The President's New Scare

the most fun i have ever had writing an essay. we were assigned to watch the new george clooney documentary, Good Night, Good Luck, and write an essay comparing mccarthy's red scare to the way bush is handling the nation these days. it was supposed to be 200-300 words, i think mine is north of 700. oh well, i dont think he will mind ;)

There are many comparisons to be drawn between Senator Joe McCarthy’s rampage through the ranks of supposed closet communists in the 1950’s and President Bush’s treatment of “terrorism” and the “Global Struggle Against Extremism” going on today. The similarities are eerie. While McCarthy was a bona fide nut and Bush is simply not the brightest crayon in the box, they both used similar scare tactics to instill fear and loyalty into the nation.

McCarthy is probably greatest known for holding up a sheet of paper containing the names of so many “card-carrying communists” in the government. Such an act is sure to stir up emotions and imbue wariness in the public as to just who, exactly, are these people in our midst and what are they hiding? This instills McCarthy with some credibility because people see him as an activist, a protector, someone doing something about the “problem” he created. That there was nothing on the paper was inconsequential; what mattered was that it scared people and McCarthy was seen as the hero. In the same way, Bush’s administration is exploiting “terror” to keep the country under the President’s thumb.

Foreign policy and the illegitimate former “War on Terror” aside, what really draws McCarthy and Bush together are the treatment of the fear at home. With all due respect to the families and friends of those killed in the attacks on 9/11 or the bombings in London, these attacks have allowed the administration to implement the image that the world is a dangerous place and that President Bush is our knight in shining armor here to save us. The most blatant example of this is the relatively new Homeland Security “Threat Advisory System”. It is a simple system of colors and tags describing the “threat level” the country is experiencing. As of today, the threat level is Yellow or “Elevated”, which indicates a “Significant Risk of Terror Attack”.

Ok, so what? So, watch your back. The Department of Homeland Security website recommends that all Americans “continue to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately.” Just as Americans during McCarthy’s Red Scare would see communists hiding in the bushes, America’s children have terrorists hiding under their beds at night.

But what does it mean? I couldn't tell you. As far as anyone knows, the CIA is spying on provocative phone conversations in Reynolda and James Bond is fighting S.P.E.C.T.R.E. goons in the chapel. Assuming the affect of people “continuing to be vigilant” is negligible, the only other use of the “Threat Advisory System” is propaganda. For one, people feel like they are helping out by “taking notice of their surroundings”. More importantly, though, the administration could arbitrarily raise the treat level and allow the public to see that the fright is back, the risk is higher than ever before, and that we owe our unchanging existence to the man who is fighting for us, our President. Never mind that it is inexplicable, that we are assuming that the threat is due to information the government knows that we don't, even though this administration is currently under review by Congressional Special Committees for misusing intel that could have prevented this whole mess.

Keeping in mind that communists are real, that terrorists are real, and that people have died in these attacks, it doesn't change the fact that Bush is the new McCarthy. Both used scare tactics to stir up a national fervor and gain trust over mostly baseless assertions. I have no doubt that there are efforts being made to intercept and prevent these attacks from happening, that vague things like “varying security measures” for individual transit systems makes it more difficult to predict the security regimes at certain locations. What I doubt is that propaganda like the “Threat Advisory System” is anything more than a blank sheet of paper, a means to make the general, inattentive public associate Bush with their protector, and to drive little children to fear the terrorists under their beds.

poetries are word

i just read your blog, it was good i liked that entry. you have such a way with words--you should think about being a writer or something... thats so poetic

hide and go seek
in the back of my mind
i search and i find
something near to what i want to say

its a roundabout stream
while the words float by
broken down syllabi
and i bend under the weight

of laying down outside
assigning value to
aint nothing else i can do
talking shit about a pretty sunset

there aint no justice to
the weight small words must bear
the fruit of things out there
translating to a page

and i would sit for years
sifting through shadows
for words about meadows
and find not a single thing

realnecessity

the original title of this post was realnessecity because it combined realness and nessecity... only i realized that it was actually spelled necessity and so i made it look funny. meh, at least its correct. not that that's everything, it isnt. by far. i just want to play guitar right now, or sleep. instead, im listening to beautiful music - the kind where, right now, i would take a bullet for the artist, the kind that reminds me so much of two people even though the first time i listened to it has been since ive seen either of them, the kind that i am afraid to listen to too much because i would die if i got sick of it, the kind i would almost disown my friends for knowing the words of. its real right now. and i have a new dream girl again. so correct.

i am real. not a philosophical statement. but i am. i am a real, genuine, human being, guy. sometimes it feels like i am the only one i know. i am deep and i feel and i empathize like its nobody's business and i care like its my job and i love and it really is the only thing on earth to me. i always hate it when people start talking about their "stories" because i have none. unless there are things i did which i dont remember - and nobody has mentioned any - i am about the most real, non-historied person i know. and why? because of it. i have been in love twice. do you know how real that is? how much that makes you a complete human being? i know for once simply how indescribably wonderful it is to be loved by someone you love. i know, its great loving someone and its great being loved by someone but please, if both are there, in the right way, it will blow you away.

i hear stories about getting drunk and hooking up with people. stories of dating the hottest girl in high school between jaunts with her other guy. i hear about beach week and breaking up over college. none of this applies to me. i fell in love and through the miles it was there. it was really there. then i had her in my arms, only i was too much a man to force her hand while she was involved. and i am in love. and it persists and is there every single breath i take and i am still the only one i know that i can believe one hundred percent is real. i have never hooked up with someone or had a girlfriend just to have one. i aint perfect, i would kill for a hand to hold but i find it hard to accept much less than what i had. and nobody else is perfect, its just that...

it takes people time. eventually someone will figure out that i am all here and willing to bear it all to be someone's puzzle piece. and its whats so hard about my life. sometimes it just fits and it hurts like hell to give that up. how is it possible to believe in much else when you never did resolve that? but it takes time. i am a perpetual friend because i dont strip for the hot girls or make moves or get my mack on or any of that shit. i dont know what it is. i dont even know how to be in a relationship. i dont know what it takes to be a good boyfriend. all i know is how to be a damn good best friend. and thats what a puzzle piece is. when you dont have to make moves or get drunk to hook up or try and play games at all. sometimes you dont have to think at all, sometimes no words are necessary. sometimes you can just be there, in the same place, or on the same phone, or in each other's heads... sometimes its so perfect that everything flows, you just fit and i dont know a better way to say it. its hard to give up.

and thats all i know. when the fun is over i will still be here, waiting. when you are tired of all the falseties and superficialities of life, i am here.

remaining memories

its no fun, riding around in the backseat with your eyes closed, trying to drink gatorade and not throw up (any more). what i mean is that it was wonderful, the things that happened, simply not from behind my eyes. its no fun, leaning on wipp's shoulder, seeing nothing but the stars on the back of my eyelids, hearing every note of a country song, and not falling asleep. just to escape the sickness. but its strange, wanting to skip the life uncomfortable, and still loving the life i have. and it slowly, slowly, damned slowly goes... away...

i havent seriously appreciated life in a long time. theres always something there, marring the landscape. always a bug nest in my redwood tree. lonliness or school, the people i live with, its always something. for the first time in a long time i feel one-hundred-percent. i would really like to keep it that way. i want to eat real food and not think about it, go to the gym and accomplish something because of it. stop joking about suicide and the best way to die. stop pretending.

theres a lot i remember that i wish i didnt. theres a lot i dont remember that i wish i did. i owe a lot to my friends and i only wish there was something to do. then again, i also wish i never have the opportunity. it seems that for there to be heroes there must be tragedies. maybe i will be one of the everyday sort. i need to do something while i am awake. being a decent human being seems an honourable goal (i like the british spelling better) but, i dont know, i need something more. i will let you know when i figure it out.

i love you all, thank you again.

maybe from now on i will live up to life

findingoutwhomyrealfriendsare

soft