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August 24, 2009, talkhousemag.com
Why are They Becoming Hysterical?
I have been on this earth for over six decades and I have never seen such a repetitious amount of temper tantrums, paranoia, propaganda and verbal eruptions directed towards political leaders. All of a sudden our structured and proven leadership models are becoming inefficient. The old saying of the late columnist Robert Novak seems to have taken hold: “Love your country; don’t trust the government”. Just what is causing this? Here’s my take.
We have always had a crisis to deal with such as The Depression, World War II, Korean War, Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, etc. It was rather easy then because they came one at a time. In this modern era of nanoseconds and instant information, things are starting to come at rapid fire. We are involved in two wars simultaneously with no apparent end in sight. The reasons for them are faulty at best and the respect and care we give our brave troops is less than admirable and, in fact, despicable. We are still going through the sub-prime mortgage fiasco in addition to the Wall St. Bailout, record unemployment and the worst debt our national treasury has ever seen. From a leadership perspective the solutions are not clear. Fear has set in and what Franklin D. Roosevelt warned us about (“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”) has settled in and is gripping our conscience.
We cannot overlook the race factor in all of this. Our sports heroes in just about all sports happen to be Black even if their last names are Hispanic. White kids love hip-hop and rap as much as anyone. The ultimate was the election of a Black president. These are not good times for people of racial animus. In fact, it is their worst nightmare and that is leading to scary ideas going through their heads. The reality is that we need big and strong leadership and the thought that it is going to come from a person of color is just too much for the old school thinking.
It is quite amazing that stories such as our President is an illegal alien or that he is planning death panels to kill off the sick and tired or is a Nazi (what happened to the communist name calling) seems to be persuading those who are vulnerable to such paranoia. The “Birthers”, “Deathers” and others are getting time on national television and are subjects of intellectual debate. This is too scary for a democratic society. FDR, fear is everywhere right now.
Perhaps the scariest acts that we see are oddballs coming to public rallies strapped with pistols and assault rifles. I’m sure most are just very eccentric and looking for attention but how many of these idiots may evolve into the next Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma bomber) or Lee Harvey Oswald (President Kennedy assassin). Let’s pray that the Secret Service will do their job protecting our President but how much collateral damage will be caused if their “ticker” goes off? It seems to be a tragedy ready to happen.
This thing isn’t about healthcare. Healthcare is just the biggest punching bag at the time. It will be something else next. Somehow we have got to get a handle on this situation and calm all of the fears. It’s time for our ministers to step up and guide the masses that they have influence over. Elected officials must stand firm and convince their followers that common sense is the best practice. Collaboration is not a vice. So when President Obama decides to collaborate on these big issues we should all join in and clearly define our positions and respect any disagreement. The spirit of debate, true debate, can be a great thing and lead eventually to a consensus. Let us remember that the “Boogie Man” does not exist – never has. However, if we ignore the nonsense and fear then such a perpetrator can emerge for a short while and do a lot of damage before he is removed or defeated.
America, we are going to be all right. Yes, sometimes change, fast change, can cause unreadiness which can result in hysteria. We have a legacy that tells us to stop, take a deep breath and figure it all out. We should all get involved politically and the news media needs to report on our actions in a very balanced way. The slanting of the news or opinion molding does democracy no good. That’s what got Germany into trouble during the 1920’s. It went too far and before we knew it the whole world was in jeopardy.
In the name of our Lord and the future of our children, let’s maintain the peace, love and freedom that America deserves. It’s going to be all right. We just need faith – lots of it.
Mr. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, inc. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. Email:
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