Will we wake up to the wake-up call or die to save face? (by Dr. Dorothy Tennov, November 2nd, 2001)
To: president@whitehouse.gov
From: "Russell D. Hoffman" <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com>
Subject: Will we wake up to the wake-up call or die to save face?
November 2nd, 2001
Will we wake up to the wake-up call or die to save face?
By Dorothy Tennov
As horrible as were the events of 9/11, they were minor in comparison with
what could have been and what likely will be. Seen as a message to the
world, as a wake-up call, the destruction of the twin towers could turn out
to be the event that saved humanity from destruction. Only it won't be.
The message was that we - the peoples of the world, East and West -- are
vulnerable in ways that few of us conceived, and in ways that did not enter
into the calculations of the powerful forces that up to now have directed
world events. Put simply, our technology combined with our human nature have
placed us at the very edge of disaster. The greatest thing we have to fear
is the action taken by enraged human beings when fear and anger overcome
prudence and we lose our lives to save our illusions.
According to some reports, there is increasing evidence that the plane that
crashed in Pennsylvania was headed for the nuclear plant at Three Mile
Island, not for a mere symbolic hit at Camp David, or even the White House.
Had it done so, the damage would have exceeded many times over in total
number of persons injured and killed, what was actually accomplished that
day.
The lesson of 9/11 has been missed by the loud voices on the jingoistic Fox
News Network. It has also been missed by the United States government. What
some of the more thoughtful of us feel, on both sides of the Atlantic, but
primarily on the European side, is that humanity has got itself into a mess
created by advanced technology combined with greed and insolence. It is
unlikely that we will escape. Small numbers of motivated individuals can
bring down the mighty.
We have always known, although most of us have pretended not to see, the
dangers posed by the existence of nuclear plants and nuclear weapons.But
what we fail to take into account as we fashion our policies was that we
have placed in the hands of primitive mentality, the power of mass
self-destruction.
Think of what has happened in the last seven weeks. Like a frustrated
toddler in the playground, we have thought only of striking back, and we
have indeed struck "back" and, against all sense of self-protection, we
continue action based on arrogance. The voices of reason go unheard in a
flurry of vengeance. Primitive impulse has taken the field.
Now we are in an interim period. The motivation and capability of the enemy
has been exposed, but the enemy itself is hidden from view. We say that the
enemy is in Afghanistan, but we know that the enemy is behind every rock and
in every crevice. Frantically, we institute measures hailed as safeguards,
but those who heard the message know that such efforts are futile. There is
no way that we can protect ourselves from those who are dedicated to
destruction. The means of destruction has been delivered into their hands,
and we can only await the coming blows.
Some few of vision call for doing what is not in human nature to do. I refer
to such measures as closing down nuclear plants, destroying dangerous
weapons, bringing about more equitable distribution of wealth across the
planet, and reducing populations so that the mad pace toward reduction of
biodiversity and global warming can be stopped in time, if indeed there
still is time.
I say nothing that has not been whispered into the ears of even the most
belligerent, the most angry, and the most blinded among us. We all know, even
George Bush and Tony Blair know, however much they refuse to acknowledge it;
the implications are too upsetting. Politics, accurately called the "art of
the possible," is the formidable obstacle to self-preservation.
So we live in self-deception. We pretend that things are not what they are,
and we show no signs of letting up, even when nuclear plants are struck and
dread disease spreads. As the death toll mounts and civilization grinds to a
bloody halt, we scramble to distribute antibiotics, we discard freedoms in
the name of freedom, and, in a frenzy of flag waving, we unite in the
delusion that life goes on.
But such distractions do not protect.
Dorothy Tennov
November 2, 2001
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For more information on the dangers from nuclear power please visit the author's son's web site:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/index.htm
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11th hour protest against nuclear power:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/11thhour.htm
For more information please visit:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/index.htm
Learn about the effects of nuclear weapons here:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm
This web page has been presented on the World Wide Web by:
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rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
First posted November 2nd, 2001.
Webwiz: Russell D. Hoffman