Five years ago today, we are told, everything changed.
But I’m not sure that’s true.
The current national paranoia and knee-jeck reaction to any perceived boogie man seem rather reminiscent of what we’ve read and seen of the anti-communist scares of the 50’s and 60’s.
My warped little mind conjures up images of the Monty Python interpretation of the Spanish Inquisition (“Our one weapon is fear. Fear and intimidation. Our two weapons are…”)
However, it also recalls the words of of Nicholas Negroponte.
In his talks about the $100 laptop Children’s Machine 1, Negroponte reminds us that for any human problem you can name, education is at least a major part of the solution.
Our national leaders don’t understand that.
With a big assist from big media companies, especially the talking heads channels, they seem to be doing everything they can to keep us ignorant. (And no, propaganda doesn’t count as education.)
They ask for blind trust while gradually nullifying large chunks of constitutional rights.
They (on both sides of the political fence) bicker over trivialities while siphoning off as much pork as they can in the name of “homeland security”.
They create illusions of security and hope no one will notice.
But is any of that different than it was five years and one day ago? I’m not so sure.
Just an early morning brain dump.