The Face of Fear

This week one of the young ladies, hired to be as assistant to my Admissions area at UVic, drew the alien face--the one we all know--the one with blue eyes that light up that I gave to Karl Johanson as a gift--and promplty told me this scares her alot. My reply was "That's the face of terrorism from space." Now its something both of us had never considered....but its true! And thus a conversation on the face of terrorism was launched. Only I noted that all of it was based on the face of terrorism Americans view....

For example we figured that most young people growing up in America today will consider the face of terrorism to be Arabic. How will this effect these young people as they grow into adults? Will immigration be restricted? Will there always be a feeling of not being safe around Arabics?

During the 1950s it was communists and Russians. Americans built bomb shelters and kids in school were made to practice over and over again what to do in the event of an attack. I've met Americans who now live in Canada who had fathers who went to Vietnam and were in the military. These men are afraid of Asians, one even sent me a site to purchase medication to protect me from fallout from THE bomb something he lives in fear of seeing in his lifetime. In the end I had to stop receiving his emails and going for coffee with him because his panic was starting to scare me. I hope he got some very needed help.

And on it goes....there seems to have always been some terror threating American in one form or another. Here is a nation that keeps its population in constant fear. Which then leads to my observation that Americans suffer from this fear--ever notice all the ads for antacid, headahces, stomach aches, sleepnessless and weight problems on American TV? These are all cases of stress! And the way I see it Americans are one stressed out society.

Did I make my coworker feel better -- it helped to talk. I think she realized that she doesn't have to be afraid of an invasion from space, she has to be more concerned that our neighbours to the south might buy us up more and more; that we could become more American.....now that scares me almost as much as Harper and Day.