Posted by sweetliberty on 11/06/09 2:38 PM [Newer: Colorado conservatives make their voices heard re: Health Care Reform] [Older: Tax Hike]

I'm currently enrolled in a professional first aid/first responder class at my local college. We're a little over halfway through the semester, and are now learning how to assess and treat victims of trauma. Medically, trauma is defined as an event that causes harm, like a car accident.

The lecture began, and the teacher began talking about the importance of learning how to respond to trauma -- especially multi-casualty events, because, and I quote as best as I can remember, "terrorist attacks have really been on the rise in this country in the last few years."

This is a paid government employee, and there are myriad implications with that; however, I don't believe the teacher is knowingly spreading government propaganda. I think she really believes -- like many Americans -- that terrorist attacks are on the rise, and that there has been an increase in attacks in the "last few years." Why do people think this? Because government spews out this message by the metric ton, and media outlets fall all over themselves to repeat it, cramming it into the eyes and ears of Americans every chance they get.

The "last few years" means, to me, 3 or 4, or maybe even 5. That time span wouldn't even include 9/11.

This believe that terrorism is "on the rise" is fascinating to me, because it's so strikingly similar to the fear that global temperatures are "on the rise." Or that Muslim extremism is "on the rise." Or prices, or Socialism, or the number of uninsured, or illegal immigration, or gun violence, or teen violence, or obesity, diabetes, swine flu, nuclear proliferation, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria... The American people have been corralled by a media+government fence that's absolutely plastered with panic-inducing propaganda. Everywhere we look: doom -- doom that's "on the rise" in these "last few years."

I'm not doubting that some trends are upward. What my concern is (and a first responder should obviously know this) is that panic leads quite directly to bad decisions and misinformation. What we need are actual facts, uncovered with relentless diligence from a media who considers it their duty, and given to a public that will accept nothing less. Instead, what we have are fearmongering sound bytes, unquestioned by the mouths that repeat them, and delivered with an air of hysteria and alarm that is not questioned by most Americans.

The thing that's "on the rise" in these "last few years" is the absence of responsibility.

And I'm not sure how to bring it back.

Posted 11/06/09 8:53 PM C00kieM0nster Oxnard, CA

Replace safety nets with the normal risks involved in life would be a good start.

Posted 11/06/09 10:04 PM Mike in Virginia Fredericksburg, VA

Ahhh, but you forget the tea parties. Which produced zero violence, zero injuries, even zero littering. But they were anti government...isn't that the very definition of terrorism? Just ask Reichsfuehrer Obama or Oberfuehrer Pelosi. They'll tell you.

Posted 11/07/09 07:28 AM Paul Hogan Middle Village, NY

Great post Sweet Liberty. What's happening in the media and in some colleges is just good old indoctrination and propaganda. I've also enrolled in a local college and throughout the registration the school was giving away copies of Obama's memoir novels and I have a professor that continually brings up the subject of global warming. My daughter is also in college and she is currently writing a thesis about globalization. There is definitely an agenda behind all of this.

Posted 11/13/09 9:32 PM rebel johnny silver camillus, NY

of course terror has been on the rise here in murica! Just check out all the youtube vids of citizens yanked from cars beaten, strangled, tased or just plain shot!