Fear (and Loathing)

When teased about
smelly feet, she stabs
teaser in the back.

I am not one of those who has been driven by (false) fears into believing that Iraq was a threat, Iran is a threat, or Muslims are about to take over the world, nor I have worried needlessly about “Death Panels,” the threat of Gay marriage, or (gasp) the horrors of socialism. I have not been fearful of terrorists either, assuming I would have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than being harmed by a terrorist. Neither am I afraid we are being led by an anti-colonial Luo tribesman who is also a secret Muslim fascist, socialist, communist, creature from outer space. Until now I believe I have not been fearful at all.

Now, for the first time, I am beginning to experience real genuine palpable fear. This is a result of the recently concluded primary season where so many so-called Tea Party candidates won nominations. I find this shocking and fearful for a variety of reasons, the main one being my belief that most of these candidates are either religious lunatics or persons so incredibly ignorant and full of hate they might do anything to further their delusions of grandeur. Just who, for example, is Sarah Palin to presume to perhaps run for the Presidency of our nation? She was already found completely inappropriate as a Vice-Presidential candidate, too incompetent to ever be President, has demonstrated no particular growth since then, and just keeps on babbling about things she knows virtually nothing about: economics, foreign policy, health care, science, and so on. She has no qualifications for the Presidency and yet she has managed to gather a rather large following and has influence with many people. Now we have a sort of clone in Christine O’Donnell, a woman even less qualified for office than Palin, whose views are so extreme even Karl Rove described her as loony (but apparently not loony enough to keep the Republicans from supporting her). Each of these recent Tea Party winners has one or more beliefs and/or intentions that are diametrically opposed to the best interest of our citizens and our nation, and often at odds with even common sense or reason.

My fear, then, is that these holier-than-thou, racist, know-nothing, religious, backward-looking freaks may actually win and thus be able to influence the direction of our country. I cannot conceive of a worse future. We have enough of these morons in Congress already. It is not only their particular beliefs, which I believe are completely misguided, that bother me, nor is it that they individually exist, it is the fact they do not exist in a vacuum that is so terrifying. They have followers, ignorant people like themselves who apparently hold similar views and support and make their candidacies possible. That is what is so frightening (and almost impossible for me to believe). What this indicates to me is that here in the United States, supposedly the greatest and most powerful country on earth, a country that is not shy about boasting about its superiority, and tries to export it at the point of a gun to others, has such large number of people who are appallingly ignorant and who take pride in their ignorance. This is, after all, the 21st century. Anyone who believes in creationism, the literal truth of the Christian bible, the earth is only 6000 years old, dinosaurs and humans existed contemporaneously, Blacks or browns or others are inherently inferior to whites, Muslims are about to take over our country and should not be allowed to enter our hallowed ground, who refuse to accept scientific evidence about the state of the world, and so on, are simply not fit to hold important public offices. These are people who want to have leaders who are just as misinformed and ignorant as they are, someone they can have a beer with, that, in short, value ignorance over knowledge. This is not a formula for the modern world or for good government. If these people should become a majority and take over our country we will inexorably be led to disaster if not worse. I am for the first time seriously fearful for the future. I don’t know why, I am much too old to be concerned about the future. I don’t even buy green bananas.

LKBIQ:
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.

Ernest Benn

TILT:
New World coral snakes possess the most powerful venom of all New World snakes.