Neo-Conned! Again by D Liam O'Huallachain

Author:D Liam O'Huallachain [O'Huallachain, D Liam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781932528428
Publisher: IHS Press
Published: 2007-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

Ruminations on the Fear of Flying

Let me introduce the topic this way: flying can be extremely dangerous. During certain maneuvers, pilots may become so disoriented that they cannot trust their senses. Every instinct in their body will tell them that their life depends on taking a certain action. But tragically, their instincts during these periods cannot be trusted, and what they believe to be the only safe option may be precisely what kills them. By some estimates, this phenomenon, called spatial disorientation or SD, accounts for ten percent of all general aviation accidents, and ninety percent of the accidents attributable to SD are fatal. It is the most likely explanation for the crash that killed John F. Kennedy, Jr. In these moments, pilots must learn to disregard their instincts and to trust their instruments instead.1

As I reflect on the tension between civil liberty and national security, and on the particular example of this tension in the present conflict, I have found spatial disorientation a useful metaphor. It suggests the essence of the hysteria that periodically grips the nation, without casting it in pejoratives. As Chief Justice Warren's experience demonstrates, it is the sad fact that honorable, well-intended public servants, who in normal circumstances are steadfast in their commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law, nonetheless find themselves capable of simply reprehensible conduct during times of crisis.

Every significant military conflict has had its singular example: during the Civil War, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus nationwide and resorted to military trials for civilians. During the First World War, thousands of people were tried, convicted, and sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment for the crime of speaking against the war, even when their supposedly seditious remarks had no remote capacity to affect the war effort. After the war, the Palmer Raids became synonymous with government hysteria. The Japanese internments represent one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history. The excesses of McCarthyism are still fresh, and the abuses uncovered by the Church Committee are a matter of recent history. A number of scholars have elaborated on this phenomenon, and the ground is by now well traveled.1 On these occasions, otherwise thoughtful officials lost their moral compass, and held to their misguided judgments to the bitter end.

In the calm light of day, we look back at these periods with a deep and abiding regret, and berate ourselves in public displays of contrition. In the main, however, I believe we do a disservice when we cast these episodes in moralistic terms, as though the actors, faced with a clear choice between good and evil, calmly chose the latter. With notable exceptions, I no more believe this captures reality than the suggestion that a pilot who suffers from spatial disorientation chooses to crash. Political actors trapped in a tightening spiral of wartime hysteria simply cannot trust their instincts. They make their choices not because they fail to appreciate what they are doing, but because they believe they are doing precisely what must be done to preserve the nation.

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