Depression, Fear and the War on Terror
In the last couple of posts I’ve outlined possible reasons why the US appears to lead the world in depression. I would like to talk a little on how the war on terror fits into this equation.
We’ve covered in depth how fear, uncertainty and being lied to contribute towards a person developing feelings of helplessness and hopelessness which often lead to depression. The war on terror is definitely filled with fear and uncertainty and appears to be filled with a lot of deception and inaccurate information.
One of the consequences on the war on terror is a sense of perpetually being vigilant and on alert. Our need to develop elaborate means of establishing security has only added to the irony of how our vaulted freedom is supposedly preserved.
Despite having the highest prison population per capita in the world we are told we are the land of the free. We are also told that we are free only because we fight for our freedom, yet if we are perpetually at war, how can we be free? In the war on terror we are told we must sacrifice some of our freedoms and rights in exchange for our safety and freedom. Hardly a month goes by in which some security measure invading our privacy is introduced or revealed.
In the last post we talked of how sophisticated and prevalent it has become for our government to sell the public on a war or the need for a military intervention. Ever since the early 1900’s with the advent of the Council on Public Opinion (CPI) our government has spent much time and money in the development of public relations and propaganda techniques to influence and manage public opinion. The bulk of these efforts have been to find ways to convince democratic voters to tolerate and support the aggressive military policies of our government.
Most military actions we have taken in the last century have involved public relations campaigns to foster public support. Creating feeling of fear and hatred have been found to be the most effective means of swaying mothers to encourage their sons to go to war. Public support for war has usually been fostered by focusing on a single horrific event. As mentioned before the more years that pass after the event, the more likely we are to find out the event was not only exploited but often staged or even fabricated.
With this in mind, the underpinning of the war on terror become increasingly doubtful. Much of the fuel and sustenance for the war on terror was created by the events of 9/11. We are told that on that day we were attacked by terrorists. Since that day and its many horrific images burnt into our brains we have been told that we are at war, with terrorists all around the globe.
We are told that terrorists are everywhere and that our security and safety is threatened until the vast majority of terrorist leaders are ferreted out and destroyed. Though anyone could be a terrorist the standard profile involves someone who believes that we are evil and is willing to do anything to accomplish their goal of destroying us and our society. As proof of this we’re offered daily news items and testimonials of suicide bombers and religious fanatics that believe violent martyrdom is the most certain means of acquiring everlasting life or entry into heaven.
This dire and constant threat has been used to justify our need to move unilaterally and violate international law, invade sovereign nations, threaten and impose embargoes on nations which may harbor terrorists, torture, use banned weapons and strip individuals of their right to trial. The result of which is the killing and starvation of hundreds of thousands if not millions of innocent people around the globe, the escalation of ill will towards the US for its policies and practices, and the introduction of homeland security measures which increased fear levels while decreasing personal privacy for many law abiding citizens.
Due to the fact that terrorists would gladly sacrifice their lives to injure or terrorize even one American we have stepped up measures to protect our shores and insure that no US citizen has to endure another terrorist attack within our borders. Air travel in particular has been the focus of homeland security. The invasive searches and high tech checks of our air travelers have apparently been successful since no terrorists attacks have occurred since 9/11.
Yet, when we take into account the long history of US exaggeration and fabrication of information to acquire public support of its military ventures we have to question the very existence of an actual war with terrorists. Just as was the case in the great red scare of the 50’s is the current great terrorist scare mainly a PR fiction?
Let’s think for a moment about the fact that no terrorist attack has occurred since the lone attack almost a decade ago. So in the last nine years not one person or group has successfully staged an attack on US soil. This amazing accomplishment despite the fact that legions of angry terrorists and fundamentalist muslims would literally do anything to harm and scare us.
How can the US which on a daily basis has hundreds of illegal immigrants cross its borders along with tons of illegal weapons be so perfect in preventing terrorist attacks? If millions of people, who supposedly hate us and our freedom, are being promised entry into heaven by attacking us, then how are they not getting the job done? Couldn’t they cross our border’s by land or water? Couldn’t they hire someone who does regularly cross our borders to do their work?
How is this a war? Our actions are consistent with a war? We’re bombing, torturing, threatening and invading foreign lands. But where are the counter attacks? How can we say we are at war with a people who haven’t taken the offensive and attacked our land in over nine years?
I have no idea what happened on 9/11 other than the towers were hit by two planes and they crashed killing a few thousand innocent people. I also know that a third sky scraper fell that day despite not being hit by a plane.
I do have difficulty accepting the explanations of how the towers fell because they defy the basic laws of physics. I have no belief that I know the real story, I only know that skyscrapers do not fall due to fires in such an manner in a few hours. Neither the planes nor fires pass logical muster as a cause, nor the small fires in the third building to merit its full collapse. Skyscrapers throughout the globe that have caught fire have raged for days sometimes leaving a hollow shell, but have never collapsed. Why were these the first?
The buildings themselves collapsed in near perfect demolition fashion, and almost at the speed of gravity (free fall). The pancake collapse we’re led to believe occurred would have taken longer to happen and the impacts over a number of floors would have been visually noticeable.
The towers were brought down by other methods. I can’t say how or why, or who did it, but it concerns me that we are not being told a reasonable explanation. Why we are being lied to is what is most alarming? Yet, the explanations for events which have been used to garner public opinion to go to war have always been distorted and inaccurate.
We live in a culture where we are being taught to fear and hate others and not to trust any other nation on the planet. We always have to be on guard and vigilant. We are seldom told the truth. Sometimes we are deceived to protect us, get our vote, or just to get us to buy one product over another. Yet, in most cases we are not privy to the truth, but rather given a healthy helping of spin and propaganda.
All of this helps explain why depression is rising in an epidemic fashion in the US.
I apologize to anyone offended by anything I said in this post. The purpose was to postulate some of the reasons why our nation is becoming a depressed one. I’m neither a republican nor a democrat, and the latter part of the post was not intended to be political, but rather an attempt to explore some of the habits and practices in our culture which could help promote depression as a social phenomenon.
Jim Guido