Post-911 fear-mongering in the eyes of a child

[Massachusetts]

I thought this was something that would be interesting to discuss. A lot of us were young when 9/11 happened. I was about 9 or 10 when it happened and it is amazing looking back and recollecting memories. I still remember to this day the way fear was placed into our minds and our hearts about the bad guys who wanted to kill us. And as a young kid, I was completely indoctrined with this fear mongering.

When 9/11 happened, all of the kids around the school talked about it for the next couple of days. As a 9/10 year old, I knew who Osama Bin Laden was and knew that he was Muslim and that the black box was what linked him to this attack.

For the next couple of years, I was legitimately afraid that Osama Bin Laden and Al Quada were going to come to America and personally kill me. It was a preposterous thought in retrospect, but this is what is happening to our young kids. They are living their lives with the idea that some guy from a foreign land is targeting them and will come to America to kill them.

I just find this perspective very fascinating. It makes me sick what I used to believe, but that is how impressionable fear mongering is on young children.

Just food for thought.

 

[priest_of_syrinx]

I was 9 when it happened, and I was more afraid of attacks happening in every town around the country than someone personally coming to kill me. I also was afraid that they would get ahold of nuclear weapons and fire them somewhere in the US.

 

[KCIndy]

Sad to say, but fear mongering works very well on people of all ages, Massachusetts.

If you go back and study the after effects of the Pearl Harbor attack that drew the U.S. into WWII, there was massive hysteria across much of the country. People in the Midwest worried about Japanese air raids. Folks on the west coast worried they were about to be invaded. After a few weeks, though, things began to settle down.

The critical difference here is that we've had an entire generation of Americans brought up in a constant, unending state of fear.

Since 9-11, the fear mongering, as you so accurately describe it, has actually been ratcheted up year after year. People who have been kept in an artificial state of paranoia and low-grade hysteria have now seen fit to give up almost every aspect of their privacy, independence and civil rights.

Massachusetts, you are ever so right that fear mongering works and has been used against us. But don't feel sick for falling victim to it. Rather, but proud of yourself for waking up and understanding what's happening. That puts you in the distinct minority these days.

 

[Travlyr]

Rulers have been fear-mongering for generations if not forever. "All we have to fear is fear itself." - FDR

Certainly they instilled fear in us at a young age in the 50's and 60's. My government school teachers had us ducking under our desks when the nuclear alarm bell went off. Pavlov training. Ducking under the desk as a precaution against a nuclear attack. How obvious is that? What good would that have done in a real nuclear attack? Never mind that my elementary school would have been one of the last targets any national enemy would have targeted because we were in a small town of total insignificance in the middle of the midwest.

News Shows - "If it bleeds it leads." That is why even today the news is about some "killer" in another city/state or even another country. TV and radio are all about fear ... struggling economy, hopelessness, emergency, hospital, police shows of theft, death, and destruction --- continuing indoctrination programing.

 

[KCIndy]

Certainly they instilled fear in us at a young age in the 50's and 60's. My government school teachers had us ducking under our desks when the nuclear alarm bell went off. Pavlov training. Ducking under the desk as a precaution against a nuclear attack. How obvious is that? What good would that have done in a real nuclear attack?

1. Get under desk.

2. Place your head between your legs.

3. Kiss your ass goodbye.




(For you "youngsters" that was a common joke in the early Cold War era. It is not of my own invention.)

 

[kcchiefs6465]

1. Get under desk.

2. Place your head between your legs.

3. Kiss your ass goodbye.




(For you "youngsters" that was a common joke in the early Cold War era. It is not of my own invention.)

Lol thanks for the clarification. I definitely wouldn't have been the wiser. About the OP, pretty much every generation has something to be afraid of. Whether it be commies or terrorists. Fear-mongering is not a new concept. I am happy I only have to worry about terrrists. The Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, would have took some years off of my life expectancy.

 

[kcchiefs6465]

1. Get under desk.

2. Place your head between your legs.

3. Kiss your ass goodbye.




(For you "youngsters" that was a common joke in the early Cold War era. It is not of my own invention.)

Lol thanks for the clarification. I definitely wouldn't have been the wiser. About the OP, pretty much every generation has something to be afraid of. Whether it be commies or terrorists. Fear-mongering is not a new concept. I am happy I only have to worry about terrrists. The Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, would have took some years off of my life expectancy.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Rulers have been fear-mongering for generations if not forever. "All we have to fear is fear itself." - FDR

Certainly they instilled fear in us at a young age in the 50's and 60's. My government school teachers had us ducking under our desks when the nuclear alarm bell went off. Pavlov training. Ducking under the desk as a precaution against a nuclear attack. How obvious is that? What good would that have done in a real nuclear attack? Never mind that my elementary school would have been one of the last targets any national enemy would have targeted because we were in a small town of total insignificance in the middle of the midwest.

News Shows - "If it bleeds it leads." That is why even today the news is about some "killer" in another city/state or even another country. TV and radio are all about fear ... struggling economy, hopelessness, emergency, hospital, police shows of theft, death, and destruction --- continuing indoctrination programing.

I've been told that the schools now have "terrorist drills" that are similar to that. I'm too old to know about it, so perhaps a youngster like the OP could tell me.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Lol thanks for the clarification. I definitely wouldn't have been the wiser. About the OP, pretty much every generation has something to be afraid of. Whether it be commies or terrorists. Fear-mongering is not a new concept. I am happy I only have to worry about terrrists. The Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, would have took some years off of my life expectancy.

I didin't have anything big and scary to be afraid of...but I'm too young to even remember the cold war. I was only vaguely aware of it, as I was born during the tail end of it. Columbine freaked people out a lot, but not like teh turrists.

 

[kcchiefs6465]

I've been told that the schools now have "terrorist drills" that are similar to that. I'm too old to know about it, so perhaps a youngster like the OP could tell me.

I am 20 and during my entire schooling I never went through a "terrorist drill." I do recall seeing an article (CNN I believe) that stated these are, in fact, happening.

 

[Jingles]

I was in 5th grade when it happened. My dad works in NJ just outside of NYC (He actually saw the towers collapse). In school (since a lot of peoples' parents in my area work in NJ/NYC) they basically told us "Someone of your parents might not being coming home on time tonight", and they told us it had something to do with a plane crash. I originally thought, "I guess some plane crashed on I-80".

When I got home I saw all the footage and was more confused then afraid, I had no idea what the WTC was. Then all the fearmongering started to build up over the next couple of days and I began to learn more about the incident. I don't think I was legitimately afraid of Al Queda or Osama bin Laden, but I did support the war actions and then supported the Iraq war. Around age 14/15 is when I started getting into politics, and I knew I certainly wasn't a liberal because free-markets made sense too me (But I was by no means a social-conservative. I was actually an atheist and pretty libertarian on things like gay marriage and etc... I just didn't get civil liberties yet though). I also had an interest in history/military history and etc... and thinking the actions were justified (our actions against Iraq and Afghanistan), I basically came to the conclusion I was a Republican and thus became a Fox News drone. There are more 15/16 year old kids than you think that watch O'Reilly and Hannity. It became a daily part of my life.

I do think the propaganda got to me, but I was not afraid for my life. I had a lot of confidence in Bush and etc... that I actually felt secure. Discovered Ron Paul after the 2008 general election after realizing McCain (I actually thought McCain was going to win the primary before it started so I didn't even watch the primary debates) and Obama were basically the same. Connected spending to war. All just clicked. Haven't looked back. Now I'm an AnCap. I do wonder how many current AnCaps were once neocons/Bush supporters though, because I was.

 

[KCIndy]

I didin't have anything big and scary to be afraid of...but I'm too young to even remember the cold war. I was only vaguely aware of it, as I was born during the tail end of it. Columbine freaked people out a lot, but not like teh turrists.

Biggest difference: Even at the height of the Cold War, when the "enemy" was the Soviet Union, people in the U.S. didn't allow the government to usurp their Civil Rights to the degree that's happening today. Nobody was strip searched before flying in an airplane. Nobody liked the idea of the Feds listening to their phone calls. The idea of being incarcerated for carrying lots of cash and not declaring it was ludicrous. And the idea that an American citizen could be incarcerated and held for YEARS without charges was not only unthinkable, it was considered a hallmark of everything the enemy stood for.