Sunday, June 9, 2013

IS FEAR A LUXURY?

Is fear controlling our life?  Fear of what the neighbors will think?  Fear our expressing our own opinions? Fear of thinking what we're thinking? 

On Facebook, cute pet and kid photos are far more popular than hard topics such as environmental pollution or other political issues.  I sorta get it, there is that need to have that light conversation with the neighbor, exchange family news, feel alive even though you don't see the person in the flesh.  Sometimes I feel it's a "like" contest.  How many people will have pressed the "like" button for my topic?  I get caught in the game from time to time.  But I feel there should be a balance between silliness and heaviness, between humor and seriousness.

Facebook should be a place where participants should show they are engaged into these extremely difficult times.  It should be a place where they should be able to express their opinion without fear.  It should be a place of debate---at least more so than it is now.  Liberties have been removed from us little by little so we hardly realize that we are not as free as before.  Is that what prevents us from expressing ourselves?  Is this culture encouraging small talk (discouraging analysis) on purpose?

Diane Feinstein says of Obama's continuation of George W. Bush's Patriot Act that "[i]t's called protecting America."  Reassured?  Comforted?  If you check your history, you will see that protection is the justification of most dictatorships.

Fear at this point is a luxury.

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