One place where FDR\u2019s spirit \u2014 \u201cnothing to fear but fear itself\u201d \u2014 seems to live on is in New York City, home to ground zero itself. New Yorkers \u2014 those actually, personally, physically affected by the Sept. 11 attacks \u2014 haven\u2019t confused vigilance with fear, they\u2019ve simply gotten back to the business of being New Yorkers. (\u201cThere are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn\u2019t advise you to try to invade \u2026\u201d) They\u2019ve had to endure the president\u2019s reluctance to fulfill his promise of financial aid. They\u2019ve had to endure the lies from their government about the safety of the poisoned air they breathe. And they\u2019ve had to endure five years of lectures from red-staters thousands of miles removed from ground zero about how their refusal to vote for George W. Bush demonstrates that they don\u2019t \u201cget\u201d the \u201cmeaning\u201d of 9\/11 as deeply as do the terrified masses in middle America.<\/p>\n
Al-Qaida hit New York City with its very best shot and New York is still standing. For those keeping score at home that\u2019s NY, 1; AQ, 0. Game over.<\/p>\n
But the score reads differently in the rest of the country, in places far from the destruction of ground zero al-Qaida scored big and continues to score. Credit the Bush administration with the assist.<\/p>\n
Both intend to influence an audience. Both want to keep us so scared we can\u2019t think straight. But neither has the power to take that which we refuse to willingly surrender. We have nothing to fear but fear itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One place where FDR’s spirit \u2014 “nothing to fear but fear itself” \u2014 seems to live on is in New York City, home to ground zero itself. New Yorkers \u2014 those actually, personally, physically affected by the Sept. 11 attacks \u2014 haven’t confused vigilance with fear, they’ve simply gotten back to the business of being New Yorkers. (“There are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn’t advise you to try to invade \u2026”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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