Ten years ago, I traveled to America. While waiting for my flight at Milan airport, I passed the time with various trivialities with other passengers, among whom were quite a few Arabs. Americans and allies had already been heavily engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the public was still under constant psychosis due to the looming threat of terrorism five years after September 11, 2001. In a way, I felt a chill from those Arabs, and as soon as we boarded the plane, I glanced to see where each one was sitting. ‘Who knows, maybe one of them will hijack the plane and take us to our deaths,’ I thought. I truly felt that way. I regret it, they were just ordinary family people traveling with their children on a long journey, and of course, none of my fears came true. After two hours of flying, still far from America, I had already relaxed, and my biggest problem became the narrow seat. Yes, and the shoes I had to take off (thank goodness I changed my socks that morning, otherwise I could have been accused of being a terrorist who brought in chemical weapons). This episode on the flight to America with dear Arab people could still be relevant today, and it shows how frustrated we are with the daily bombardment of negative news. We are constantly informed about ISIL’s victories and defeats, and it must be admitted that we are not lacking ammunition at home either. Perhaps it is even worse in Croatia, as ISIL is real, and we are frightened like children by bogeymen. Self-proclaimed patriots have recently been sounding alarm bells over the large number of alleged Yugoslavs, communists, and servants of Croatian enemies, creating a tense atmosphere even though they themselves knew that the number of such people was truly miserable.
Live from the Factory of Negative Feelings
