IP: NY Post Editorial: NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Best thing I have heard from the Post in a long time djf


------ Forwarded Message
From: "John F. McMullen" <observer () westnet com>
Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 16:40:15 -0400 (EDT)
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/48514.htm

NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF

May 22, 2002 -- Hey, New York - don't duck.
New Yorkers are known, and rightly so, for remarkable resiliency, for cool
combativeness - and, yes, for singular personal courage.

In the depths of the Great Depression, one of the greatest of all New
Yorkers - Franklin Delano Roosevelt - sagely warned America against
succumbing to corrosive, unfettered fear.

In his inaugural address on March 4, 1933, he famously said: "We have
nothing to fear but fear itself."

Then there was Sept. 11 - the day New York taught the world how to be
brave.

New York has been there!

New York stood, stout-hearted, when the Twin Towers fell.

Ah, but now comes word from Washington - from the FBI itself - meant to
send New Yorkers scuttering headlong into hiding.

To fear fear itself.

Threats against New York City have been made by terrorists, says the FBI.

No specifics, apart from the usual suspects - the Brooklyn Bridge, the
Statue of Liberty and so on.

But run anyway - run and hide!

Hadn't FBI Director Robert Mueller already warned all of America that
additional terrorist violence is "inevitable."

"We will not be able to stop it!" exclaimed the director.

Mr. Director! Please!

There is a war on.

That's defeatist talk - and defeatism is not the American way.

It most certainly is not the New York way.

New Yorkers don't hide!

Gov. Pataki yesterday took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and got
right to the point: "We cannot allow threats to take away our freedom or
our confidence," he said. "There are going to be threats for the
foreseeable future."

Yes, there are.

And Police Commissioner Ray Kelly knows how to handle them: "We are taking
all necessary precautions and are communicating with the appropriate
law-enforcement agencies on both the state and federal levels."

'Nuff said.

There are no guarantees.

There never are.

Not in life.

Certainly not in war.

A war mounted, cruelly and with great calculation, against blameless
civilians.

Is there a New Yorker who isn't, down deep inside, wary of one particular
spot - one store, one theater, one restaurant, one street corner - where
the terrorists might strike to particularly deadly effect?

Of course not: New Yorkers aren't fools.

But they soldier on - they always have, they always will.

Go away, Mr. Mueller.

Come back when you have something useful to say - or don't come back at
all.

New Yorkers aren't afraid.

Not of fear.

Not of anything.


   "When you come to the fork in the road, take it" - L.P. Berra
   "Always make new mistakes" -- Esther Dyson
   "Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
    Pierre Abelard
                          John F. McMullen
   johnmac () acm org ICQ: 4368412 Fax: (603) 288-8440 johnmac () cyberspace org
                  http://www.westnet.com/~observer


------ End of Forwarded Message

For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/