The facade of national unity
We’re all in this together — unless you’re a postal worker
By Jill Nelson MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR
http://www.msnbc.com/news/647721.asp?cp1=1
NEW YORK, Oct. 25 — In the days since Sept. 11, Joseph P. Curseen and Thomas L. Morris, along with millions of other Americans, likely believed — or wanted to believe, or were trying to believe — what the government and the experts told them: That workers in postal facilities through which anthrax-loaded letters passed before they reached Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, CBS, ABC, NBC, and the New York Post, were not in danger. That because the letters were sealed there was no risk of exposure for mail handlers. That they were in no danger, didn’t need to be tested, start taking Cipro, or do anything else. Just keep on moving those millions of pieces of mail.
WE WANT TO believe in the facade of national unity that has been hastily constructed in the wake of terror attacks. We want to believe that as American citizens, we are all in this together, as equals. We want to believe that the government knows what it is doing. We also do not want to believe the worst, even though we have experienced it before: That race and class, fame and fortune would inform the response to this crisis. That it was more important and more newsworthy to emphasize the danger to famous, rich, powerful white men and the women who open their mail than the danger to the thousands of blue-collar workers, many of them people of color, who make sure those VIP’s receive their important letters.
WHO REALLY MATTERS?
We are in uncharted waters with unreliable, uninformed and frequently dishonest people at the helm.
Joseph P. Curseen and Thomas L. Morris, workers at the Brentwood postal facility in Washington, D.C., died of anthrax infection; a number of their colleagues are sick and hospitalized. It’s too late to ask either one of these men what they thought of the US government, or the Centers for Disease Control, or the Postmaster General’s assurances that they were not in harm’s way — even while the rich, the famous, even the Capitol police dogs — were tested for anthrax and dosed with Cipro. But it’s way past time as Americans we realized that wishing doesn’t make it so.
We’re all in this together — unless you’re a postal worker
By Jill Nelson MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR
http://www.msnbc.com/news/647721.asp?cp1=1
NEW YORK, Oct. 25 — In the days since Sept. 11, Joseph P. Curseen and Thomas L. Morris, along with millions of other Americans, likely believed — or wanted to believe, or were trying to believe — what the government and the experts told them: That workers in postal facilities through which anthrax-loaded letters passed before they reached Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, CBS, ABC, NBC, and the New York Post, were not in danger. That because the letters were sealed there was no risk of exposure for mail handlers. That they were in no danger, didn’t need to be tested, start taking Cipro, or do anything else. Just keep on moving those millions of pieces of mail.
WE WANT TO believe in the facade of national unity that has been hastily constructed in the wake of terror attacks. We want to believe that as American citizens, we are all in this together, as equals. We want to believe that the government knows what it is doing. We also do not want to believe the worst, even though we have experienced it before: That race and class, fame and fortune would inform the response to this crisis. That it was more important and more newsworthy to emphasize the danger to famous, rich, powerful white men and the women who open their mail than the danger to the thousands of blue-collar workers, many of them people of color, who make sure those VIP’s receive their important letters.
WHO REALLY MATTERS?
We are in uncharted waters with unreliable, uninformed and frequently dishonest people at the helm.
Joseph P. Curseen and Thomas L. Morris, workers at the Brentwood postal facility in Washington, D.C., died of anthrax infection; a number of their colleagues are sick and hospitalized. It’s too late to ask either one of these men what they thought of the US government, or the Centers for Disease Control, or the Postmaster General’s assurances that they were not in harm’s way — even while the rich, the famous, even the Capitol police dogs — were tested for anthrax and dosed with Cipro. But it’s way past time as Americans we realized that wishing doesn’t make it so.
