"The psychology of cowards"
yellowtimes.org Printed on Friday, March 07, 2003 @ 02:42:18 EST ( ) By Bill Douglas YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (United States)
(YellowTimes.org) – "The most important question one can ask oneself is: 'Is the universe a friendly place?'" -- Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein recognized that from the answer to the question "Is the universe a friendly place?" one could extrapolate the direction of every subsequent life decision. One's entire reality would evolve from the answer to that one all-important question.
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and others in the present U.S. government administration pulled strings to avoid military service in Vietnam. Why? Apparently not because they didn't oppose the red menace in Vietnam; after all, they supported others fighting that war. Therefore, the unavoidable answer to that question is cowardice. A coward sees the world as a very threatening place. Herein lies the danger to all the people of the world. When coward are in charge, they will direct the institution they lead to use all of its resources to "protect themselves from harm." This perceived harm could be economic, political, or military. And they perceive harm coming from every corner, from under every bed, and from anyone and everyone who challenges their fearful view of the world. In a coward's world, "you are either with us, or against us."
The only way the coward can feel truly and ultimately feel safe is to destroy preemptively all possible challenges to their perceived safety. They don't savor competition and challenge, but rather see it as a direct threat. They have no vision of a win-win scenario because everyone is a potential enemy of their way of life. Therefore, all programs of social uplift must be dismantled because leveling an unfair playing field in the economic realm could pose a threat to their inherited place of economic ascendance.
In the cowardly world of George W. Bush, free speech must be controlled. Public television and public radio must be de-funded because if they are not beholden to the corporate entities that share the Bush view of the world, they may allow views of the world that directly threaten Bush's safety and peace of mind. Because in a "you're either with us or against us" world, any diversity of opinion is inherently "against us." Long-time allies who express dissenting opinions are immediately suspect, and implicitly supporting the enemy.
On the political/military field, we must crush and/or make subservient every nation on earth. Only a castrated world can pose no threat to the coward. To have influence and control over the world's oil will effectively castrate much of the planet and render it a non-threat. In the coward's mind, the entire world is a very dangerous place. Divergent opinions from other nations are a threat. In fact, diversity itself is a threat.
The facade of diversity is acceptable. Black and brown faces may appear in the coward's very white world. However, those black or brown faces must walk lockstep within the mindset of that world; otherwise, they too are "against us."
This is a Brave New World that humanity is embarking upon. It requires great courage, and an inherent faith in the goodness of humanity and nature. It will require us to let go of control of our lives so that we don't destroy our ecosystem by manic attempts to reign in the forces of nature to serve our will. It will require that we trust other's goodwill to do what is right in the world without us controlling all that they do. To actually foster democracy in other lands will inherently cause us to "lose control" of the decisions those people make such as electing populists like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to lead them. It will require faith. Faith is the opposite of fear. When one has faith, one does not fear even the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
We live in a time when those who have little faith are controlling our nation. They are driving the force and will of our nation in the direction of control and conquest to allay their bottomless fears. What they cannot see is that there is no absolute safety, and, in fact, the pursuit of that absolute safety is a manic course that will only make the world more and more unsafe.
America mourned the death of 3,000 innocents on 9-11. That mourning was carefully directed into a manic rage of fear. This manic rage enables good people to justify the slaughter of untold thousands in the name of our safety. The revulsion of a world that will witness this slaughter in Technicolor broadcasts will create a very dangerous mood for America to endure.
Of course, the American media will try to protect U.S. citizens from the images of mayhem and horror that several hundred missiles unleashed upon the crowded city of Baghdad will undoubtedly cause. But the U.S. media, try as it might, will not be able to prevent the rest of the world from witnessing this horrific crime against humanity. The world will watch ... and the world will judge. And the ill will that results will provide the cowards with ample grounds to cause their citizens to fear more and more.
And the song will play on. The truth is that our fear is destroying us. Twenty thousand Americans kill themselves every year from depression. This dwarfs the 3,000 lost to terrorists. Could it be that we and our media are the most effective terrorists, terrorizing ourselves into believing that the world is not, and never will be, a friendly place? Where we will go as a nation and a world hinges on one all-important question: "Is the universe a friendly place?" Be careful how you answer it.
[Bill Douglas is the founder of World Healing Day, now celebrated in 50 nations worldwide each year. He is the author of "The Amateur Parent-A Book on Life, Death, War and Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe." Bill has written for publications worldwide on health, environment, and human rights issues, and his 9-11 commentary, "America's Broken Heart," was published on the site of the Society of Professional Journalists. Bill's book is available at www.smartaichi.com.]
Bill Douglas encourages your comments: Wtcqd2000@aol.com
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