The danger here is in being too suspicious, seeing everything as a groundless powergrab or manipulative attempt to push some agenda. While there are certainly cases of an overhyped "crisis" being use to advance a position, we shouldn't forget that there are times when there is a real crisis that calls for real change. As XMan said, "the same could be said for global warming". Which is true, in fact the same could be said for virtually ANY major issue of the day...but the fact that we could say the same thing doesn't mean that they all ARE the same thing.
Republicans will tell you that the real crises are terrorism, social security and monogamous gays. Democrats will tell you that the real crises are the state of our public schools, our impact on the environment and a callous disregard for civil liberties and human rights. And both sides will try oh so hard to convince you that the crises of the other side are all invented nonsense to manipulate you into doing something you otherwise wouldn't. It's hardly a coincidence that the example of manipulation, as expressed by a liberal P&N poster, was 9/11...while he was almost immediately followed by a conservative poster suggesting that maybe global warming was a better example.
But the idea that either side has a monopoly on the truth and more importantly, that every issue is absolutely one way or the other, is stupid,. Listening to some liberals, 9/11 was really just some pilots who got lost, and every time ANYONE brings up fighting terrorism, it's to advance some fascist police state agenda. Listening to some conservatives, on the other hand, might convince people that pumping billions of tons of shit into the atmosphere every year, not to mention rapidly depleting our finite supply of fossil fuels, is no problem at all, and anyone who says otherwise is trying to just trying to make a quick buck (possibly the only time conservatives have ever been opposed to that particular endeavor).
The whole idea is to make you stop thinking and just start listening to what people tell you. The LAST thing most political folks want is for everyone to look at every issue, right, left and center, and figure out...for themselves...whether it's something worth worrying about or whether they're being fed a super-size serving of bullshit. If I was more clever, I'd come up with a term to describe the crass political approach behind trying to sell "The Shock Doctrine" as the playbook of the other guys, but suffice it to say...that name is out there. The MOST IMPORTANT strategy for any dyed in the wool partisan is to convince the masses that the other guy doesn't really believe anything so much as he's trying to manipulate them. The fact that this is a tremendously hypocritical strategy has in no way prevented it from working disturbingly well.
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