The
Mushroom Syndrome
Although I was born too late to have personally experienced
World War II, I do recall viewing newsreel and movie footage of posters that
proclaimed patriotic reminders like, "Loose Lips Sink Ships."
The obvious message was that we might be endangering the
lives of our fighting men if we openly shared classified information,
allowing it to fall into the hands of enemy spies.
Now that America is actively involved in a war against
terrorism, I promise I will not divulge any troop movements, although our
"military experts" on cable TV apparently do not share my
reluctance along these lines.
There is another variety of information that I will not
hesitate to share with you whenever and wherever I can find it, however. It
is called, "the truth."
And thanks to official sources in Washington and elsewhere
throughout the so-called "free world", it’s becoming
increasingly difficult to find.
At a recent family gathering, one of my cousins actually
defended the government’s unwillingness to come clean on a string of
apparently terrorist related activities. She claimed that releasing such
information would only lead to panic.
I believe it would lead to preparation and perhaps save
lives.
In the wake of the September 11th terrorist
attacks and this weekend’s US & British military response in
Afghanistan, the American people have been getting mixed messages from
Washington, and frankly, we don’t know what to believe.
Senator Shelby of the Senate Intelligence Committee tells a
huge 60 Minutes audience to "be alert." When pressed, the Alabaman
tells Mike Wallace that being alert means returning to work and going about
your daily duties.
The government warns us the FBI has placed all local law
enforcement agencies on the highest state of alert…then goes out of its
way to discount all recent episodes with potential terrorist overtones.
President Bush assures us it’s perfectly safe to fly
passenger planes again on the same day his administration authorizes the Air
Force to shoot them down if they stray from their pre-assigned flight paths.
An unidentified Croatian man, believed to be a Muslim by
some, attacks a Greyhound bus driver with a box cutter, sending the vehicle
careening off the road, killing ten people, including the assailant. The
government assures us this was the action of a deranged individual and not
connected to any terrorist attacks.
A case of pulmonary anthrax is found in Florida…the first
such case reported in America in 26 years. We are immediately promised this
was an isolated incident with no known links to terrorism. The man, who
quickly died, had been "outdoors" a lot and this fact was intended
to put us all at ease.
Four days later, a second anthrax case was revealed…in
Florida…at the same newspaper where the first victim worked. The FBI is
investigating.
A Russian airliner bound from Jerusalem to Siberia and
carrying 55 Jewish passengers explodes in midair over the Black Sea, killing
all on board. In an extraordinary move, a US government military source
immediately goes on record assessing likely blame on a Ukranian naval
anti-aircraft missile test gone wrong. Of course, the following day’s
edition of USA Today admitted the naval exercises were taking place 160
miles from the site where the plane was hit.
Russia’s president points to terrorism as the likely
cause. Israeli investigators concur.
But we’re reassured that it’s still safe to fly.
Until Monday that is, when 10 passengers aboard a Los
Angeles to Chicago flight have to subdue a man who rushed the cockpit door
trying to gain access. Americans are told this was just a deranged man and
not a terrorist.
If the government had been honest with us, it would have
admitted that there was an Iraqi connection to the bombing at the Oklahoma
City federal building by the name of John Doe #2. And we would have been
told the truth about the TWA Flight 800 disaster. More than 100 witnesses
saw a missile spring from the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and followed its
arching pathway that culminated in a giant explosion which tore the jumbo
jet in two.
But don’t worry folks, it’s okay to fly. The problem was
an electrical short in a central fuel tank.
Then, a bomb goes off in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, last weekend,
killing two including an American. But the media quickly labels it merely a
coincidence that the bombing took place in the same city where a US military
barracks had been attacked several years ago killing numerous GI’s. There
was absolutely no connection to the September 11th attacks in
America.
I’m convinced if the government could have gotten away
with a plausible story, it would have told us the World Trade Center towers
had fallen under their own weight. But that day’s attack was too visible
and too local to deny.
So a counterattack had to be mounted. But the disinformation
machine was quickly fired up to remind us that Islam is a peaceful, loving
religion…despite repeated calls in the Koran for brutal warfare against
its enemies that sanctions death, mutilation and the taking of no prisoners.
I’m still waving my flag…but here’s what bothers me.
When we’re not being kept totally in the dark, the American people are
being spoon-fed nothing more than our daily helping of bovine feces.
No wonder we’re all starting to feel like mushrooms.
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