One reason for the passivity in America in the run up to the Iraq war

-- to the extent that people were passive, because millions did take to the street -- was that after 9/11, people were afraid. We were terrorized and not only by 9/11 but also by the utter failure of the Feds to respond in any way. Then came the Amerithrax attacks, unresolved to this day. And the cable channels kept the fear going by simply broadcasting whatever the Bush White House wanted out there in the public sphere.

But even beyond that, there was also a wave of violence against people who looked like "arabs" or "Muslims", remember? That was immediately frightening, disturbing community after community. One of my internet friends told me that her husband was afraid to leave the house in their TX town. I hadn't even known he was Syrian. We were in Santa Monica and always in cabs or in hotels prepping for some gig and I still remember the service workers that seemed vaguely apologetic and for weeks during that awful time. Even those that weren't "arabs" or "Muslims" but that could be mistaken for Arabs or Muslims by angry ignorant people. When you know your neighbors are in danger, you also feel endangered. That's just how human beings are.

And to go a little deeper, there were government round ups of hundreds of people who were then abused in custody in New York City. Maybe in other places, too, like San Diego or Boston or New Jersey but I only know of the ones in NYC. Most of us had no way of knowing that at the time. But it was in the air, dehumanizing cruelty was as airborne as the planes on 9/11, and we started to censor ourselves even in conversation, even among friends. There was a moratorium on criticizing the Bush Administration that lasted until after the invasion. It was finally broken in print by two California Congresswomen after about 18 months and on the same weekend -- which leads me to believe that they planned it together for solidarity. But that's how shut down we were, how intimidated we were.

And we were right to be afraid of those dangerous sociopaths. I don't blame us in the least. The terror attack only began on 9/11.

a missile drop and a new toy utilized in the name of "their" country. How much longer are we going to use "fear" to justify that a nation, collectively, wanted War? Man has wanted war from the beginning of history. Sometimes they are brave enough to not come out with absurd excuses about how they are victims of circumstance (though that doesn't make it anymore right).

in my fifty years.

People were afraid. Maybe afraid of the wrong thing but maybe not. We were right to feel insecure under a Bush administration.

You can generalize and your generalization maybe right. I was talking about what it felt like to be in this country in the run up to the war.

I was terrified of my neighbors and of the government. Everyone I talked to wanted to see brown skin people die. Thats what I felt. "Fear" of the unknown sort of seems like a cop out for what I observed

who felt intimidated. To go on crucial errands, to the grocery store, to the doctor, to pick up kids from school.

That you can ridicule that time doesn't reflect well on you.