Two headlines that should teach us lessons but don’t.
One headline, with photos of gas station prices, points out that oil prices are higher today than at any time in our history. I’ve seen posters in 1991 and 2003 anti-war demonstrations that say, “No blood for oil.” So the first lesson we don’t seem to learn is that high gasoline prices are supposed to drive Americans into a frenzy that demands war against some middle-eastern state. I don’t see anyone pushing for a war to drive down gasoline prices or to drive prices up. I also have no idea of what nation the anti-war protesters think we are supposed to attack to get revenge for the price of gasoline at the pump. Clearly there is some lesson America hasn’t learned.
The other headline is about an imminent terrorist threat on a major American site, soon -- now. I’ve seen an endless stream of articles, stories and books about the way the American government had precisely this kind of information in its hands in 2001 and refused to act on the information. The 9/11 Commission has heard from hundreds of people who claim the government had just this kind of information, including testimony from Richard Clarke. So we have obviously failed to learn this lesson. We are supposed to act somehow. Maybe we should ground all airlines, evacuate tall buildings, empty the Pentagon and the White House and look for box cutters on airplane passengers. We are doing a few of those things, but mostly we are just being alert. Clearly there is some lesson America hasn’t learned about dealing with terrorist threats.
(I'm being facetious in this blog -- both groups, anti-war protestors and hindsight geniuses, are out of contact with reality. Reality is here for them to look at right now.)