Terror Vigilance and Judgment Day

[DeWitz]

Today it hit me as I sat in traffic, listening to US national news. Currently the US has major terrorist alerts affecting about 20 embassies, and heightened communication, transportation, airport and port security nationwide. This Sunday my faith tradition will hear, "Be dressed for action. . . You also must be ready. . ." as one of the readings. It reminded me of the old saying, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" (attributed to several patriots of yore).

Do these parallel secular and theological concerns correlate? I'm not interested in opinions about either the theology or the geopolitics, but the nature of their similarity or dissimilarity. Is there any resemblance between a religious culture that expects an indeterminate, unpredictable return of the Messiah (or even the initial arrival thereof), and a secular culture that appears to be living ad infinitum with uncertainty about potential terrorism? I grew up this way with the nuclear nightmare hanging over our collective heads. What are the cultural, sociological and psychological implications of living now into a third generation in constant fear of unpredictable threats?

[Babe Ruth]

The cultural, social and psychological implications are huge, and pretty much in full swing. Americans embrace their inner cowards daily, and submit to groping and other insults daily to board an airplane or train, in some cases.

The legal implications are that the rule of law in accordance with the US Constitution exists no longer.

[+and-then]

Today it hit me as I sat in traffic, listening to US national news. Currently the US has major terrorist alerts affecting about 20 embassies, and heightened communication, transportation, airport and port security nationwide. This Sunday my faith tradition will hear, "Be dressed for action. . . You also must be ready. . ." as one of the readings. It reminded me of the old saying, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" (attributed to several patriots of yore).

Do these parallel secular and theological concerns correlate? I'm not interested in opinions about either the theology or the geopolitics, but the nature of their similarity or dissimilarity. Is there any resemblance between a religious culture that expects an indeterminate, unpredictable return of the Messiah (or even the initial arrival thereof), and a secular culture that appears to be living ad infinitum with uncertainty about potential terrorism? I grew up this way with the nuclear nightmare hanging over our collective heads. What are the cultural, sociological and psychological implications of living now into a third generation in constant fear of unpredictable threats?

It's a good topic! If I understood your question, it is searching for how our society is changing due to constantly being bombarded by secular and religious tensions relating to what many feel are imminent events approaching the world.

I'm slightly less judgemental than Mr Ruth but I also see us throwing away freedom for some false sense of security. As to how our society is being shaped by these stressors, I feel that we are indeed becoming numbed to the idea of constant vigilance. We do not want to think about anything except living our lives with the least intrusions necessary (key word) and that means since the majority ARE lazy and pampered and feel "entitled" to be kept safe by a nanny state, as a nation we will continue down the road to state intrusion on a scale NO ONE thinks is acceptable but few will exert the energy to fight. The government dweebs KNOW this and are salivating. Afaic we deserve no more liberty than we are willing to insist on through force.

Regarding the religious angle, I am excited by the coming together of the prophecies even though I dread the realities we are soon to face. People who truly believe in the imminence of the second coming of the Lord Jesus are not wholly without fear of the horrors that will engulf the world as it approaches but they are comforted that when all is said and done they will be with Him according to His promises.

[DeWitz]

I don't need the coordinates, Babe, but do you live in the US? Because I fear that this attitude has crept across the globe, like the debunked 'red menace' of the 50's-60's or the assumptions previously attached to AIDS. If the Constitution is null and void, why aren't we in a state of actual revolution? Will it take some more years? What will it take?

I'll admit I posted this out of a realization that I loved the (relative) break from 1991--worried less about nukes--until 2001, then was slung into a different prison----substitute "terrorism at any moment" for the previous "nuclear annihilation at any moment." As I get older I worry about the effects of "constant vigilance," regardless of validity, on the mind and heart of humans.

[DeWitz]

It's a good topic! If I understood your question, it is searching for how our society is changing due to constantly being bombarded by secular and religious tensions relating to what many feel are imminent events approaching the world.

I'm slightly less judgemental than Mr Ruth but I also see us throwing away freedom for some false sense of security. As to how our society is being shaped by these stressors, I feel that we are indeed becoming numbed to the idea of constant vigilance. We do not want to think about anything except living our lives with the least intrusions necessary (key word) and that means since the majority ARE lazy and pampered and feel "entitled" to be kept safe by a nanny state, as a nation we will continue down the road to state intrusion on a scale NO ONE thinks is acceptable but few will exert the energy to fight. The government dweebs KNOW this and are salivating. Afaic we deserve no more liberty than we are willing to insist on through force.

Regarding the religious angle, I am excited by the coming together of the prophecies even though I dread the realities we are soon to face. People who truly believe in the imminence of the second coming of the Lord Jesus are not wholly without fear of the horrors that will engulf the world as it approaches but they are comforted that when all is said and done they will be with Him according to His promises.

Thanks for your input. I've known that comfort, but I'm tiring of the stress! How do we relax with kids/grandkids in all this morass? How do I explain the constant threat of terror to them? I hope I do better than my parents did (they left me in front of the TV to watch the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962, when I was a pre-schooler!). I'm looking for a way to live both faithfully (to that overarching hope) yet realistically (in the face of uncertainty). So far I've reached the stage of anger/anxiety! [and, I apologize, I don't know what 'afaic' means]

Edited August 5, 2013 by szentgyorgy

[Sweetpumper]

How do I explain the constant threat of terror to them?

Tell them that there is likely not any threats, but it's a tactic to get us to accept the unprecedented intrusion into our privacy and the stripping away of our rights.

[Kowalski]

Tell them that there is likely not any threats, but it's a tactic to get us to accept the unprecedented intrusion into our privacy and the stripping away of our rights.

Ding! Ding! Give the guy a cookie, you get it!

Terrorism has existed for a long time, in one form or another. That's nothing new. The global war on terror is just a way for our government to wage an endless war, worth billions of dollars a year for the corporate elite. In truth, you are more likely to be struck by lightning, then to be killed by a terrorist bomb. It all comes down to this:

X: The organizing principle of any society, Mr. Garrison, is for war. The authority of the state over its people resides in its war powers.

[DeWitz]

Tell them that there is likely not any threats, but it's a tactic to get us to accept the unprecedented intrusion into our privacy and the stripping away of our rights.

Someday they may understand this. I just don't want them watching "The Cuban Missile Crisis" every freakin' night. But they absorb it, even in the vacuity of popular culture.

[DeWitz]

Ding! Ding! Give the guy a cookie, you get it!

Terrorism has existed for a long time, in one form or another. That's nothing new. The global war on terror is just a way for our government to wage an endless war, worth billions of dollars a year for the corporate elite. In truth, you are more likely to be struck by lightning, then to be killed by a terrorist bomb. It all comes down to this:

X: The organizing principle of any society, Mr. Garrison, is for war. The authority of the state over its people resides in its war powers.

One of my favorite novels is Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent. One of my favorite lines in the novel is, simply, "A really intelligent detonator." It must be understood in context, as "part of a bomb made up of pure mathematics." Imagine the workings of the NSA computers and the alleged CIA's culling therefrom of so-called "chatter," and I cry out, "Meaningnless arithmetic!!!"

Well, that's what we have, I'm afraid. Typing these words, including "detonator" or "bomb," perhaps could be used against me in a (US) court of 'law." Shall I await a knock on yon door?

I submit that such is insanity. At the same time, how do we live as if it weren't true? Because, I submit, the inmates have take over the asylum.

[Michelle]

One of my favorite novels is Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent. One of my favorite lines in the novel is, simply, "A really intelligent detonator." It must be understood in context, as "part of a bomb made up of pure mathematics." Imagine the workings of the NSA computers and the alleged CIA's culling therefrom of so-called "chatter," and I cry out, "Meaningnless arithmetic!!!"

Well, that's what we have, I'm afraid. Typing these words, including "detonator" or "bomb," perhaps could be used against me in a (US) court of 'law." Shall I await a knock on yon door?

I submit that such is insanity. At the same time, how do we live as if it weren't true? Because, I submit, the inmates have take over the asylum.

Recently, a couple had the Feds come to their house because the wife had looked up pressure cookers and the son was looking up backpacks.

Edit: her husband was looking up backpacks and her son looked up the Boston bombings and the Feds searched part of their home.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Michelle

[DeWitz]

Recently, a couple had the Feds come to their house because the wife had looked up pressure cookers and the son was looking up backpacks.

Edit: her husband was looking up backpacks and her son looked up the Boston bombings and they searched part of their home.

Where/when was this? Or are you being funny to make a point/making a point to be funny?

[Michelle]

Where/when was this? Or are you being funny to make a point/making a point to be funny?

I can't get the links to work. Google "Pressure cooker and backpack internet search prompts visit from Feds".

[Sweetpumper]

Where/when was this? Or are you being funny to make a point/making a point to be funny?

It absolutely happened.

[Kowalski]

Where/when was this? Or are you being funny to make a point/making a point to be funny?

No, it really happened:

Link: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/government-knocking-doors-because-google-searches/67864/

[Sweetpumper]

I'd Google it for the links, but on the other hand, hell no.

[Michelle]

I'd Google it for the links, but on the other hand, hell no.

I look up so much stuff that could be used against me it doesn't matter any more. We recently had a background check done by the government because of a friend, high up in the military, using us as a reference. They even came and interviewed us, but at least they called first.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Michelle

[travelnjones]

I recently saw something about Robert Anton Wilson talking about the fed which got me to look into him I found this set of laws he created that seem appropriate at the the moment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celine%27s_laws

National security is the chief cause of national insecruity, I mean even if its not a wag the dog situation here, we are on a direction that no one is standing up to

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

How do I explain the constant threat of terror to them?

Teach them the Bene Gesserit prayer against fear (Fear is the Mindkiller ...)

[F3SS]

I'm not sure i can comment much towards the op but this whole big giant headline of certainty about a bold terrorist plan that we've never been so sure of is because of two things. First, to get the sheep to accept the NSA spying program and tell everybody how lucky we are that they listen to everything we say. Second, to show how competent we've become since Benghazi.

There could be something real to it but if they're so sure why don't just go handle business as usual and if something happens then it was going to happen anyway. They're so sure yet they can't say where or when. It's meant to spread both fear and instill confidence in big brother. Seriously, when have they ever dropped such a big headline? It's always just a cautionary alert if anything.

Edited August 5, 2013 by F3SS

[Sweetpumper]

I can't watch this. Will some one sum it up?

"THEY Want Us To Believe There's Another 9/11 Coming!" CIA Agent Baer

http://xrepublic.tv/node/4719

[Kowalski]

I can't watch this. Will some one sum it up?

"THEY Want Us To Believe There's Another 9/11 Coming!" CIA Agent Baer

http://xrepublic.tv/node/4719

Basically the guy is saying, they are closing down the embassies because they have some pretty "good" Intel about a plot, but no definitive day or hour it could occur. And he was saying the that Al Qaida wants us scared thinking another 9/11 is about to happen...more like Al- CIA -da to justify the mass spying on Americans....

[Sweetpumper]

I figured. Thanks!

[Babe Ruth]

I don't need the coordinates, Babe, but do you live in the US? Because I fear that this attitude has crept across the globe, like the debunked 'red menace' of the 50's-60's or the assumptions previously attached to AIDS. If the Constitution is null and void, why aren't we in a state of actual revolution? Will it take some more years? What will it take?

I'll admit I posted this out of a realization that I loved the (relative) break from 1991--worried less about nukes--until 2001, then was slung into a different prison----substitute "terrorism at any moment" for the previous "nuclear annihilation at any moment." As I get older I worry about the effects of "constant vigilance," regardless of validity, on the mind and heart of humans.

It is for posts like yours that I visit these fora. Yes, I live in Florida.

I doubt there will be a revolution. The barbarians, the bad guys, have been inside the gates for years now, and most of the damage has been done. Like the frog placed into lukewarm water, we have been conditioned for this situation for decades. IMO, if we could talk to Ike, what we have today is rather what he was warning against. A bit here, a bit there, and the next thing you know the water is boiling, the Fourth Amendment is null & void, and Habeas Corpus is a thing of the past. Most americans don't even know what those 2 laws do, and today they don't even care because they are scared silly of muslims. Crazy world, here at the end.

It's a sad situation we're in, and I feel bad for the younger generations, including my two children. You and I had the good fortune to live in the best times during the American Experiment. My kids will have to live during chaos and more.

[Babe Ruth]

Basically the guy is saying, they are closing down the embassies because they have some pretty "good" Intel about a plot, but no definitive day or hour it could occur. And he was saying the that Al Qaida wants us scared thinking another 9/11 is about to happen...more like Al- CIA -da to justify the mass spying on Americans....

The powers-that-be are now having to justify their police state tactics as revealed by Snowden. Telling another story that the media will regurgitate is a good start. Who knows what might follow?