[FoRK] Another one bites the dust

[Jeff Bone]

On Feb 27, 2008, at 5:33 PM, Stephen D. Williams wrote:

> Jeff Bone wrote:
>>
>> On Feb 27, 2008, at 11:09 AM, J. Andrew Rogers wrote:
>>
>>> I'm having a really hard time getting worked up over the quote.
>>
>> Even in context this quote is an example of some of the most  
>> pernicious right-thinking of the last several decades, namely:  
>> security needs justify any excess, any tyranny, etc. At the end of  
>> the day this may well be true, but this philosophy has been  
>> egregiously abused over the years and is to blame for the rampant  
>> fearmongering of the right.
> And nanny-state on the Left, no?

Absolutely.

Both sides want to "take care of you."  They both want to scare the  
shit out of you.  On the balance, it appears that the right has done a  
better job w/ the scaring;  witness the statistical risks associated  
w/ terror vs. the very personal fear that they've worked so hard to  
instill into the gullible American public;  my Mom won't even go to  
Manhattan despite the fact that she's in more danger of being killed  
by lightning living in West Texas...

> Both sides of that fear mongering and implicit promise of zero risk  
> through sacrifice of rights and freedom make me want to throw up.

Absolutely.

Blaming either isn't the same as giving the other side a free pass.

jb