The Precarious Life They want Us to Live

Let’s face it; we live in a fast food, fast paced, a rat racing driven society, this is for a reason too. Information is spoon feed to the masses via the media censorship and the likes. What we see, or shall we say, what we don’t see, in war has lessen the impact it has on the individual in America. This is shown in her argument when she states, “The cry, “ there is no excuse for September 11” has become the means by which to stifle any serious public discussion of how US foreign policy has helped to create a world in which such acts of terror are possible.” Acts of terror on others for no apparent reason is likely one of the causes for such behavior. She says we fly our patriotic flag high in the air as a sign for the justification, and support of war of war/retaliation. The anti-intellectualism in America is hurting America and its citizens. The intellect or intelligence is a factor the people of power are afraid of; thinking and questions too much can be a threat. Knowledge is power; it’s this power threatens the control of the government. Furthermore, Anti-intellectualism is the numbing or dulling of the people’s mind for political gain. This keeps its people misinformed, desensitized, and callous towards others. Media, narratives, images of the war may functions as an aid for the moral justification for retaliation but its also serves as a tool for anti- intellectualism. The more and more images we get use to seeing in the airwaves, through our televisions, on the cover on the newsstands; the less, less affected we are by such experiences. These images become mundane to use over time; they have less have an emotional response to use; unless we are able to “put ourselves in someone’s position” aka positionality. These events seem so distant to use, because these tragedies are evident in our own backyard. In short, we must not only examine the information that we “access” to, but also examine the “other” perspective, which the “other” is actually the same as “us”, they are no different.