You injure yourself, and in that first moment, there is nothing in the world but your pain. You grimace, curse, and wish the hurt would just go away. But what’s worse than feeling pain, is not feeling it when you need to. People who have CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis) live each day with the possibility that something they can’t sense is killing them. Pain, though unpleasant and sometimes debilitating, is at times, necessary. It is our body’s way of warning us.
Fear, though unpleasant and sometimes debilitating, is an equally valuable instrument of preservation. When we are cut, it is natural to cry out in pain; and when those who would cherish our destruction threaten us, we ought to be afraid.
In February of 2004, NYU held a conference about fear. The conference was called “Fear: Its Uses and Abuses.” In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, posters with crude caricatures of Japanese and Nazis appeared with “Warning! Our homes are in danger now!” Exclamation points at the beginning and close of the warning, in case the message escaped us. It was called propaganda. As reported in the New York Times, in an article by Edward Rothstein, (propaganda’s) “accepted function was to galvanize, urge, justify, remind and yes, frighten.” (italics mine)
After the Second World War, with Truman’s approval rating in national polls falling more than 50 points, the president and his secretary of state, Dean Acheson, called in Senator Arthur Vandenberg, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and explained to him how the Communists were establishing a beachhead in Greece that would threaten all of Western Europe. According to Tim Weiner, author of %%AMAZON=038551445X Legacy of Ashes%%: “The U.S. was going to have to find a way to save the free world-and Congress would have to pay the bill.” Senator Vandenberg replied ”Mr. President, the only way you are going to get this is to make a speech and scare the hell out of the country.” On March 12, 1947 the president made that speech to a joint session of Congress. He argued that money needed to be sent to Greece, because they “were threatened by the terrorist activities of thousands of armed men.” Thus the president’s decision with Congressional approval led to one of the early battles against Soviet domination. These cold and not so cold wars would last for more than 50 years, culminating in the Soviet Empire’s defeat. Fear was the lubricant. At times there was domestic overreaction as the rise of politicians like McCarthy and Nixon took advantage of the fear. And grievous mistakes were made that scarred many of my generation and I daresay our nation. But our nation survived the excesses and survived the Soviet threat.
After September 11, with the emerging threat of Islamic terrorism becoming more manifest in the public mind (many of us took this threat more seriously than others prior to this atrocity), what sticks out most immediately is how, again according to Edward Rothstein, there were “[s]o few examples of graphic American propaganda and none using ethnic or racial caricatures. Yet beginning with Al Gore, who delivered the keynote address at the Conference, the former vice president asserted again and again that the American government is preoccupied with instilling fear.” The conference was essentially about fear being encouraged by our government and exacerbated by the media. It was compared with the irrational fear of Communism and the perversions of McCarthyism.”
The goal of the conference promoters was clear to me. Indeed we now all have reason to be afraid. But apparently we’re afraid of different things. Some factions are less concerned with the folks who have declared war on us and who are determined to kill us, our children and our civilization. These factions have chosen our elected government, chosen by us to secure and defend us, to be their adversary. Evidently my fear was rational. I just had the wrong enemy in my sights. To which my grandfather would have responded, had he been born elsewhere and not in a shtetl, “poppycock.”
When I hear the word fear, mongering is not far behind. I’ve always had a predilection for the word monger. In England one doesn’t necessarily go to buy fish at a store but one goes to a fish-monger. Thus any dealer or trader in a specified commodity is a monger. Monger, cute, quaint but unfortunately taking on ominous tones these days. The second definition, offered by many dictionaries is: a person who promotes a specified activity, situation, or feeling, esp. one that is undesirable or discreditable: rumor monger/warmonger.
Of course the experts at fear mongering are our parents. “If you cross the street when the light is red you will most likely be hit by a car” or when they tried to instill fear by warning us we had a choice-be naughty or nice-choose naughty and you’re shut out of holiday cheer and toys-be nice and you’ll be rewarded. Parents-the root of all fear mongering. Philip Larkin lives.
So pace Franklin Roosevelt, apparently the only thing to fear these days is not the people pointing a gun at our heads and threatening to kill us, our children and themselves but our president and everyone running as a Republican this year. The only thing they have to sell is fear-mongering, so say the fearless critics.
Jeb, now you’re simply echoing the EUro multi-culti elite. To solely place the blame at the feet of European institutions is to absolve Islam of its responsibilities. While freewheeling welfare, Western self-loathing, multicultural worship, high unemployment, and loose immigration policy do play a role, you simply can’t assert that Islam has nothing to do with it. Fundamentalist immigration with Wahhabi funding is never a good mix. Rather than list a thousand facts on why modern Islamic immigration is different and worse than other types of immigration, let me simply submit to you that other minorities have had a much better go at living in peace with their native European neighbors. And they certainly don’t DEMAND accomodation, like their Muslim peers.
Considering that the US entered WWI about 4 years after its start, your question is sort of a strawman. That’s a long time for other factors to play a role.
Ron, your right on the money.
Oh, and BTW…
“I am legend”-Will Smith!
This is sooo off topic, but within the bounds of the “culture war”.
I just saw “I am legend”.
American Flags proudly displayed every where from start to finish.
There was a genuine family prayer to GOD in the middle of the action.
NOT ONE single ANTI-Bush/Republican/America item in the whole film.
And…It’s awesome!!
Ron, if ya see Will, tell him Steve Comins loved it!
Oh, and the reason a child touches the stove ONE TIME is due to fear. It is our friend. It keeps us safe. I want the nation afraid of Islam. If we dont fear the people who want us in berkas, the people who want Ron and I dead ’cause we are Jews, then all America is lost.
Ron, please make a movie about an America in the future that has given up to Islam…
Steve
It does seem a paradox that so many of the first tier actors like Marlon Brando, Sean Penn, Robert Redford. and, at the other extreme, Mel Gibson are such jerks politically despite their undeniable talent. And a second tier actor like Ronald Reagan has achieved the kind of greatness and historical significance that they can imitate on the screen but not in their public pronouncement.
You would do better to read what I actually wrote.
Many of the institutional barriers to integration in Europe countries are lower or absent in the US consequently we have done far better at integrating immigrants of all religious backgrounds.
Read about the Paris riots to see why you are wrong on this point. There have been some incidents that were sparked by religious tensions, but they are in the minority. Poverty, unemployment, addiction, and having no stake in the society at large play a much larger role. Fundamentalist Islam does pose some problems in European immigrant communities, but the level of those problems is not at the level that Anon’s histrionics suggest nor are they at the level you apparently think they are.
Re: WWII
How about France and the UK then? Did they pick the wrong side, ultimately forcing us to come in on the wrong side?
Anon,
The child, however, is not well served by a phobia of stoves. Much better that the child learns what is dangerous about the stove, what is good about the stove, and acts accordingly rather than hating and wanting to destroy all stoves.
Mr. Silva, or Ron:
I could not agree more with the sentiment expressed here by several folks:
Give serious consideration to running for office, I am sure we would disagree on certain topics, but this country needs folks with clear rather than fractured thinking. I hope you will consult your master mind -group, see Earl Nightingale “The Greatest Secret” and take a shot at this. good luck and keep writing.
I agree almost totally with you on this. However I cannot support HOW the administration has gone about it. The corruption, scandle and soldier-killing bad planning has been staggering! First of all I still believe that we should have focussed on Afganistan first. We were actually welcomed and had a good chance of makng a stable, secular nation there. If G. W. succeeds it will only be by stumbling into it, not by smart, or ethical planning by the highest powers. It will be because the Iraqi people are sick of death and the American SOLDIERS do triple duty to offset the Admins horrible lack of respect for them.
I think I understand the choices yu have made though. Like Heinlein supporting Goldwater; You feel that of the, not so quality, choices The Rebubs are the best to deal with this issue at this time. I can’t say I totally disagree. Though given the climate of 2001 I felt more that it was good that a Rebub. was in office simply because they had proven with CLinto that reality meant NOTHING compared to political victory. They would have hounded Gore no matter WHAT he had doen and kept anything from being accomplished all to prevent a Democratic victory. Do you really think the Party that had hounded a sitting president for 8 years would have let his former VP score a coup the magnitude of winning a war?
Why not be mad at the sorry bastard when he makes it so damn hard to talk to Liberals about the Muslim reality? Why not be mad at the Coulter’s et al. who do their best to keep us all polarized over gays and God and not focussed on COMMON enemies? I certainly agree with you on one thing though. You can’t TALK to either side. To the Lefties you are Joe McCarthy crossed with Nixon crossed with Newt Gingrich and to the Foaming Righties you are as Liberal as Marx and as spinless as a jellyfish.
I do share the belief (hope?) though that our system WILL keep us from swinging too far to one side or the other.
Oh, I also have always enjoyed your movies. You have a great taste in scripts and directors from what I have seen : – )
Mr. Silver–
Thanks for putting your thoughts to page once again. You have elevated the dialogue.
Just as the VENOVA files, released in 1995, proved how massive the Soviet intrusion was into our government was, so too will future release of secret NSA intercepts in this war do a similmar job vindicating our government’s vigilance.
Since FDR had Nazi spies shot within weeks of capture he would not have thought twice about waterboarding KSM. No Habeaus Corpus for them. No ACLU lawyers in the wings.
Even if these facts were presented to them, the Krugmans of the world would remain in denial of the world as it is. Krugman would remain in constant suspicion of our leaders, not of our adversaries. It is theoretical to him. Iran is a “peace-loving nation” because they say so. Just as the Soviets did in 1962. Word for word. Look that up–Pravda
“…Civil libertarians do not deny that FISA hampers our ability to counter terrorists. Citing the abuses alleged by the Church Committee, however, they argue that chronic insecurity is the price we must pay to preserve our liberties.
But the U.S. was not a fascist dictatorship before Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter rode to the rescue. Our current surveillance rules are neither constitutionally required, nor traditionally American. They were observed neither by Mr. Kennedy’s elder brothers, nor by any presidents or attorneys general before the Carter presidency. For the first two centuries of our country’s history, threats to our national security were countered without warrant. And the Supreme Court, from Olmstead v. U.S. (1928) to U.S. v. U.S. District Court (1972), has allowed warrantless surveillance in national security, as opposed to criminal, investigations…”
–Mark Riebling
“Uncuff the FBI”
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110001797
Those who are so ready to use FDR’s admonishment against fear fail to recognize the context in which it was made. It was made in the face of snowballing economic woes largely brought about by mass panic and initially unreasonable fear leading to self-fulfilling prophesy. Failing banks in the Depression were often a result of fear-driven runs (see “It’s a Wonderful Life” again, if you need a dramatized example). The problem is they try to offer the advice as pablum for all situations. One should note, however, that this was not the speech FDR gave after 12/7.
I agree with Christopher. This piece was brilliant and hits the nail right on the head. What I fear most right now is the optimistic blindness that leads people to think that the current administration is over-reacting and that if we just get out of Iraq everything will be OK. I also fear that right now we need a hero in the White House — a veritable superman who will open America’s eyes and make them understand that ALL OF US have to be alert, determined, and ready to fight to maintain our way of life — but none of the presidential candidates seem ready or willing to don that red cape.
I’ve quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2007/12/re-fear.html
Mr. Silver I’ve looked in vain for future articles, I hope you are saving up for a new round. Any comment on David Mamet’s becoming a Libertarian?
Fine, let’s fight Islamo-fascism, or whatever you want to call it. But what did Iraq have to do with it? Saddam kept a lid on his own crazies and kept the crazies in Iran in check. We should have invaded Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and took their oil instead.
RON, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Ben Franklin
This administration has constantly and shamefully played the fear card. Thanks, but I won’t be surrending my rights just to feel better.
NY Times
Published: September 11, 2008
Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits to Soviet Spying
NY Times
Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits to Soviet Spying
September 11, 2008
LA Times
Case Closed Rosenberger were Soviet Spies
By Ronald Radosh
September 17, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-radosh17-2008sep17,0,864776.story
Julius and ethel Rosenberg were executed 55 years ago, on June 19, 1953. But last week, they were back in the headlines when Morton Sobell, the co-defendant in their famous espionage trial, finally admitted that he and his friend, Julius, had both been Soviet agents.
It was a stunning admission; Sobell, now 91 years old, had adamantly maintained his innocence for more than half a century. After his comments were published, even the Rosenbergs’ children, Robert and Michael Meeropol, were left with little hope to hang on to — and this week, in comments unlike any they’ve made previously, the brothers acknowledged having reached the difficult conclusion that their father was, indeed, a spy. “I don’t have any reason to doubt Morty,” Michael Meeropol told Sam Roberts of the New York Times.
With these latest events, the end has arrived for the legions of the American left wing that have argued relentlessly for more than half a century that the Rosenbergs were victims, framed by a hostile, fear-mongering U.S. government. Since the couple’s trial, the left has portrayed them as martyrs for civil liberties, righteous dissenters whose chief crime was to express their constitutionally protected political beliefs. In the end, the left has argued, the two communists were put to death not for spying but for their unpopular opinions, at a time when the Truman and Eisenhower administrations were seeking to stem opposition to their anti-Soviet foreign policy during the Cold War.
Fear is a motivational tool that works well when thoughtfull strategy, common sense and deliberation are present. Otherwise it is a knee jerk reaction that will multiply original problem many fold. If there isnt sound cohesive strategy in place to offer as the solution, we end up with far more issues to handle.
This was written in early December 2007, the news of Fed transferring over 2 trillion out of the banking system was public in December of 2008, after this was written. While we were being told to be afraid, the federal reserve was looting the credit system, which has caused massive worldwide banking crisis and credit collapse. Americans were being told to fear Muslim extremists, nobody told us to fear International Bankers.
This is the achilles Heel of strategy based on Fear, it diverts attention from balance of issues and problems that may be more relevant.
RIP Ron.
Good night, sweet prince…
Good night, sweet prince…RIP
Ron Silver,
As they say, only the GOOD Die Young.
You will be missed, Sir. May Baruch HaShem bless you and comfort your family.
Alan Rockman
I think there should have been a bolder note somewhere that this was “in memorium”…some of the commenters here seem to be expecting Ron Silver to respond to them. Talk about cognitive dissonnance.
Dear Ron,
I’ve always enjoyed watching you perform, and I’m very saddened to hear of your passing. Rest in peace my friend.
-Patrick
@ 74 wpb
Given that the date of Post 68 was Sept 2008, and that Post 69 forward, all of which recognize that Mr Silver is no longer with us, are dated from March 15th 2009… your comment doesn’t make a damn bit of sense, you elitest poser.
Triton
Dear Sir,
I hope we’ll meet in the next World. May God bless you and your family.
יהי זכרך ברוך
Rest in peace…you will be missed.
I created an online memorial for Ron. Please visit and leave a message, light a candle, etc. Thanks.
http://www.ilasting.com/ronsilver.php
Gone too soon and what a beautiful mind.
I created an online memorial for Ron.
http://www.ilasting.com/ronsilver.php
God bless Ron Silver.
The man was truly a mensch.
May his sweet soul forever rest in peace.