and, thereafter, have been
fertilized and cultivated by this same Bush administration. These neocon-driven
bulls rushed into Iraq to "fight them over there instead of here,"
initiating their fantasy plan to tie the Iraq war to al-Qaeda. Each and every
day they continue to trumpet that "the insurgents are making their last
gasp, democracy is near, we must stay the course, we cannot cut and run"
and on and on. And the corporate media continue to feed this propaganda into
that very damaged American psyche.
Where is the rage, the outrage? Oh, I think that it is present in our
society, buried somewhere deep in the American mind. While the outrage may be
present in some latent state, it has been completely suppressed and bottled up
by fear and paranoia. But so far no member of the opposition party or anyone in
a leadership role has been able to counter this psychological malady with a
powerful vocal serum to provide healing and a clear message that can
free the American mind.
Big Brother & Co. did a masterful job of devising programs of
misinformation and distortion that were spread throughout America by the
obedient lapdogs known as the corporate-controlled mass media. Why have this
media completely failed to provide the leadership to the American people to
awaken them? Because they are trapped in a state of journalistic paralysis.
They have been brainwashed and conditioned to fear that dissent will be
considered to be a traitorous act -- compliance and servitude are the twin
credos of this sad community of gutless, spineless pseudo-journalists. This is
a media that truly have sold their journalistic soul to the highest bidder --
and guess who that might be?
When we as individuals and a society have the God-given ability to weigh
all sides of all these momentous issues that threaten the future of our nation,
our children and the entire world community, yet we may no longer have the
moral strength and the will to logically choose between what we know is right
and wrong -- then it may be that this society is truly in a state of moral
decline, one that might be irreversible.
But, the jury is still out -- America, our society and our democracy is
standing at a crossroads that will determine our future. Many questions and
facts have been presented but many more must and will emerge. The American mind
is, in effect, the jury that will decide the fate of America and what its
future will entail. The American people, not the government in power, are still
the foundation upon which America was built. If this foundation continues to
erode and crumble, then our future will be meaningless -- and irrelevant, no
more than slaves to the god of consumerism.
If
this jury remains in a state of conditioned silence and is unable to make
honest and moral deliberations -- if this jury, this society, will not and
cannot show its outrage and demand that the course of this nation be
dramatically changed -- then the verdict will be that outrage and dissent are
just too dangerous to even consider and that sheeplike passivity is the safest
and most expedient course of action. At that point, we Americans will have lost
our will to dissent, and this society will have died and it will not rest in
peace.