There are three stages to dealing with such events as the downing of TWA Flight 800 and the pipe bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta.
Stage One: Panic. But don’t feel alone in this reaction, there are plenty like you around, and the best way to help determine the level of panic you should be at is to tune into the evening news broadcasts. They will tell you just how scared you should become because “nothing and no one and nowhere is safe anymore.” Stay tuned for further updates on when and why to escalate your panic and for the late-breaking stories that lead us into the next stage.
Stage Two: Blame. Blame somebody or something as soon as the public reaches the proper level of panic and will jump to accept pointed government and media conclusions on where to place the blame.
Foreign terrorist? Maybe, but this is not as accepted as organizations and people domestic, such as anybody on the so-called Right. The religious Right is popular to blame because officials and anchorpeople know those who try to follow the word of God are always open to wanton acts of violence, although my guess is this will all fall on the militias’ shoulders as this is a most popular target of the government and their media servants as of late.
Subgroups to these targets would be, of course, gun owners and anyone referring to themselves as patriots–and you have to believe all of these enemies of the state and people are whipped up and stirred into action by talk radio. It all depends on whom the government and media want to beat up on and do away with, and this leads us to the third stage.
Stage Three: Ban something. That’s right, let’s make a law. To convince the American people just what is good and bad for them (because, of course, they don’t know) and “for the general and overall good and safety of the nation and the world,” lawmakers will decide what things and/or groups of people should become political and media-driven outlaws. Let’s do a quick and efficient law right now.
Spreading fear and terror is more successfully accomplished on the evening news and network special programs concerning “terrorist” actions than the actual violent acts themselves. There are not enough bomb-planters and throwers in the world to bring this nation down, but people who allow the government and media to control their every frightened footstep, march right into more fear every day. This country was not built on, nor can it survive, a fearful, victim mentality.
