A country ruled by fear

That's what we've been in the United States since September 11, 2001. Whenever there is a new terrorist attack, as virtually every expert in the field tells us there will be someday, let's hope that many more of us can keep our heads and not agree to crazy things, such invading a country like Iraq that never attacked the US and was no imminent threat of any kind. Because today's authoritarian Republican Party will do everything they can to ratchet the fear level to the maximum.

Here's one sad symptom of what the US has become, America the Unwelcoming by Fareed Zakaria Newsweek 11/26/07 issue:

Every American who has a friend abroad has heard some story about the absurd hassle and humiliation of entering or exiting the United States. But these pale in comparison to the experience of foreigners who commit minor infractions. A tourist from New Zealand, Rick Giles, mistakenly overstayed his visa in America by a few days and found himself summarily arrested for six weeks earlier this fall. Treaty obligations say his country's embassy should have been informed of the arrest, but it wasn't. A German visitor, Valeria Vinnikova, overstayed her visa by a couple of days and tried to remedy the situation - so that she could spend more time with her fiancé, the Dartmouth College squash coach. Instead she was handcuffed and had her feet shackled, then was carted off to be imprisoned. She now faces deportation and a 10-year ban on entering the United States. (Thanks to AndrewSullivan.com for drawing attention to these.)

According to the Commerce Department, the United States is the only major country in the world to which travel has declined in the midst of a global tourism boom. And this is not about Arabs or Muslims. The number of Japanese visiting the United States declined from 5 million in 2000 to 3.6 million last year. The numbers have begun to increase, but by 2010 they're still projected to be 19 percent below 2000 levels. During this same span (2000–2010), global tourism is expected to grow by 44 percent. (my emphasis)

It's grimly ironic that he credits Andrew Sullivan, the former New Republic editor and prominent columnist and blogger, for those two examples. There were few columnist who participated as enthusiastically in the fear- and hate-mongering in the months following 9/11 as Sullivan did, including being an all-out enthusiast for the Iraq War. As Eric Alterman periodically points out, Sullivan may have since had a road-to-Damascus realization that Cheney and Bush were destructive characters. But he's yet to retract his malicious ranting about liberals and war critics being Fifth Columnists and similar sleaze. If there's another terrorist attack or similar crisis, we'll see how serious Sullivan's conversion has been.

Digby also links to a chilling example of this ugly trend, A young blonde Icelandic woman's recent experience visiting the US by Eva Ósk Arnardóttir and Viðar Eggertsson Best of the Web 12/17/07.

Tags: authoritarianism, eva osk arnardóttir, fareed zakaria