Life in USA

“…Paranoia is faith in a hidden order behind the visible…”

The actual situation in US regarding the events of September 11^th is changing progressively, slowly but progressively. One of the main factors has been the natural assimilation of the Americans to take any event with certain primitive curiosity and the inoculation of the massive load of information from the media, specially the TV networks.

The major disruption comes from the media, day after day, the main news, and only news sometimes, it is about the war; either the bombing campaign or the findings about the anthrax. Fortunately, the paranoid environment has diminished. The population has learned, or at least is getting less frantic, that the biological weapons are not as dangerous and powerful as the media portrayed them. That does not means that still there are large groups of population that believe that we are at risk. There are many people that still suffer the brainwash from the cold war, thinking that the enemy is out there, just waiting the minimal distraction to attack us.

What are disrupting are the subliminal messages that are broadcasted in the TV. There is one that is shown lately. This one has “The Flying Dutchman” Overture from Richard Wagner as background music and shows some F-16 taking off and flying with the American flag waving and stating that our heroes are protecting us.

Actually, after all the information that is bombarding us day after day, it is certain that many children in Elementary School will remember the name of Osama bin Laden instead of the name of the actual State governor. But all this overload of information has an explanation, it is due because the ignorance of the average student and citizen about anything beyond the borders of this country.

The media in this country is the most powerful thought-controller and ruler over any public opinion. The TV news broadcast shows appear three times a day in the national networks [CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox], and there are several 24 hours news broadcasters in cable and satellite. The most well-known news broadcasting network is CNN, it is a world wide media that got the top of all during the Gulf War. When CNN broadcasted the bombing actions in Baghdad, it imposed a trademark that all others networks must follow. There are well defined boundaries between the type of news that the national networks show and the “world news” networks. The news are very controlled, the heavy weight is on national or local news. Any news from the rest of the world are basically disasters, violence, or any event in which an “American” has been affected. The vision and the mission is to promote a brave new world in which the “exterior” is a dangerous place, as the Middle East or Africa, or an eccentric one, such Europe or “the back yard” like South America. Let’s point this out that for many “Americans”, South America starts from the Rio Grande.

That is why the events of September 11^th were so shocking to the majority of the population of this country. The lost of the protective environment, the assuredness of living in a society that never has been touched by a compulsive violent attitude was lost and now the people of this country can feel the pain of many others.

Currently, the media has displayed a large and broad coverage about everything related with the events of September 11^th. But it has been done in such way that there is not other news to talk about. It seems that the world and life have been stopped. This attitude has been always common in the US media. We were bombarded with every minute flashes and notes during the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. Now, the media overreacts in any single situation, giving information that some times is almost comical.

The American society is very open in some aspects but very close in others. There are many possessions that the citizens of this county are proud, possessions that are not easy to get or enjoy in other countries. There is no question that the sense of freedom is the highest and more valued of all. But it is not the broad concept of freedom that we could enjoy in any place; it is the feeling of protection from an extreme violence, such as war or any other kind of attack. The sense of security and freedom has been promoted by ignorance and ideological influence. This sense of security and liberty has been also nurture by the historical events and day by day by the media.

The history of this country proves it. The last time that US were under attack was in 1814 and the only possible analogy could be Pearl Harbor, but the attack was on the military bases not the main land or civilian population. On the contrary, US has been an aggressor, it almost has exterminated all the indigenous population, “bought” half of Mexico with a great deal of coercion and has openly or under cover help to “change” some governments. So, for the first time, the damage is local and the casualties are familiar faces. “It has been as we were watching a bad action movie” some people have said.

The Americans are also very proud of their Constitution, and rule almost every aspect of their public lives by its spirit. You could remember the last presidential elections, the results and procedures were decided by the Supreme Court. The judicial system is a pillar of the American society, it is almost impossible that an US citizen would be treated outside the limits of the law. The use of force by the police or any other security group is very cautious. The FBI still is suffering the consequences of the events that happened in Waco, Texas, seven years ago. But if the marines or any other special force has to be mobilized to “defend our country”, everybody cheers and joint to the adventure.

Regardless that there has been some voices of dissent, the vast majority of the population do not understand why some cultures have animosity feelings against the US. The people of US firmly believe that they are the good guys of this movie, and the past ones too. They believe that the US government has helped the world to be better. They do not know what their government has done in Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, Iran, Lebanon, and Philippines, etc.

The analogy of the twin brothers, the good and the evil, is perfect to describe this situation. I also remember the famous character of Robert Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide, but they were the same person and in some point the personalities were independent and at the end, one dominates the other one. In our case, both look the same, dress the same way, but they are independent and behave totally different. Perhaps some day, we will see them together and everybody will realize about their existence.