....but today, hidden by the Cessna terror attack, USA Today finally put it out there. WE WERE TAKEN, folks....TAKEN!
Why weren't you screaming along with this editorial? This came out during the height of the terror alerts. It was such a farce from the start, and the American public went out and bought their duct tape and felt safe. George Bush would take care of us. And you bet your life he did! He surely did....
TVNL LOOKS AT THE FEAR FACTOR
...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror...
On four separate occasions during 2003, Americans were notified by their government that the color of the day had changed. Only this wasn't summer camp, and no one was playing games.
On each of these days, the nation was being warned that our lives were being threatened more seriously than the day before. The codified threat alert had changed from Yellow to Orange. There was nothing we could do. There was nowhere we could go. It was only a change of color, but it did the trick: Americans everywhere were being introduced to the color of fear!
Think of it. In these times of heightened alertness and concerns about terrorism, we were handed a really effective color code to guide us! Well, maybe not totally effective, since not a square inch of the country is ever at Low Green (almost no danger) or Guarded Blue (oh, maybe just a little danger). Actually, the best we can hope for on an ordinary day is Elevated Yellow (we know they're around, somewhere), and being resilient and stoic Americans, we've learned to live with that. But for the stage managers in Washington, that just won't do.
A change from Yellow to Orange is unnerving. Karl Rove knows that. But a change from Orange back to Yellow brings a sense of relief to a worried nation. Karl Rove knows that, too. He knows gratitude and relief are subliminal partners. "Thank you, George Bush, he would have us say, "for saving us from those who would harm us. You've taken away the Orange, and we are no longer afraid."
Read it all and tear your hair out....
CLOCKWORK ORANGE