I've just been watching "60 minutes" on CBS. As one might expect, this segment was devoted entirely to the terrorist situation confronting the U.S. Their reports were absolutely chilling and foreboding. Our Nations are in a world of shit re: the outlook on terrorism attacks going forward. I don't want to come off as the alarmist, but I'm petrified...not with fear, but by the sheer magnitude of the challenges facing the United States if we are to get a handle on this apocalyptic state of affairs, foreign and domestic. > Anne wrote: > > > One thought I have is that if we all made an > > effort to know our neighbors and become real > > communities again, that's a pretty good weapon. I'm agreeing with Anne: Community would be a powerful deterrent to sociopathic behavior and deadly covert terrorist operations, most likely. And it's just a good idea under any circumstances. Unfortunately, you can't legislate it into being, and if you could, you probably couldn't enforce it. Envisioning the groundswell of social change and effort it would take to make the good neighbor approach a viable strategy to fight terrorism in America would challenge the imagination of even the greatest optimists among us. I mean, come on, we're still trying to use the power of positive thinking and "integration" alone to combat the residual racism from slavery...140 years after the Civil War. Well, that hyperbole, but you know what I'm saying? Moreover, the person living across the way from me wants to know me more than I ever needed or wanted any neighbor to already. I don't want folks knocking on my door to see "how I'm doing" and sticking their nose in while I'm minding my own business as a matter of patriotic duty, frankly. A right to privacy used to be one of the things that were an attribute of this country. Nevertheless, real communities would be a good thing. It may take 200 more years for us to become good enough neighbors to solve our current terrorism problems, but by all means, let us begin. But back to "60 Minutes," if I may. The problems the show illuminated to me are: a) They're giving out tourist and student visas like hotcakes in American embassies in virtually every country in the world, with little to no background checks of the recipients. Literally millions of people come to the U.S. on a six-month visa and never, ever leave. We have no way of knowing whether they leave or not anyway, as there is no exit tracking system. All the alleged terrorists involved in the recent attacks got into the country this way and stayed, no sweat. To quote the show: "One of the things we've learned in the last two weeks is that we don't know much about the people coming into this country. The terrorists who carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon didn't wade across the Rio Grande or crawl through a Canadian cornfield. They didn't have to. The United States government opened its front door and let them in." http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,312187-412,00.shtml b) These suicide bombers are a frightening lot, but according to psychiatric experts, they're not psychotic. They gleefully carry out these suicide operations, with no fear, seeking to become martyrs. They consider it a high honor and the syndrome, if you will, is pervasive in Middle Eastern culture. The young men who engage in these activities, and there are thousands of them, believe for certain that they'll be rewarded with "65 beautiful virgin wives" in Paradise. It's disturbing because it reminds me of the blind obedience to authority that was characteristic of Nazi fascism, but this time it's not Hitler pulling the strings, but their perception of the commands of Allah. God himself. The shrinks said that part of the problem is that these young men feel they have little to lose, as life is hell because of the suffering and poverty they've endured at the hands of the Israelis. They see Israel and the U.S. as inseparable now and feel that America's alliance with that country comes at their expense. This wasn't in the CBS report, but I'm reminded of a psychological condition known as "learned helplessness." There was an experiment that exemplified that dysfunction as I recall: In a "Pavlov's Dog" type experiment, psychologists put a lab animal in a cage with an electrified grid for a floor. When the animal would settle in one spot, they give it a severe electric shock, it would move somewhere else, and they'd shock it again till the animal had tried every spot in the cage and got shocked every time. Finally, the animal would just cower in the corner getting shocked to death, even after they had eliminated the electric current in certain parts of the cage. "Learned helplessness" in humans gives way to extremism like these suicide bombings, I'm opining. What do we have to lose, these Arab young men must figure. http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,312098-412,00.shtml Yet, come to think of it, what's the difference between religious fanaticism and patriotic altruism? Isn't our government essentially tell our young men and woman to be prepared to die for your country...to, in effect, die for an ideal? What's the real difference between flag-waving, patriotic hymn propaganda inundation on the American mass media and a fervent sermon on the glory of martyrdom in a Islamic mosque in Afghanistan? They're both selling death in the guise of nationalism and defense of the homeland. c.) Then there was yet another report on just how ineffective security at U.S. airports is. Sigh. Deep sigh. d.) Not depressed yet? For the kicker, they had an interview with First Lady of America, Laura Bush. Seems like a nice enough, well-meaning person...and I can imagine her being a swell candidate from Texas for "Miss America" in her younger days. Well, the "Miss Congeniality" sash anyway. But you have to go way, way back to find a more cookie-baking, kindergarten-reading-list-policy-making wife of an American President. I can't think of one at all, actually. I take that back...there was Nancy and "Just Say No" during the mythical War on Drugs, although even she exuded a certain strength of character. But bless Laura's heart, it's not her job to be a beacon of strength to the country. I guess we just got lucky with Hillary, Rosalyn, Jackie, Eleanor, Mary Todd, Martha and even Betty and Pat to an extent. Mrs. Bush comes off so naive as to be frightening though. She was saying things like "oh George gets to the office by 7 a.m. every morning these days and sometimes stays late." Yikes! Say what you want about Bill Clinton, but the guy is a tireless worker who burned the midnight oil without sleep almost every night with his security staff managing the war against the Serbs in Kosovo. We didn't lose a single soldier in that conflict. I don't see any rings under George W's eyes. It's almost as if the magnitude of the situation and his place in history escapes the so-called Leader of the Free World. Let's pray real hard for him . -Julius
