Ask Americans living in the South of a certain age and they can tell you tales of hysteria. I was six when the Cuban Missil e Crisis emerged. I lived in Odessa, Texas, smack in the middle of the Permian Oil Field. Although at the edge of the project limits of missiles being sneaked onto Cuban soil by the Russians, the fear was palpable. The idyllic childhood of wandering the neighborhood for a short time shifted to parents needing to know EXACTLY where you were....in case.
My six year old mind didn't have the life experience to construct what "in case" actually meant. My Dad, a WWII veteran of the Occupation of Japan had seen actual death. Little was said about the Japanese snipers picking off American personnel after Hirohito surrendered, but I know my Dad, then 19 years old and from a small Texas town, saw enough that he would have been labeled as having PTSD today. My Dad sent for plans to build a bombshelter in our backyard. He told me it was a clubhouse but I could read the plans. Luckily the crisis resolved. But we still had drills every year for the rest of the time I was in school.
Flash forward ten to fifteen years. We lived in Dallas. I attended high school. Some kids in the school were embracing attitudes of rebellion. We had multiple bomb scares my last two years of high school. A cousin of mine was in college when Weather Underground blew up a lab. Vietnam and the incessant imagery pushed on the evening news made the war there seem dire and imminent. The aftermath of political intrigue forced people to take sides while still embracing the veneer of social civility.
Books like "The Late Great Planet Earth" and odd/even gas lines pushed a panic harder. Some adamantly demanded immediate change without any evidence the changes they asked for would even effect the change needed. People began to panic. They bought dangerous cars and took ridiculous risks based on their level of acceptance of the veracity of the crises presented every day on the evening news.
This hysteria led to others. Water, air and food became suspect. We were told sugar, salt, fat, red meat and non GMO vegetables were dangerous, often without any validity. And often the preachers of these new dogmas had a vested interest in getting people to avoid these Some people went completely off the rails seeking religions or charismatic charlatans to fulfill their lives and cancel their sense of dread.
First there was Desert Storm. I remember packing a box with my kids to be sent to military personnel for the holidays. One colonel sent back a Blphoto of the camel he had to ride to surveil forward areas. The public was engaged, fearful that the previous atrocities such as the Achille Lauro and the bombing of the barracks wouldn't happen closer to home. Again much of the mentality was to protect the homefront. We wanted to keep families safe. We wanted to keep danger far away.
Then there was 9/11. And Katrina. And Super Storm Sandy. Danger from violence and nature were at our doors. Instead of addressing the actual needs, media and politicians used these opportunities to garner support. I'm sure people in NYC still remember 9/11 and don't understand why people in government seem to be on an increasing path to cloud that memory. I'm sure people in New Orleans remember Katrina and think the same. No doubt places like Port Aransas and Houston think similar things about Hurricane Harvey and the California folks feel the same sense of dread over their fire seasons of the past few years. What all these catastrophes share is a combination of natural disaster paired with people attempting to use the opportunities to shape political opinions. The media has created this mindset of constant panic because it makes the media a necessary means of finding out what was "really going on."
But was the media telling the whole story? Did they tell an entirely accurate story by telling public that George Bush had the levees bombed to inundate the Ninth Ward of NOLA? Did they tell the truth when they ignore the desertification of the California Central Valley to provide water for coastal elite's lush lifestyles? If the media has cultivated a need for the Public to listen, they also hold an enormous amount of power to sway public opinion using images and cherrypicking facts for specific goals. This cynical approach to using the Public by only telling some of the truth instead of all of it, has created a monster.
Today, too many people are tied to whatever curated slate of information strokes their personal views. Few read opposing views and social media has become more or less a big street fight with some at the top egging on others while social media heads decide whose voice is worthy and whose is not. This is where we are. And depending on who you believe, you are either out and about without a mask or you are huddled in your home masking even while you sleep.
Some states have lifted the requirements to mask. That is their choice. My own state Texas has done so much to my relief. While I won't vilify someone who chooses to mask, masks only made my asthma and coughing worse. I've had COVID. I've had both shots. I have no symptoms and frankly I don't believe the entire asymptomatic claims were valid and I think they'll be stashed away under the heading of unfounded suspicions. While you are free to cover up your face, there is no reason for me to cover mine. We used to be a nation founded on freedom and autonomy. Why are we letting petty tyrants stampeded us into hysteria? That is what this has become-a year of operant conditioning in order to create hysteria and make it easy to pick off the non-compliant.
Is this what you want for your children and grandchildren? Snap out of it. Or get counseling.
