It's so ridiculous that I shouldn't be bothered with it, but I have to admit I'm disturbed when people find it's only "common sense" that ____ (insert minority) is/was/has a(n)_____ (insert character flaw or crime) and we (insert name of patriotic, religious) people should be wary of the (insert danger) that awaits us if we ____ (insert smile, talk, laugh, have sex with, breath the same air as, etc.) these _____ (insert ethnic/racial/religious slur describing said group) any longer.Do you see how stupid this formula is? Yet, without fail we continue to go along with it. Who the "offending group(s) of the moment" may be doesn't matter; we have found a scapegoat to blame for whatever it is that we can't or won't change. It's easy, it's quick, and it's safe---plus the fact that we've gotten it off our chests. Or have we? There's always a new "problem" that we need somebody to blame for, of course.
Why? And why always some "mysterious" other? Well, obviously, if we blamed ourselves or people "like" us, then the stupidity of the whole Blame Game would look idiotic to us (and what's the fun in that?)
It's the same with this "war on terror", whatever country thumbs its nose at us, and this election. If it's not "International Jewry" scheming to control the world, then it's Russia, or Outer Slabobia, or Republicans or Democrats---and so on ad nauseum. Any enemy will do, it seems. Just make one up. Who cares? The "good" people have to be united against something, right? Fine, we're "united", so now what?
And this is where the whole game gets ugly, sometimes lethal, and difficult-to-impossible to reverse. Look at the headlines. How is it that a tiny country no bigger than New Jersey (if it's as big) controls so much? Answer: it doesn't. It's that simple. None of these "monsters in our heads" (as Lippmann famously put it) are actually real. Enemies? Yes, we have enemies, but it seems that we constantly need more. At this rate, we'll have alienated the whole world---if we haven't done so already. People, use your brains and think, for once.
