On fear

I wonder if you're as aware as I am, Bush, of the extent to which fear is growing in the psyche of this land? And I'm not speaking here of the fear of terrorists--the fear that you and your people sought so fervently to foster during your election campaign. No, I'm speaking rather of the fear of each other, and of the direction our country is taking under your aegis.

A small example, from a conversation yesterday: a good friend of ours was planning to go to Washington on January 20, to make a public demonstration of her disapproval of your policies at your inauguration. She made calls to a number of organizations with the intention of joining in their protests, but found they had no plans. (I imagine that would please you, Bush!) In any event, she finally cancelled her plan because she feared the treatment she might receive, as a single individual, if she were to be arrested. Knowing your peoples' propensity to associate dissent immediately with terrorism and treason, she was afraid that she could be simply "disappeared" for months or even years into a legal jungle with no recourse or protection.

Now you might scoff at such fears, Bush. But be aware at least that her fear was genuinely felt.

Another example: a not particularly religious acquaintance reports that he went, on Christmas Day, in the spirit of family, to attend a service at the church where a relative of his officiates. He was appalled to hear that relative pronounce, from the pulpit, in the guise of a sermon, his conviction that the Iraqis were a bunch of children who needed punishment from us to correct their bad behavior. Our acquaintance did not speak out, he said, against this kind of unreasonable prejudice and judgment, because of fear. He was afraid, in part, of offending his relative on a day of joy; but in part also of being identified as one who disagreed with the prevailing sentiment.

Small examples, Bush. And you might argue that our friends are simply lacking in the personal courage to speak out. But the examples are telling in the context of a multitude of similar small fears. And there is reason for fear.

There is reason for fear. There's reason for fear when men and women can be imprisoned without charges, without notice, and without legal representation. There's reason for fear when dissent is interpreted as a lack of patriotism, or worse. There's a reason for fear when judicial appointments promote ideology over qualifications and breadth of humanitarian compassion. There's reason for fear when you reward a general who speaks of the Iraq war as a "war on Satan" with promotion and, now, the prospect of an important position in your new administration. There's reason for fear when a Christian cleric believes that our government--your government, Bush! Not just Hollywood!--is dominated by Jews. There's reason to fear when our airwaves are awash in mostly unchallenged rage, and prejudice, and fear-mongering, and thinly-disguised hate.

Scratch the surface of America, Bush, and you'll find a culture of anger, a culture of xenophobic populist fervor, and a culture of growing fear.

And I personally fear--and I know that others share my fear--for the future of the world at large. I fear what might happen to our planet under the stewardship of those who care more for its exploitation for short-term commercial gain than for its preservation for the future of our species. I fear the plausible results of your impulsiveness, your certitude, your religiosity, your sense of divine mission in a hair-trigger world where reason risks being irretrievably replaced by fanaticism of one kind or another, and where the nuclear or the biological threat is never far from activation.

I have no wish to live in fear. I believe I have no shortage of personal courage, Bush. And yet I recognize to my dismay that fear plays a kind of constant bass line, mostly barely audible as such, but always present, in everything I say and do.

Not a cheerful note for the New Year, Bush, I think you'll agree. But I'm trying to be real.