We lose....
Psychopathic or sociopathic characters inundate us in society. Their well-known and often-self-revered syndromes plague us: a smooth, glib capability to lie and manipulate; futile attempts to dissemble and alter facts; a constant, callous lack of empathy or concern for others; a persistent, shallow emotional affect for any destructive occurrence; an unabashed lack of remorse, and a blatant, advertised egocentric grandiosity. Whether a family member, a simple acquaintance, or a noted politician, we as the other respectable, noted citizenry of society, either unconsciously look the other way, secretively support them, or adorn ourselves with a cloak of complacency. What we fail to do: aggressively hunt the venomous snakes, decapitate them psychologically, emotionally, or materially, and bury their heads, lest their venom, remaining in the dirt, destroys anyone else.
On September 11, 2001, our country was devastated by a terrorist atrocity. We were shocked, outraged
,
and insanely irate at this second historical Day of Infamy. The mass media brought seldom-heard names to our attention: Saddam Hussein and Osama bin-Laden, and their little-known group of maniacal supporters who were, with their extreme dictatorial powers, enslaving their peoples. Our leading politicians vowed to hunt down and “bring them to justice.” Additional thousands of lives would be permanently maimed or lost from the presidential and congressional-approved war that would ensue and remain chronic.
The sequel of 9/11 would, to date, prove almost fruitless. Regardless of the multifold security measures of the newly created Homeland Security Administration and all its various protective tentacles, attempting to reach out to hospitals, government buildings, schools, etc., few asked, “How did 9/11 happen in the first place?” The answer was obvious, but often avoided: As the most affluent country in the world, we became naive. We looked the other way, and adorned ourselves again with the cloak of complacency, even though, just a few years earlier, a number of terrorist attacks were effected upon us, including an attack on the World Trade Center’s bottom floors. Over a two-year period, a venomous, well-synchronized plan was slowly but deliberately effected by a devious group of terrorists -- psychopaths whose only objective was to “Kill the enemies of Allah.”
In September, 2005, as hundreds of Americans held vigils for the 9/11 victims, an ominous, threatened warning was sent from a comparable psychopathic group to the Los Angeles area and a few other world locales, creating again, as was their intended purpose, the phobia and anxiety we desperately attempt to erase. Osama bin Laden and his murderers’ ever-present, continuing atrocities will verify it.
To quote the trite query of past presidential nominees, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Honesty mandates the answer: No.
The terrorist-psychopaths win again.
We lose.
WJK-10/05
