ISIS in Washington: America’s Soundtrack of Hysteria

It happened so fast that, at first, I didn’t even take it in. Two Saturdays ago, a friend and I were heading into the Phillips Museum in Washington, D.C., to catch a show of neo-Impressionist art when we ran into someone he knew, heading out. I was introduced and the usual chitchat ensued. At some point, she asked me, “Do you live here?” “No,” I replied, “I’m from New York.” She smiled, responded that it, too, was a fine place to live, then hesitated just a beat before adding in a quiet, friendly voice: “Given ISIS, maybe neither city is such a great place to be right now.” Goodbyes were promptly said and we entered the museum.

All of this passed so quickly that I didn’t begin rolling her comment around in my head until we were looking at the sublime pointillist paintings of Georges Seurat and his associates. Only then did I think: ISIS, a danger in New York? ISIS, a danger in Washington? And I had the urge to bolt down the stairs, catch up to her, and say: whatever you do, don’t step off the curb. That’s where danger lies in American life. ISIS, not so much.

The Terrorists Have Our Number

I have no idea what provoked her comment. Maybe she was thinking about a story that had broken just two days earlier, topping the primetime TV news and hitting the front pages of newspapers. On a visit to the Big Apple, the new Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, claimed that his intelligence services had uncovered a plot by militants of the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS or ISIL), the extremists of the new caliphate that had gobbled up part of his country, against the subway systems of Paris, New York, and possibly other U.S. cities.

I had watched Brian Williams report that story on NBC in the usual breathless fashion, along with denials from American intelligence that there was any evidence of such a plot. I had noted as well that police patrols on my hometown’s subways were nonetheless quickly reinforced, with extra contingents of bomb-sniffing dogs and surveillance teams. Within a day, the leading officials of my state, Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, were denying that they had any information on such a plot, but also taking very public rides on the city’s subways to “reassure” us all. The threat didn’t exist, but was also well in hand! I have to admit that, to me, it all seemed almost comic.

In the meantime, the background noise of the last 13 years played on. Inside the American Terrordome, the chorus of hysteria-purveyors, Republican and Democrat alike, nattered on, as had been true for weeks, about the "direct," not to say apocalyptic, threat the Islamic State and its caliph posed to the American way of life. These included Senator Lindsey Graham (“This president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed here at home"); Majority Leader John Boehner, who insisted that we should consider putting American boots on Iraqi and perhaps even Syrian ground soon, since “they intend to kill us”; Senator Dianne Feinstein, who swore that “the threat ISIS poses cannot be overstated”; Senator Bill Nelson, who commented that “it ought to be pretty clear when they... say they’re going to fly the black flag of ISIS over the White House that ISIS is a clear and present danger.” And a chorus of officials, named and anonymous, warning that the terror danger to the country was “imminent,” while the usual set of pundits chirped away about the potential destruction of our way of life.
mehr:
- ISIS in Washington: America’s Soundtrack of Hysteria (Tom Engelhardt, Counter Currents, 07.10.2014)

mein Kommentar:
Man bekommt allmählich den Eindruck, daß die Amis von morgens bis abends, vom Beginn bis zum Ende ihres Lebens panisch durch die Gegend laufen und ständig glauben, sich vor Katastrophen schützen zu müssen, die hinter der nächsten Ecke lauern…
Und daß die amerikanischen Medien ständig dabei sind, diese Angstbereitschaft zu füttern… Wenn keine Angst da ist, wird sie gemacht, wenn Angst da ist, wird sie katastrophisiert…


Eine kurze Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika [3:12]

Hochgeladen am 08.04.2009
Micheal Moore's Film "Bowling for Columbine" enthält die zusammenfassung der kleinen Geschichte von Amerika. Diese Animierte Version erzählt in kurzer Zeit alles was man wissen muss. Warum die Amerikaner alle Waffen tragen, warum sie immer Angst haben und warum es den Ku-Klux-Klan gibt. Eine sehr schöne, lustige Geschichte.... mehr Dokumentationen auf.


Tom Engelhardt bei Lettre International:
- DIE BOMBE IM KOPF (LI 080, Frühjahr 2008)
- GOOD-BYE, GEORGE W (LI 083, Winter 2008)
- Tom Engelhardt on "The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s" (Democracy Now!, 18.10.2010)