S. T. Karnick makes an interesting point in the context of an essay on the new popularity of zombies:
Both the zombie appeal and the swine flu fears are caused by two things: the news media’s increasing use of scare tactics in trying to lure audiences, and the socialists’ continuous use of fearmongering to press for political power. In their neverending quest to wrest more power by creating what H. L. Mencken correctly characterized as an endless series of hobgoblins requiring a socialist elite’s powers to destroy, the socialists and their media satraps continually raise fears of everything conceivable:
medical and public-health scares from Alar in apples to Gulf War Syndrome to Asian flu to swine flu
all-out nuclear war it never happened because both sides indeed knew it would be catastrophic and wouldn’t get them what they wanted
a housing “crisis” that could hit innocent homeowners and investors as opposed to being the necessary consequences of irresponsible actions by lenders and borrowers and bring down the entire economy
the earth overheating and killing all life on the planet
. . . and so on and so on for decade after decade.
This habit of the political elites and mainstream media is quite sufficient to account for the dominant sense of unease and constant fear one can see among much of the contemporary American public.
The irony is that for the public to give in to this scam would be the one sure way for the zombies to win.
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Although this isn’t new. Bush did the same thing with his war on terror wording.
Secularists, who essentially worship mammon, have little defense against the zombie scares, as they lack the capability to understand the Cross and to truly put their faith in God. They easily give in to the assorted counsels of fear and are willing to hand over authority the state. This is at base what happened in the first half of the Twentieth Century with Communism and National Socialism.
Bush dealt with with the very real threat of terrorism. I for one am glad that he dealt strongly He laid out in clear statements the nature of the threat; his response to it was on balance measured and restrained.
What the heck is going on. I’ve tried twice to contribute to this thread and have come up dry.
The author needs to reduce his caffeine intake.
Peter (@2), my previous attempts at commenting didn’t show up either. We were both probably trying to make the same point, too.
Strange. And we can’t blame Intense Debate this time! I’ll look into why we are still having problems commenting.
tODD, maybe some wise moderator has figured out that our comments are worthless.
The ‘left’ are afraid of their own shadows.
They thrive on fear, and being able to tell you how to live your life that you might become more safe.
That the fullness of your life will be greatly degraged over these Chicken Little pronouncements only serves to prop up their sense of superiority and control over you.
You mean to say Big Media and socialists are colluding. Thank heavens for Fox news. I always thought the Cuban missile crisis was a beat up. AS for global warming, if I had to choose between the views of Glen Beck or a scientist, I know who I would choose.
I’m sorry, but anyone who refers to the “continuous use of fearmongering to press for political power” and can only see it applying to “socialists” is not someone I can take seriously.
And no, this isn’t just a “Bush did it, too”, thing. But the author’s inability to see that, yes, Bush did it too, renders it a near certainty that he is a partisan hack.
i do hope that everyone here considers fox as part of the mainstream media. I see all the points you made here as being true, and I also see that the republicans have also perfected fear-mongering. this is one thing that , unfortunately, rises above partisan politics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpU8sX10_4
everyone knows that zombie is merely a code word for democrat. watch the video and tell me I am wrong!