Thirteen Days and Culture of Fear
February 18, 2003
I have been reading this book called Thirteen Days by Robert Kennedy about the Cuban Missile Crisis. The situation right now with Iraq made me interested in it. As you know, I do not support war at all. I do not think that a person has a right to take another person's life and definately people who did not cause this war in the first place. I think it's the leader's duty to try to prevent war instead of provoking it. However, I do agree that Iraq should not have chemical or atomic weapons. If we have to use force to get rid of them, then so be it. What would happen if they used such weapons would be much more catastrophic. But I do wish that war would be a last resort and hopefully avoided. Hmm... what do you think on the matter? I'd like to know.
I have to say that I admire the way President Kennedy handled the situation. It seems as though we had an honorable president. Here are a few quotes that I wanted to share with you:
"...[We] should not close our eyes to the fact that we could have ohter missile crises in the future--different kinds, no doubt, and under different circumstances. But if we are to be successful then, if we are going to preserve our own national security, we will need friends, we will need supporters, we will need countries that believe and respect us and will follow our leadership".
"At the outbreak of the First World War the ex-Chancellor of Germany, Prince von Bulow, said to his successor, 'How did it all happen?' 'Ah, if only we knew,' was the reply".
"Miscalculation and misunderstanding and escalation on one side bring a counterresponse. No action is taken against a powerful adversary in a vacuum. A government or people will fail to understand this only at their great peril. For that is how wars begin-- wars that no one wants, no one intends, and no one wins".
"The possibility of the destruction of mankind was always in his [President Kennedy's] mind. Someone once said that World War Three would be fought with atomic weapons and the next war with sticks and stones".
The Culture of Fear
February 23, 2003
Now that I finished Thirteen Days, I've started reading a book called The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassener. The title explains the book, and I think it's true. Americans are a culture of fear. I've always thought this. My mom always tells me about how we should be doing this and that to keep from getting some illness or another. I do not want to live my life doing all sorts of things to prevent diseases. Thank you, but I'll stick to my daily vitamin. I'll add some more quotes as I go through (I'm only on page 2 of the Introduction) so check back periodically.
"We compound our worries beyond all reason. Life expectancy in the United States has doubled during the twentieth century. We are better able to cure and control diseases than any other civilization in history. Yet we hear that phenomenal numbers of us are dreadfully ill. In 1996 Bob Garfield, a magazine writer, reviewed articles about serious diseases published over the course of a year in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and USA Today. He learned that, in addition to 59 million Americans with heart disease, 53 million with migraines, 25 million with osteoporosis, 16 million with obesity, and 3 million with cancer, many Americans suffer from more obscure ailments such as temporomandibular joint disorders (10 million) and brain injurires (2 million). Adding up the estimates, Garfield determined that 543 million Americans are seriously sick- a shocking number in a nation of 266 million inhabitants. 'Either as a society we are doomed, or someone is seriously double-dipping,' he suggested."
Love,
Lemme