I refuse to be afraid

[WilliamPitt]

How's this for a response to a looming teror attack and/or threat: So what?

Buy the ticket take the ride.

We are Americans. That means two things:

1. We are required to endure the blowback from all the crap done in our name, including all the actions in the Middle East and elsewhere that birthed these terrorists in the first place. We citizens did not create this situation, though collectively as members of this republic, we are ultimately responsible for the election of the 'leaders' who got this ball rolling. That's a bitter pill, the curse of this generation, but it must be swallowed.

2. No matter how beaten, abused, disgraced, smeared, manipulated and distorted these terms may have become (thanks to some of the aforementioned 'leaders'), the words "Freedom," "Liberty" and "Courage" still have currency in the soul of this nation. As Dennis Kucinich explained, "The land of the free and the home of the brave" is not mere poetry. Freedom and bravery, liberty and courage, are not separable. One cannot exist without the other, and the words are still worth living for.

It goes without saying that I refuse to be jerked around by an administration that deliberately uses fear to control the populace and win elections.

But I also refuse to be afraid of terrorism itself. I refuse to allow my behavior and beliefs to be manipulated by people who use murder to affect policy. Once I bend a knee to that fear, victory is given over to murder. Once this nation bends a knee to that fear, those good words are dust.

I refuse to be afraid. I am an American, warts and all. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

[senseandsensibility]

1. Very uplifting words, Will.

I think many of us needed to hear them today. Thanks.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Damn straight!

I will not be made a prisoner in my own home to suit the whims of the current (mis)administration.

[chiburb]

3. Spot on, thanks. n/t

.

[TrustingDog]

4. wow...

that's certainly a keeper.
may I repost it in other forums, with credit to you?
is that doable?

[guitar man]

5. Excellent

Great post.

<I much prefer Dangerous Freedom to Peaceful Slavery - Thomas Jefferson>

[kentuck]

17. Excellent quote by Jefferson !

I had not seen that before but it describes my sentiments exactly.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

25. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the quote, and thank you, Mr. Pitt. You are invaluable as ever.

[Walt Starr]

6. BANG!

Send these words to every member of Congress and every member of the Administration!

I REFUSE TO BE AFRAID!

[ibegurpard]

7. "Fear is the mind-killer."

from "Dune"

[ChickMagic]

8. Absolutely so!

I am not afraid now, nor will I be in the future. I will not stop speaking out, even if it gets me hauled off. I intend to do whatever this nation requires me to do to bring back its integrity.

[VolcanoJen]

9. Oh, Will. I stand in resistance to fear, right along with you.

After my exhuberant experience at the Dayton Kerry-Edwards rally yesterday, I'm so energized with optimism!

At work today, so many of us were discussing this issue. One coworker said, "Terror? I'm one paycheck away from being homeless... that is the definition of TERROR." We all nodded in agreement. I'm tellin' ya, we're all working 40+ hour weeks with NO INSURANCE. We're terrorized by the assault on working class values. That is what is REAL to us.

I keep thinking of that segment in F911... "Michigan residents do their Christmas shopping as Al-Qaeda prepares to attack America!"

Oh, my friend. We must rise as a country and say NO to fear and pessimism. Thank you for this inspirational post.

[lapislzi]

10. I will spit in their eyes

before I allow them to jerk my chain for their venal ends.

[displacedtexan]

11. Fear + itself = the only thing to fear

Absolute security is an illusion. No one can protect me from someone who is willing and eager to die for a cause... beyond reasonable precautions. I live a few blocks from Baltimore's Inner Harbor (Sum of All Fears), but I don't fret about being attacked.

I refuse to live in fear, too.

Thanks for that thoughtful post!

[TrustingDog]

12. Mr. Pitt, may I post this in other forums?

I would like to show this to some freeper-like cletus the slack-jawed stunned yokels.

[WilliamPitt]

13. Sure

[redwitch]

14. Thank you WillPitt

Thank You.

[kentuck]

15. I'm right there with you Will Pitt...

I refuse to bend to their paranoid preachings and fear mongering. I am an American. If I should have to go, I will go with head held high, standing proudly as a free man. I shall not bend my knee to fear and I shall not surrender my liberty.

[Lex]

16. Great post, Will!

I think we should keep this quote in mind too:


"... and in thinking of my life, I almost forgot my liberty." -- Frederick Douglass

[Terran]

18. But didn't we already 'bend knee' to that fear?

"We," as in, this nation? By allowing the PATRIOT Act to go forward? By letting Bush make fear and terror the ground upon which he rules?

If we manage to send them packing in November, I'll take it back. But if not, then I think it will be too late. At least, too late for those generations now alive.

[Green Mountain Dem]

19. Thanks Will...I bought the ticket...

and 2 more...1 for my wife and 1 for my granddaughter...we're gonna take the ride and flip the "bird" to the fear preachers. Bon Voyage !!

[napi21]

20. I'm with ya! It's the ONLY attitude to have!

I remember when they first started this color allert BS and raised the level to orange. My daughter in law called to ask if I was afraid. I said HELL NO! I'll contact sombody if I happen to see some really suspicious stuff, but beyond that, I'm doing what I want, when I want to do it! I've done that all my life, and I'm damn not about to change now.

[FlemingsGhost]

21. Fear is an illusion.

By the way, anger is not a gift. It is a symptom of fear.

[catzies]

23. Anger is an energy.

So saith the great philosopher John Lydon.

:headbang:

[belle]

34. It can be a gift, anger. Think of it like fire. Good servant, bad master.

[jokerman93]

22. True, Will. This says it.

And as I was reading your affirmation here, I thought how amazing it would be if somebody with a public profile (like John Kerry) announced an "American Declaration of Independence from Fear".

Maybe a simply written, eloquent statement of these values of freedom and courage (very much in the spirit of your thoughts here); something grand, with an historical flourish maybe! Something that all Americans can add their names to, not as a partisan thing, but as American citizens in unity reaffirming the REAL revolutionary American spirit in these dangerous times of bogus, self-fulfilling terror "war" and a corrupt repressive government/media.

If you guys in the Kerry campaign are reading this, how about putting this idea in your hat?

And hey! Maybe Citizen Pitt could pen it for you!

[fudge stripe cookays]

24. Thanks Will! Marvelous!

I have already told reprehensor, and I will tell anyone else who knows me and knows what I'm doing.

If ANYTHING should happen to me from terrorism in whatever form it may take, do NOT let those bastards use me as a fucking campaign prop. Interrupt their photo ops, demonstrate for me, but do not let me die some bullshit statistic that Chimpie needs to go wage more war.

I want it in every funeral notice that I am given, every elegy said to me, all over my tombstone, that I hated these fascists, and that I screamed it loud and busted my ass for their destruction.

And if I DO die before the election, someone point out how pissed I am (wherever I ended up) that I did not get to vote them out!

You guys got that? Don't make me come back and haunt you.
FSC

[DinahMoeHum]

26. Remember, it was a Dem who said "The only thing we have to fear

is fear itself"


Me, I searched in vain for specific details of this new threat. When none were forthcoming, I thought: Fuck, they're selling another batch of "wolf tickets" - I ain't buying. Move along, nothing to see here.


:kick:

[ElementaryPenguin]

27. Very Cool, Will! Send this off to Kerry/Edwards!

:toast:

[MuseRider]

28. Hey Will!

:loveya: Warts and all. Well said as always and thanks.

[NightOwwl]

29. I'm not afraid

of terrorist threats and/or attacks.

I am afraid of an administration that finds nothing wrong with manipulating people's fears in order to win at any cost. This administration is evil to the core, and there are still many people who believe and trust in them. I hate them for exploiting that trust for their own benefit.

I am afraid they are serious in their attempts to plant the seeds of doubt with regards to the election. We know how corrupt they are, but what of those who either fail or refuse to see them with the blinders off?

I am afraid they might get away with it.

[cheezus]

30. Being a victim of terrorism is a horrible thing

as is being hit by lightning, a victim of a school or workplace shooting, being in a plane crash, drowning in a swimming pool, having a child abducted, etc, etc, etc...

but is it going to happen to you? You're more likely to be killed driving to a "soft target" than you are to be killed by a terror attack on it. It's another slim risk in this already risky world.

Of course we should do all we can to prevent is (just with all horrible things). But to be afraid? NO! Terrorists win when terror prevails; we will not give in!

[anarchy1999]

31. Thanks Will! As always, you say it all so well for us all.

We bought tickets for this ride the day Bush was selected and have been upgrading every since.

The rest of this world has been suffering from "terrorists" for years, and we've (Americans) been suffering with many forms of domestic terrorism for at least a couple of decades now. (Think corporate crime).

[proud patriot]

32. Here here

:toast: No Fear

[Kenneth ken]

33. yeah - that's pretty much my feelings

I can't get excited about all this terror alerts crap. I can't see how this misadministration wins if another attack occurs. It would only serve to underscore their failure to "protect' the nation.

And if there are no attacks, well, they still lose because of their incompetent policies.

:hi:

[NightOwwl]

37. They aren't worried about terrorist attacks...

They're worried people are feeling too good about life again and won't need *Daddy to take care of them anymore.

The Fear Factor - keep 'em scared just like MM said.

[WilliamPitt]

35. .

[Zomby Woof]

36. FDR lives!

We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

Or as I said once, "Fuck fear."

Fear is the currency of the Right. But like their erstwhile Enron stock, its dividends are yielding vastly diminishing returns.

[Andromeda]

38. Boy, am I glad you chose to speak for our side!

:toast:

[Liberal_Dog]

39. That Is Exactly How I Feel

Thanks for putting it into words.

[mmonk]

40. My instinct is to fear

a government that fears its people. But I will turn it into determination.

[Oilwellian]

41. A great quote

"We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason."
--Edward R. Murrow

:hi:

[Zen]

42. There is another good reason not to be afraid of terrorists -

even if they were spectacularly successful with some sort of WMD type of attack, they could only kill like 10,000 - 20,000 people. In a country of 260,000,000 people, that is peanuts. Also, we are SO spread out in this country that any attack would have little effect on our country's infrastructure. The planes were really the best way of destroying and disrupting things quickly and devastatingly - there really aren't many good options left for these creeps. What, me worry?

[tavalon]

43. Wow

Thanks, Will. I have been afraid, very afraid, not because of the games that this administration plays with our minds but because I've come to believe they are capable of much evil. Nonetheless, I will take these words to heart. I should no more allow myself to be frightened of terrorists of American descent than of Middle Eastern descent.

[Swamp Rat]

44. I don't give a fuck if they cover the voting booths with anthrax, I'm

still gonna go out and vote. They'll have to rip America from my cold, dead fingers!

[alphafemale]

45. Yes! That's the true American voice. Echos of the founders.

We are a rebellious lot. We wll not be compelled. And we do not suffer fools lightly.

[Warren DeMontague]

46. The Eternal Wisdom of Dr. Gonzo

Should not be discounted, no.

Neither should "we'd be fools not ride this strange torpedo to wherever it takes us".

Fear is the point of "terror"-ism, isn't it? If You're not afraid, it doesn't work.

Anyway, 100 years from now, we're all dead anyway, terrorists or no. From where I sit, the point is to leave behind a healthy planet worth inhabiting, a species no longer beholden to the backward superstitions of the past, and a country where real democracy and government of, for and by the people aren't just corporate-style slogans used to work people's hate up, but an ever-growing, vibrant reality.

[rhino47]

47. Kick

:kick:

[CWebster]

48. Saw Kerry's latest ad where he promises to fight terror

and be strong on national security and military defense...playing to the fear factor on the neo-con script.

[WilliamPitt]

51. Right

Speaking about defending the country is on the same level as using terror alerts to manipulate the populace? I'd hate to live your life.

[vetwife]

49. Will, me neither but you know who I feel sorry for?

Those words were so greatly spoken and written. The ones I feel sorry for is the elderly man or woman in the late 70's or 80's, who know absolutely nothing about computers. They believe the hogwash they hear on news channels and they walk around in a state of panic.
For those who do not have children who are open minded enough to tell them it is just propoganda and a way to control the people as in Nazi Germany, they are so afraid. I see it in the elderly faces.
Shame on this administraiton, shame, shame. They have these old folks believing their medication which most can't afford to begin with may be in danger of being blown away at a mall or they won't be albe to leave the house to get them. They tell them to stock up and they cannot even afford the 5 or 6 pills they have to begin with.
Those people I am sorry for. It would be a good thing for all here to start visiting Nursing homes., and the elderly folks who live down the road and tell them to be not afraid.

[WilliamPitt]

50. .