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Sunday, December 05, 2004

Fear and Politics and the Political Body 

From my post on the Daily Kos today:

More importantly...
how do our current leaders help construct and build walls between people within our own borders? Fear is the primary weapon of choice now for one political party. It is an effective weapon and it is used well and the use of it has created divisions within our communities that need not be there.

Fear of the other. Fear of what is different from us.

Not to mention the use of fear in Iraq. Some of the overkill in the tactics of the Pentagon, such as the destruction of Falluja, are prized not for the numbers of insurgents killed, but the fear and terror they strike in the people. It seems our primary weapon now is to induce obedience through fear.

Madness, madness
Madness tight on the heads of the rebels
The bitterness erup's like a heart blas'
Broke glass, ritual of blood an' a-burnin'
Served by a cruelin' fighting
5 nights of horror and of bleeding
Broke glass, cold blades as sharp as the eyes of hate
And the stabbin', it's
War amongs' the rebels
Madness, madness, war

I love Linton Kwesi Johnson. I have Dread Beat An' Blood. Thank you for making note of him and bringing up the issue of the use of fear in politics. A subject much in the need of discussion, and how to counteract it.

# posted by scorpiorising : 6:18 PM |

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