A Meaningless Point, I Fear
Here's something I've heard a lot lately from various sources: FDR said we have nothing to fear but fear itself, while Bush, they claim, wants us to be fearful.
I wouldn't call this an argument, exactly, so I'm not sure if it's worth refuting. But the people saying it do seem to believe they have some sort of point.
So let me note, if nothing else, that FDR said we have nothing to fear but fear itself during the Depression. He most definitely did not say it during World War II.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:56 AM
2 Comments:
Also, he wasn't saying we should fear all kinds of fear. He was warning against a specific kind of fear -- the kind that paralyzes:
"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror, which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
I think that Bush and Giuliani, the two biggest "fear-mongers", would argue that they, too, very much don't want Americans to have this kind of fear.
Of course, exactly what constitutes "retreat" and what constitutes "advance" remains a key question as well....
Oingo Boingo has a song ridiculing this phrase. It gives a long list of modern REAL terrors:
Hey neighbor let me give you some advice
The Russians are about to pulverize us
In our sleep tonight
That is if the crazy Arabs
Or the riots don't get us first
And the fire will rain down from the sky
The fire will rain down from the sky....
and then gives us FDR's comforting reassurance:
Go ahead, sleep tight in your beds
Remember what the wise man said:
There's nothing to fear but fear itself.
Full lyrics here.
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