Yesterday, I posted a piece about the President's good idea to demolish an unfair inequality enjoyed mainly by the 140,000 taxpayers with income in the top 0.1%.
Some cute furry critters showed up to jeer and cuss. One of these adorable beings finally asked, indignantly, why are you so damn happy? It's just the way I am. Do I need a reason? I live in a state of happiness and I must have learned it as a little monkey and imitated it, like monkeys do.
I turned on the TV this morning to monitor the news reporting and there he was in person. Grover something. Whoever he is, he wasn't having a good day. Maybe, he's just not a morning person. The President's speech, last night, riled him. He didn't appreciate hearing Obama talk about the improving economy because it might spread joy and happiness throughout the land. That thought sent poor Grover into a frenzy. People should be angry and fearful, he said. They should feel anxiety. He did a pretty good job of feigning these emotions for the viewing audience. Wouldn't he be the perfect representative for the cute, furry ones who showed up yesterday to comment about the piece I wrote?
Fear, anger, and hate are normal human emotions that we possess for the sake of self-preservation. They're hardwired into our biology. But we also have the intellect which we can use to overcome our basic animal instincts. They make reasonable people do unreasonable things. They chase the intellect away.
If you ever watched a classic Hitchcock film, like 'Psycho' or 'The Birds' you know how easy it is for fear to take over, even as you sit in the comfort and safety of your own living room, knowing that there is no danger. That's just a form of entertainment. Be careful and remember to use your intellect when you see news reports of terrorist attacks. Remember how the French people responded to the recent attack in Paris. They declined the invitation to fear. They refused to be afraid.
The notable exception was the rightwing, led by Marine Le Pen. She chose to incite fear, hatred, and revenge. She was the only political party leader who refused to attend the national unity rally. In the following days, her followers launched dozens of attacks on innocent Muslims who had nothing to do with the massacre in Paris. Who will pay for those damages?
President Obama's idea about income inequality is an invitation to use the intellect to study a remedy. It gives me courage. His angry opponents sell fear and anxiety without any ideas, and we are easily manipulated as humans. What is terrorism but an escalation of fear, as a political tool? Think about it.