John Bostrom
Before Sept 11th, Bush was in huge trouble – on top of not having been really elected and sounding like a puppet, his first months in office prove that he’s an environment-trashing, oil-industry loving, deep-died power elitist after all. In New York City, Rudy Giuliani is in similar deep doo-doo over his marital problems. Across the country, Democrats and Republicans are disagreeing with vigor.
Then suddenly death comes, and everything changes. Not just the physical damage. Hard-bitten New Yorkers start asking strangers how they’re holding up. Everyone’s in shock for days, but after the weekend it seems like we’re going to pull through stronger than before. We’ve found some common ground.
But by the next Thursday a New Bush has emerged, burning with war fever. He actually manages to declare the dreaded WWIII – one of unlimited duration yet – and the only response is prolonged cheering! Only one legislator in the entire country votes against the war.
Suddenly everyone is awash in flag-waving agreement. Bush is a popular commander-in-chief. Rudy is a hero. And the country is united behind bombing the daylights out of one of the poorest stretches of wilderness on the planet. Millions are fleeing and starving, we’ve disrupted international relief efforts probably permanently. Civil rights are being trashed, we have a non-elected Homeland Security Czar in power. The media are outdoing each other with how much red white and blue they can show and how many ways they can use the words America and War.
What happened to the bipartisan system? What happened to criticism? What happened to dissent? Help, I’m in Orwell’s 1984 and I can’t get out!