FDR’s “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”, is one the most well-known presidential quotes. His words acted as reassurance to a nation that had come under the paralyzing clutches of fear. At the time, the people of the United States feared losing all their savings, and rushed to withdraw their money from banks. They faced an unknown enemy and consequently, made rash decisions out of fright. Flash-forward some 60 years and a similar situation presents itself: a President attempting to console a scared and grieving nation in the wake of terror attacks that claimed the lives of almost 3,000 people. However, this president has a different approach. Instead of attempting to allay fears, he stokes them saying “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” He changes the national attitude for years to come by turning foreign nations into hostile enemies, and raising the question of whether a foe is around every corner.
As the idiom goes, “hindsight is 20/20.” When looking back towards our actions following September 9, 2001, faults are easily found. Our change in ideal, our fear of an unknown enemy capable of the destruction witnessed on that day, caused our actions to be rash and potentially misguided. Even ten years after the incident, we continued to make decisions based on fear. Upon discovering the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, we were too fearful to risk bringing him back to the United States to have a “fair” trial (but then again, was there anything fair in the killing of 3,000 people?) Fear is a powerful motivator, especially to make hasty decisions on, and thus, leaves us with uncomfortable questions to ask ourselves.
It is uncomfortable for us to think that we could be in the wrong. It is uncomfortable for us to think that an event we feel pride in, could be an event we should feel shame over. It is uncomfortable to question whether we made a mistake so grand, that we cannot easily right it. The fact that these questions are uncomfortable make them even more important to consider. The ideals of former President Bush and MIT Professor Noam Chomsky represent two ends of a spectrum. Chomsky’s criticisms can be quite difficult to swallow but it is nonetheless vital that we ruminate over them. It is said that “absolute power corrupts absolutely”, and with a nation so powerful as the United States, it is necessary for us to check our own actions, lest we become like those we claim to oppose.
Such a great point about hindsight. When you read the commission report, no one who was in charge of anything important that day had ever predicted what actually occurred. Those who were in charge of: how to deal with hijackers on airplanes, how and when to scramble aircraft in the event of multiple emergencies in American airspace...how to fight a fire in a skyscraper in the middle of a crowded city, when it's been hit with a jet somewhere around the 80th floor...none of this was predicted. Now, of course, we know what can happen. Good post, though please increase the font for us older (ehem) folks next time!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I disagree with Chomsky and his choices in comparisons, he does bring up some good points. I certainly agree that as a nation becomes more powerful, it acts with more disregard for what is right and wrong in an attempt to maintain power. Think back to the NSA scandal in which the NSA was searching through people's emails in order to search for terrorists. Searching through people's emails is a clear violation of a citizen's right to privacy, but the United States did it anyway. Why? In order to defend against terrorists and maintain power. I think most of us agree that we want to be safe from terrorists, but every once in a while, someone should point out the flaws of the government's actions so we don't end up like Oceania in 1984.
ReplyDeleteI really like your last paragraph for I completely agree that we are very uncomfortable feeling like we are in the wrong. As Americans, we always wanted to support our country and any decision our president makes whether it was the best one in that situation. We have a great deal of Nationalism and I am also very proud to be an American. I think the issue we need to be wary of, as you started to mention in your last sentence, is that we cannot let this pride blur our judgement of the rest of the world. We need to see every situation from a more general perspective, while of course the US has a valid reason for being involved we cannot instantly condemn the other side of the situation just because we are not allies with them in that moment. There are innocent people everywhere.
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