[JayL]

I post this topic with regard to the anxiety many people feel about politics in america and around the world. `I know first hand how caring so much about freedom and democracy can lead to extreme anxitey and stress and i know there are millions of others out there feel the same way. I think it's a good time to discuss what is causing you to feel stressed and believe you should be able to speak freely about it without fearing persecution or imprisonment. This is America after all. Does anyone out there feel fearful of speaking your mind, in fear you could be attacked on some level or face persection and/or jail time?

[JayL]

I do..... i feel a heavy tension in the air about any discussion of current events and politics. I feel like there's an extreme 'hush hush' atitude everywhere i go and that it's forbiddend to talk about anything that conficts with what the current administration is preaching. I feel like it's history repeating itself and freedom is falling to it's knees, and civil rights are blowing off into the wind. It's the same lound projecting sirin of times not long ago...'your either with us or your against us'. But this time Bush is trying to play that Jesus is leading the pack with the american flag blowing high in the wind. This is after all a religious crusade isn't it? At least inside this contry it is, and with the president touting Christianity, it seems only a matter of time before this country becomes the England of times past. Witch hunting will be common practice only instead of witches it will be terrorist. "we ask that you turn in to authorities any one who fits this description.....blah blah blah.....blah blah blah ..." But what about democracy you ask? "What about it, we gave you a choice didn't we, you voted, and clearly we won" they will answer.
- ... "But then again how do we know you won?",we ask. "What about all those election technical difficulties that are drowing under the siron that it was a..'Mandate, and don't waste all of our time. Bush won get over it'?
......And so we do what they say, we try to rationalize that maybe we were wrong and things really did go as smoothly as could be expected, where's the prof that any fowl was commited right? So we graciously move on and try to put a plug in our ears for awhile after all that's been going on in the last couple of years. At least now it's over and we have some time to rest and forget about it for awhile. ........But in the back of my mind at least i can't just forget about what may have happened. I care too much as it seems. I have to keep listening and not drowning it out with a smile and wishful thinking. But what do i say to my fellow commrads that refuse to pay attention and let the steam roller of an administration flatten what i've grown to know and call America. And what do i say to everyone else who feels the same way? I have no %#@&#! clue because i feel if i do i'll just be a target of discrimination and harassment thereafter, so why come out of my shell?
All i can say right now is I feel like this whole damn administration is just one big "confilct of Intrest", and today, when my realization of the term to sum it all up occured, all i could do what laugh silently at how amazingly well that said it. 'If only i could play out the pictures in my mind to people...' i thought, 'it would be so %#@&#! hilarious, the kind that only deperation and exhaustion permits, but at the same time it would be depressingly real.' 'Maybe i should make a documentry like others have done?' i ask. 'Or maybe i'll just get a giant, wall of a canvas, and paint out my masterpiece for others to stare with jaws wide open thinking... wtf? It could be like the turn around in "pleasantville", the movie with the guy that played spiderman. And if i drew half as much insight and realization into the minds of viewers at that moment, as they did in that movie, i'd be a happy man. -J>L

[sqrlb8]

I too see the repeating of history as we speak and cope with a level of despair and anxiety I never imagined possible in the country I grew up in. Just yesterday, the NY Times ran a front page on busting the Bush administration with having presented HUNDREDS of tv news stories which were completely manufactured. Millions and millions of dollars were spent on production of bogus news stories for his entire presidency.

The chill you describe, I know so well. The only permissible speech right now is "support our troops."

And as for religeon, I don't dare say a word, even here, as to its culpability in all of this mess.

Its a tricky thing too, because i'm bipolar and reactive in general, I always wonder if i'm overreacting or being paranoid etc. But I've checked out immigration laws now in canada and spain.

BTW, this thread will probably get shut down. Religeon and Politics, blah blah blah. Don't take it personally when that happens. You can always pm me, and we can rant and rave together. I'm sure you'll pick up a few sympathizers here. tc.

[Isolated_Guy]

Jay, you bring up an issue in which this country is in such deep denial over. How people can fall for Bush's self proclaimed version of Christianity just blows the mind. This is the same man who is a member of the Skull and Bones, an organization centered around ritual based on human remains.

The problem with the mass media until very recently was that it was too liberal biased. Now, it's not conservative but Bush-biased. Those who control the media are the same ones running the War on Terror/Iraq puppet show.

These people are anything but stupid.

They know how most people like their information to he handed to them on a plate. Truth isn't something that comes knocking at your
door.

There are so many news sources available but the sad thing is, they're just not being considered by most Americans. Even CNN and the other TV news networks have web sites which have numerous stories that never make it to the sanatized version we see on the tube. It's hardly any accident our attention is being focused on Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson.

You'd almost get the impression that everything is fine and dandy over in Iraq.

It is frightening this "you are either with us or you are with the terrorists" mentality.

If people knew the truth behind 9/11, they wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

But such things are irrelevant when compared to getting the best cell phone plan or going to the mall to purchase the goods which keep them in step with the conformity bandwagon.

[Wants2Fly]

You may be interested in my post yesterday about Post-Election Stress Trauma, albeit brief.

[SpazKatt]

Right now I don't belive I'm free to speak my mind in America, I know people who have been arrested for terroristic activities because they were speaking thier mind.

Jay, you write so very well. I'm glad you posted this even if it does get shut down. Granted this country was founded on Christian beliefs but it was also "supposedly" founded on equality. Where is that equality now? Isn't the intolerance being displayed by the administration (the gung ho I'm the Christian leader of the free world and if you aren't my ally then you're my enemy) the same intolerance that we are fighting against? So who does that make right? In todays political world there is so much garbage being tossed into the streets it's hard to find the truth through all the lies. These lies aren't the kind that slipp through teeth... they are the kind that knock them out. It disgusts me that the public is viewed as too ignorant to know the truth behind what we're doing. For me it's hard to know where to stand because I've never been very good at weeding through the trash. I'm not very politically minded so I'm probably coming off here as ignorant but it's my opinion and by God I'm entitled to it. Let 'em lock me up.

Ryan

I have a 90 old friend....she would not go with me to one MoveOn.org meeting last year because she fears retaliation from "the others".....she is very frail and is truly afraid to speak her mind with anyone other than two or three of us....when we went to see Farenheit 9/11, she was so worried that someone would see us.....I assured her that anyone who would do something to us would not be at that theater....it's very sad.....

[Wants2Fly]

This year, when I bought a condo, I had to write a letter to the Department of Homeland Security because it was felt that I'd had "too many addresses" over the past year and needed to explain myself. One of those addresses was a prayer retreat center associated with a branch of Islam. I don't know if everyone's bags are now being searched on flights, but on my fight back to Florida from the north, both of my bags had inserts telling me they'd been opened and examined.