Are Amercans very scared? If so why?

[jandajoy]

I'm not trying to be provocative here, simply trying to understand.

I've read a lot of what has been posted here and I just get the impression that there's an undercurrent of desperation, possibly fear, running through many of the posts and threads.

Probably my fertile imagination but I'd be interested to know if anyone feels / sees the same.

[Lorenzo]

Scared about what?

[sabang]

Thats the thing, they don't actually have anything to be scared of- I mean who's gonna attack America?

So they invent things, idle minds and all that. And many Conservative Americans are downright scared of change- it's all a threat to America, or a threat to their lifestyle. The fact they've lived through change all their life is somehow forgotten.

[Jet Gorgon]

^ Wrong again. obama and the libbies are shredding the Constitution.
The Good People are more angry than scared. Reason: obama.

[sabang]

Kerchink, right on time.

See what I mean?

[Jet Gorgon]

^ 555555555 Oh, so only non-American libbies can reply here? FYI, I have many libbie friends in the States and they are all turning on obama and his ilk, too. Not scared, ANGRY.

[Jet Gorgon]

!

[Mid]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slKNd22GGaQ

[GooMaiRoo]

I'm not trying to be provocative here, simply trying to understand.

I've read a lot of what has been posted here and I just get the impression that there's an undercurrent of desperation, possibly fear, running through many of the posts and threads.

Probably my fertile imagination but I'd be interested to know if anyone feels / sees the same.

Social critic Hunter Thompson actually wrote a book about modern-day America titled Kingdom of Fear, so maybe there's something to this. For what it's worth, here are a few of my own guesses as to why so many Americans are scared and desperate:

1.) Many Americans are financially over-leveraged while at the same time lacking in the job security to support their lifestyles in the current economic crisis.
2.) The country is in a state of perpetual war; its enemies (real and imagined) are constantly being hyped by the mass media.
3.) The general quality of life and the median wage of the average American family been declining for several decades.
4.) Few Americans have large extended families that can be relied upon as economic and emotional safety nets. Consequently, the fear of loneliness and poverty is very real as the welfare state becomes less capable of supporting all of its dysfunctional inhabitants.
5.) Americans don't get laid enough.
6.) As far as religion goes, there's too much fire-and-brimstone evangelical Christianity and too little Buddhism.
7.) Scientism is another toxic American belief system, one which suggests that humans are nothing more than biological and chemical mechanisms. It leads to fear because it implies that people are prisoners of processes that cannot be understood or controlled.

[misskit]

I ain't scared.
Being an American makes me feel rather secure.
I think Americans living in the states are worried that things will not get better economically. Getting adjusted to that new lower standard of living is rough on them.

[FailSafe]

The entire world is experiencing economic problems- there hasn't been a real recession in the States since the 70's, and there haven't been times of real economic hardships since the 30's- Americans are just worried (not so much 'scared') about the future (and yes- many people got in over their heads on houses in the last decade- those people are scared, and rightfully so, especially the ones that are upside-down on their homes)- there's also a man in the White House that has radically different ideas from his immediate predecessors- we Yanks don't like sudden change.

[jandajoy]

Hunter Thompson actually wrote a book about modern-day America titled Kingdom of Fear,

Indeed. The man was astute even when stoned. Or perhaps because......

[Muadib]

Most Americans are sheep who are controlled by the media & political pundits whose primary efforts are to scare the shit out of the populace... How else can they cajole the people into accepting the rhetoric emanating from Washington...

Gotta agree with Jet on this one... Most Americans are more pissed off these days than scared...

BTW JJ, you have links to any posts where you feel Americans are 'scared'??? By the same token, I could conjure up a variety of adjectives to describe Brits, Ozzies and Kiwis on this borard...

[buriramboy]

They are scared as they are finally realising that they ain't the superior beings that they imagine themselves to be, and in years to come they will no longer be the only super power and some much needed balance will be brought back to the planet.

[jandajoy]

BTW JJ, you have links to any posts where you feel Americans are 'scared'??? By the same token, I could conjure up a variety of adjectives to describe Brits, Ozzies and Kiwis on this borard...

Absolutely not. No links whatsoever. I don't want any links. Links are chains.

It's simply an observation. An observation of the world as a whole. The US just happens to spring to the forefront on ones imagination.

After "x" number of years of domination it seems to this tired old cynic that the recent financial collapse, the abject failure in various conflicts, following on from the false elation of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The failure to be able to "sort things out". seems to be creating a crack in the credibility of the "power".

I don't know. the UK is fuked, that's a given.

Australia.... well it's just Australia.

Europe....... supporting and paying huge amounts of money to all the wankers that couldn't get elected for their local parliament.

Total collapse of the Welfare State. TOTAL.

China..... total domination of the people by the unelected powers/families that be.

It's a fokin nightmare.

Why shouldn't the folks in the states, and every where else be scared.

What's wrong with being scared?

The common man has no power, no control.

Your vote means nothing.

You are no more and no less than a drudge, to be manipulated by the banks, financial institutions, conglomerates, multinationals, and billionaires

Unless you go and live in a hut in NE Thailand.

[the dogcatcher]

Sounds like fear of fear itself.

[jandajoy]

Sounds like fear of fear itself.

That's quite astute.

[Humbert]

Scared and angry. The Tea Party is a movement based on fear. A bunch of disgruntled people frustrated and angry because they lost an election who have created a movement based upon the myth that there is some insidious government tyranny to be fearful of.

[Nice Guy]

Scared and angry. The Tea Party is a movement based on fear. A bunch of disgruntled people frustrated and angry because they lost an election who have created a movement based upon the myth that there is some insidious government tyranny to be fearful of.

I agree for some, it's based on fear.

But mainly IMO, it's based on sincere disgruntlement.

Perhaps unfortunately having a (half) black President stoked the fire in some, but in my opinion this is not about Obama, and it didn't start with Obama.

The US government has been whittling away are rights, over-regulating, and abusing its own citizen for decades.

If it takes a Tea Part movement (that does include a lot of buffoons and loons) to ignite a spark, then good is still being done.

[Camel Toe]

obama and the libbies

Now there's a term I've never seen on TD before. Hey, cigarettes are $10 a pack in NYC .. obama and the libbies. I got this itch on my nutsack .. obama and the libbies. Two GIs died in Afghanistan yesterday .. obama and the libbies. My toilet backed up .. obama and the libbies.

JJ maybe that old adage is true: We always find what we're looking for. I have scores of friends and I can't remember ever, even once, us sitting around complaining about Obama or expressing any fears, other than the usual "I hope my girl ain't knocked up. I hope my mother-in-law stays home this Summer."

[Nice Guy]

I don't think 'Obama' has anything to do with the original topic of this thread.

"Libbies?"

Is this the trailor trash Faux new report?

[Norton]

What's wrong with being scared?

Nothing. Distinguishing between what one needs to fear and what one doesn't is the issue. Fear only those things which directly affect you. The constant barrage of terrorist attacks, economic doom, crimes, etc., by the media and our governments must be put in context with the risk any of this presents to us as individuals. Folks with the inability to do this will be in a perpetual state of fear. Unfortunately there are far too many who get all worked up and fearful every time they read a news item.

As FDR once said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

[HermantheGerman]

^ Wrong again. obama and the libbies are shredding the Constitution.
The Good People are more angry than scared. Reason: obama.

Kerchink, right on time.

See what I mean?

You hit the nail Sabang !

Americans...the spoiled children of the world. Have lived the life of Railey for years and now have to face reality. The fat years are over and they won't be coming back (unless they can start another war ).
We all know how spoiled children act....buaaaahhhh, whine, cry, scream, yell. Its not my fault...he did it buahhhh.. Imagine how easy life could be, if you could blame all your missery on a single person ?
Can't blame the Commies anymore, Fidel is sick laying in bed ! Blaming those little Chinks, who are becoming the next world power, is naive ! Blaming the muslims is like a constant re-run of SEINFELD or M*A*S*H.
Fear can turn people into sheeps. And one of the good sheperds (FOX News) is doing a great job of herding the flok.

Now back to the question:
If my Television is made in Japan
my Fridge made in Korea
my car made in Germany
my Handy made in China
my House build by illegal Aliens
my brother in the Army (cause he can't find a job)
I too, would be a bit scared.

America bless God ! For all the natural resources he gave them !
Or else the spoiled child could not throw a tantrum anymore and would RIP.




P.S. this goes only to 2005, meaning the line goes into the next poster down below

[DaffyDuck]

It's kinda funny reading this thread, and reading the USUAL American hating children crying and pointing fingers, isn't it?

But at the first signs of any trouble, these are the same miscreants screaming at the top of their lungs "WHERE ARE THE AMERICANS TO HELP ME?!?"

[buriramboy]

It's kinda funny reading this thread, and reading the USUAL American hating children crying and pointing fingers, isn't it?

But at the first signs of any trouble, these are the same miscreants screaming at the top of their lungs "WHERE ARE THE AMERICANS TO HELP ME?!?"

Could you tell me when the last time people started screaming "WHERE ARE THE AMERICANS TO HELP ME?!?"

As i understand it most people wish you would remain confined to your own borders.