A Culture Of Fear And Intimidation...

Via David

 

Last week when I arrived to Bangladesh, the immigration officials there were positively ecstatic to see a foreign tourist entering the country.

I’ve also been to places in Africa and the South Pacific where you’re greeted upon arrival by dancing tribespeople singing songs of welcome.

It’s not quite the same in the Land of the Free. In fact, before they even let people in the country, they program us to be afraid and intimidated.

For one thing, all the immigration officers are armed. There’s absolutely no reason for a government agent to carry a loaded pistol when all he does is stamp a passport. This is EXTREMELY uncommon in the rest of the world. Only in the Land of the Free.

Just like the airport security farce, which has millions of travelers assume the “I surrender” pose inside a radiation machine, US immigration checkpoints are there to train people to be afraid and submit to the state’s authority.

When you step back and look at the whole government apparatus, it’s apparent that this culture of fear and intimidation applies across the entire spectrum.

We’re programmed, for example, to be terrified of the IRS. It’s to the point that getting audited consistently ranks among people’s top fears in the Land of the Free, right up there with snakes and unexpected death. It’s quite sad, actually.

And whether this Soviet-style idea to target opposition political groups came from the top or from the lower ranks, it smacks of an entire organizational culture gone awry… one that thinks it has unlimited power and authority to squash anyone it wants.

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