All Posts Tagged With: "fear"

A reader of The Daily Dish writes about the possibility of a Sarah Palin vice presidency
sinking in:

It dawned on me this morning just how bad a pick Sarah Palin is. Driving to work, I realized that I understand the pertinent issues of the day far more than she does. I realized that I would be a better pick for VP. In that moment: fear.

Who knew that John McCain’s VP pick could do so much to improve the standing of the current occupant of the White House in the competency department?

Just like many other people, I am the recipient of many, many forwarded emails with stories that are deemed to be so important that they “must” be passed on to everyone else I know. Typically, stories include the phrases “not a joke” and/or “this is true” are a tipoff that they are just another viral myth.

After receiving one this morning (from a well-meaning friend), I thought I would start a new ongoing “mythbuster” feature on this blog in which I check out suspect stories and share the results here. The first story to kick this inaugural edition is…

The Budweiser Story
(not a joke)

This is TRUE!

How Budweiser handled those who laughed at those who died on the 11th of September, 2001…

Thought you might like to know what happened in a little town north of Bakersfield , California . After you finish reading this, please forward this story on to others so that our nation and people around the world will know about those who laughed when they found out about the tragic events in New York , Pennsylvania , and the Pentagon.

Continued

Often when I read about some of the more outrageous episodes in history, I find myself trying to figure out how the irrational and unthinkable became everyday reality.

I can tell you that the last few years have been eye-opening about how seemingly rational people can succumb to irrational behavior. The key seems to be fear and paranoia. It’s amazing and fascinating just how powerful a motivator fear and paranoia can be, allowing people to suspend rational reasoning, common sense and even their moral compass.

The McCarthy era is a great example of how fear-mongering can result in a suspension of reason and the very ideals that this fear is trying to protect. In an effort to root out “un-American” Americans, the crusaders against America’s enemies themselves engaged in actions and activities that violated the very principles they were purporting to protect and defend.

During this time many thousands of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person’s real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment, destruction of their careers, and even imprisonment. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts later overturned, laws that would be declared unconstitutional, dismissals for reasons later declared illegal or actionable, or extra-legal procedures that would come into general disrepute. [source: Wikiepedia; emphasis mine]

As I read about this era during high school and college history classes, I wondered how something so absurd and un-American could ever happen. After the last few years, I wonder no more. Continued

Tonight’s the night. I go to the sleep clinic for my doctor-prescribed sleep study. I’m not looking forward to it at all. As I mentioned previously, I hate the thought of someone seeing me sleep — and when I say hate, I mean obsessively abhor. You can ask anyone in my family and they will tell you that no matter how tired I may be, I fight as hard as I can to stay awake if I’m anywhere but my own bed because I don’t want others to see (or worse, hear) me sleeping.

Tonight, the whole focus of my going is for someone to actively watch and monitor my sleeping. The very thought could potentially keep me awake if it wasn’t for the fact that I am so utterly exhausted. Even so, I’ve been fretting this all week and at a much more heightened state of anxiety for most of today. Even now, my stomach is churning. I wouldn’t be doing it if it weren’t absolutely necessary. Continued

Given all the rhetoric of fear we’ve heard from the Hillary Clinton camp lately, including the now infamous “3 a.m.” campaign ad (see the second video below), it was interesting to hear Bill Clinton say these words…

Now, one of Clinton’s laws of politics is this. If one candidate is trying to scare you and the other one is try get you to think, if one candidate is appealing to your fears and the other one is appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope.

Continued