I agree with you John (the first you, not the second. - Heh ). I haven't read the book, but I am saddened by the general feel of fear that permeates the U.S. culture anymore. On 9/11, things changed so much for us. In my city that morning was proof that we (in our area) had lost our innocence to a degree, and also that we could be manipulated to an enormous extent by the media. I don't know what it was like in other places - I was too busy being manipulated by fear myself. That bothers me also. It is a hard thing to realize that you have been taken for a ride.
My brother called that morning and told me on turn on the TV. - we watched the second tower fall together as we spoke on the phone. It wasn't ten minutes more before I had a list in my hot little hands of things to buy from the gun store. As if shrieking, Muslims were going to ride camels over the horizon at us to destroy our lives. Fear. So I went to the gun shop, and I stocked up for the both of us (he was at work). I had been to that shop recently - they were packed with hundreds of firearms of all descriptions at that time. Not that day. They were still able to run background checks and get the guns to you. As early as I got there, they were already running low. In the day or days that followed, the few gun shops in my city completely sold out of handguns and mostly out of long guns. The rush was so huge that there was a major local newspaper story on it. So much fear. So much hate. Not a single Muslim atacked us again on our soil, let alone in a capicity where the guns we had would have been useful, yet we still live in fear.
I don't like how this fear has been perpetuated. I don't like how a lot of things have been changed. Usage of certain words have changed in all this. For instance, a "hero" used to be someone who singlehandedly founght off a squad of enemy soldies - using just a pistol - while simultaneously defending his wounded men. A "hero" used to be a firefighter who told his chief "f**k you", disobeyd orders, and ran into the collapsing, burning building to save the crying baby. Those are heroes. Not anymore though. Now, I could save $1 by using coupons at the store and the media will say I'm a hero (OK, not really, but you get the point).
I don't know what the answer is.
