I'd say she was paranoid, except for her 1998 column that predicted 9-11...
...as 9-11 showed, reality tends to destroy the hype on the trivia and petty politics that consumes much of our elites...but until our leaders and our press and our intellectuals are willing and able to include reality in their vision, I suspect St. Peggy might be right...
"I suspect that history, including great historical novelists of the future, will look back and see that many of our elites simply decided to enjoy their lives while they waited for the next chapter of trouble. And that they consciously, or unconsciously, took grim comfort in this thought: I got mine. Which is what the separate peace comes down to, "I got mine, you get yours." ...Not all of course. There are a lot of people--I know them and so do you--trying to do work that helps, that will turn it around, that can make it better, that can save lives. They're trying to keep the boat afloat. Or, I should say, get the trolley back on the tracks.
.....I suspect those in the latter group privately, in a place so private they don't even express it to themselves, wonder if they'll go down with the ship..."
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Just to add a short p.s.
The difference between the US and the Philippines is that HERE, no body really trusts the government.
In the US, if someone robs you, you call the cops...here, you get out your (illegal) gun and chase him away, or sic your pit bulls at him...if you are rich, you call the guards (the rich live in gated communities...we aren't rich so we live downtown, and have two pitbulls, but no guns... )
The first line of help is the extended family and the second line is the churches...
Culturally, Philippinos trust the family...and then pseudo family (friends, the local "rich" who they owe allegience, and the churches)...
Americans stress individuals, not family, and their "backup" is the federal government...and alas, history shows governments are not God and they come and go...
