Peggy reflects on fear

By Libby Spencer

I tried to avoid reading Peggy Noonan all day, but I finally broke down and looked at her incomprehensible column. She's worried about the kids this week. We're creating a culture of fear she says and casts about for who to blame. She has no trouble pinpointing the problem.

It's the artists who depict history too literally. It's the media. It's the rappers. It's Rosie, and Imus and anti-smoking campaigns. It's the focus on global warming. She pines for the good old days of the 60s when all we had to worry about was communists. Duck and cover drills weren't as scary as this. According to Peg, we don't care enough about our children to stop warning them of the dangers they face in life. We need to shut up about politics to save them from their fears.

Oddly she doesn't mention the war on terror. Somehow she forgets that the administration she loyally supported for the last six years created the culture of fear for their own political gain and continue to play the politics of fear daily. The president she so loved until recently, speaks of nothing but 9/11 and the evil boogeymen that are out to get us. The same president whose lies and self-serving political machinations are only now being exposed.

To paraphrase Ms. Noonan: This is what paid punditry will be like in Purgatory.

The world has always been a dangerous place and kids have always suffered from their fears. The difference between now and the 60s is that now their parents are scared too. Ours weren't and we found our strength in them.

Our parents had reason to trust their government and to believe in the American dream. Our parents were proud of our country and believed in our might. Today's parents are proud of their SUVs and believe in the almighty dollar and little else. It's every man for himself. There's no communal concern in wedge politics and this mindset has been fostered and flourished in the last six years by the materialistic conservatives Noonan very much helped put into power.

If Peggy wants to know why our children are scared, I'd suggest she look in the mirror.

(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)