Fear of terrorism

Wednesday
February
20
2008



San Mateo Daily Journal

Home
Local News
State / National / World
Sports
Opinion / Letters
Business
Arts / Entertainment





Letters to the editor

Politicians play on people’s fear of terrorism

Editor,

Everyone was under observation in Orwell’s 1984, being watched at any time, and that’s how it’s becoming in many big cities around the world — and little ones as well. The fear of criminals or terrorists has infected society after society, and instead of teaching their citizens right from wrong or providing enough money and jobs for them so that they don’t have to turn to crime, they’re investing in surveillance equipment instead, so they can catch them when they do wrong.


It’s a culture of fear. Americans are afraid of terrorists or terrorism, and their government plays on those fears. In fact, it manipulates their fears, and even works to heighten them. That’s what helps to keep politicians in office: “Vote for me, because I can protect you. My opponent, on the other hand, is soft on terrorism.” And many people just don’t realize that they’re being bamboozled — that they’re giving up their money, their freedom, their privacy, their rights, to protect them from a threat that’s less likely to strike them than a bolt of lightning.


Ted Rudow III,MA


Menlo Park