That's right, "Fear, Inc." -- a consortium of politicians, press, police, advertising, insurance, healthcare, and numerous other components of our society, each with a vested interest in promoting fear -- has finally found a king and court in this Administration. And that is largely because this Administration is afraid itself. It's nothing more than a clump of barroom bullies. Glenn Greenwald, Attacking Bush's only weapon: Fear.
Also, a request: Anyone here remember the symposium or conference Al Gore gave in 2004 on fear in politics? On February 9, 2004, on the eve of the Tennessee primary, Gore gave what many consider his harshest criticism of the president yet when he accused George W. Bush of betraying the country by using the 9/11 attacks as a justification for the invasion of Iraq. "He betrayed this country!" Mr. Gore shouted into the microphone. "He played on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place."
Al Gore Speaks on Fear:
It's Political Uses and Abuses
I bring this up not so much because of Gore's speech, however good it may have been, but because I was listening to the introducer or MC before Gore spoke and he mentioned several "white papers" on this subject of "fear in politics" by several political scientists, who had done groundbreaking academic work in this area. However, he never mentioned who they were or how to follow up on it. It has been like a splinter in my mind ever since. Anybody got any clues on how to find these research papers?
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