Ben Franklin said it best: “The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.”
Today, I think Digby does a fine job of saying something similar: “9/11 changed everything. Suddenly the he-men of WalMart and the NRA leaped into Big Brother’s arms and shrieked “save me, save me! Do what ever you have to do, they’re trying to kill us all!” They now look to Daddy Government not to discipline the children, but to check under the bed for them every night, reassure them that the boogeyman won’t hurt them and then read them a nice bedtime story about spreading freedom and democracy. It turns out that underneath all this swaggering bravado, the Republicans aren’t the Daddy party — they’re the baby party.”
I mean, really, when did we all become such a big bunch of fraidy-cats and cowards? I mean it: The American people have turned into yellow-bellied, pants-wetting, lily-livered COWARDS.
Our soldiers rushed the beaches of Normandy in WW2, walking straight into German machine gun nests… yet we worry about people carrying a butane lighter onto a plane and make everybody take their shoes off at security checkpoints — all because one idiot FAILED to blow up a plane with an improvised and deeply flawed ‘shoe-bomb’.
Yes, 9/11 was a tragedy, and I do think that airliner cockpit doors needed reinforcing. But beyond that? Searching grannies and confiscating scissors isn’t going to make one bit of difference. There won’t be another 9/11 because passengers realize that cooperating with hijackers isn’t an optimal strategy anymore. Done. Let it go. We all know damned well that the next bunch of hijackers will be torn limb-from-limb and their gory bits danced upon by gleefully savage passengers. That’s why I continue to insist that the next incident, if it involves planes at all, will be cargo-related — because these continue not to be searched, scanned or screened at all. YOU have to go through metal detectors, hand over IDs, and sometimes submit to bomb-sniffing and intrusive searches. They take from you anything sharp or flammable, including lighters. That large shipping container from Acme AirFreight though? It goes straight from the flatbed truck into the plane’s belly with nary a look at what might be in it. This fact has been reported on NBC Evening News and by other news outlets.
Even if we did treat cargo properly, what then? There’s always some way for clever criminals and terrorists to hurt us. That’s just how it is, and no matter how much power and authority you give to police, the FBI, and the rest of the government, THEY CAN’T KEEP YOU 100% SAFE. What they can do is make your life incredibly inconvenient, and even if you don’t do anything wrong, you could still find yourself in jail (never to be charged with a crime, never allowed to meet with an attorney or anybody else), or drugged, wearing a diaper, and on your way to Egypt for some “enhanced aggressive interrogation.” Why do we put up with this?
Look, people. Life is a terminal condition. We are all going to die someday. Every last one of us. If you believe in an afterlife, particularly one involving eternal bliss and eventual reuniting with our loved ones in the great everafter, what’s the duration of even the longest human lifespan in comparison? Just an eyeblink. What’s 9 years or 109 when compared to eternity?
There is nothing we can do to be 100% safe from harm — but we sure as heck can make things difficult, cumbersome, and intrusive for ourselves. We can give up every last one of our freedoms in the name of security and you know what that’ll buy us? Nada. Bupkiss. Nothing.
We end up in a cozy little police state where dissent is equated with treason, and where if a bureaucrat makes a mistake and labels you ‘enemy combatant’, you are essentially an UnPerson from that point forward… I have to ask, what kind of hellish life is that?
When we allow police to demand IDs or to search our bags with no probable cause, we are giving up the liberty to be left alone. Even if I’m not carrying contraband, do I really need some transit cop finding the pair of soiled panties in the bottom of my backpack, souvenir of a unfortunate day involving a really bad burrito and a tragically long restroom line?
When we permit the government to spy on us, secretly and without a warrant, we invite massive abuses of power by those who happen to be operating the levers of the machine (and trust me, they will rig things so that they ALWAYS stay at those levers). When we have to watch what we say (unless it’s in agreement with current policies), when we’re harassed for going to anti-war protests, the freedoms of speech and peaceful assembly are a chimera. When the government can lock you up solely on unproven assertions, you are not free. You have no rights. If that’s how things continue, all you can do is hope nobody important notices you and decides to ruin the rest of your life on a whim.
So stop being so damned scared already. Mommy&Daddy BigGovernment can’t save you. These fascists have only fooled you into thinking they can — all in exchange for just a few more essential liberties. And then a few more. Then a few more.
Because you feel fear and react accordingly, the terrorists have done exactly they they set out to do: To make you afraid. The only thing you haven’t realized yet is that our current leaders — and the Bush Administration in particular — are complicit. They want you to be afraid, too, because then they can control you.
As Frank Herbert says in his book, Dune, Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is why we let Bush and his minions drag us into an unnecessary war over WMDs that were never there. Fear is why we consent to enormously expanded government investigatory and prosecutorial powers. Fear is why we allow people to be imprisoned indefinitely without charge or trial. Fear is why some of us are willing to allow the torture of suspects, many of whom are entirely innocent. Fear is why our current President can get away with wiping his ass with the Constitution and thumbing his nose at the rule of law, as he did this past Saturday. He figures all he has to do is say “national security” and “9/11″ and we’ll bleat our acquiescence. (And as I tour the blogosphere, I see some are already drinking the kool-aid.)
Fear is why Americans are behaving like a bunch of frightened sheep, willing to give up any freedom in the name of fake security. Wake up already. It’s time for us to start behaving like grown adults — and to stop being such cowards.
Being Safe
Ben Franklin said it best: “The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.”
Today, I think Digby does a fine job of saying something similar: “9/11 changed everything. Suddenly the he-men of WalMart and the NRA leaped into Big Brother’s arms and shrieked “save me, save me! Do what ever you have to do, they’re trying to kill us all!” They now look to Daddy Government not to discipline the children, but to check under the bed for them every night, reassure them that the boogeyman won’t hurt them and then read them a nice bedtime story about spreading freedom and democracy. It turns out that underneath all this swaggering bravado, the Republicans aren’t the Daddy party — they’re the baby party.”
I mean, really, when did we all become such a big bunch of fraidy-cats and cowards? I mean it: The American people have turned into yellow-bellied, pants-wetting, lily-livered COWARDS.
Our soldiers rushed the beaches of Normandy in WW2, walking straight into German machine gun nests… yet we worry about people carrying a butane lighter onto a plane and make everybody take their shoes off at security checkpoints — all because one idiot FAILED to blow up a plane with an improvised and deeply flawed ‘shoe-bomb’.
Yes, 9/11 was a tragedy, and I do think that airliner cockpit doors needed reinforcing. But beyond that? Searching grannies and confiscating scissors isn’t going to make one bit of difference. There won’t be another 9/11 because passengers realize that cooperating with hijackers isn’t an optimal strategy anymore. Done. Let it go. We all know damned well that the next bunch of hijackers will be torn limb-from-limb and their gory bits danced upon by gleefully savage passengers. That’s why I continue to insist that the next incident, if it involves planes at all, will be cargo-related — because these continue not to be searched, scanned or screened at all. YOU have to go through metal detectors, hand over IDs, and sometimes submit to bomb-sniffing and intrusive searches. They take from you anything sharp or flammable, including lighters. That large shipping container from Acme AirFreight though? It goes straight from the flatbed truck into the plane’s belly with nary a look at what might be in it. This fact has been reported on NBC Evening News and by other news outlets.
Even if we did treat cargo properly, what then? There’s always some way for clever criminals and terrorists to hurt us. That’s just how it is, and no matter how much power and authority you give to police, the FBI, and the rest of the government, THEY CAN’T KEEP YOU 100% SAFE. What they can do is make your life incredibly inconvenient, and even if you don’t do anything wrong, you could still find yourself in jail (never to be charged with a crime, never allowed to meet with an attorney or anybody else), or drugged, wearing a diaper, and on your way to Egypt for some “enhanced aggressive interrogation.” Why do we put up with this?
Look, people. Life is a terminal condition. We are all going to die someday. Every last one of us. If you believe in an afterlife, particularly one involving eternal bliss and eventual reuniting with our loved ones in the great everafter, what’s the duration of even the longest human lifespan in comparison? Just an eyeblink. What’s 9 years or 109 when compared to eternity?
There is nothing we can do to be 100% safe from harm — but we sure as heck can make things difficult, cumbersome, and intrusive for ourselves. We can give up every last one of our freedoms in the name of security and you know what that’ll buy us? Nada. Bupkiss. Nothing.
We end up in a cozy little police state where dissent is equated with treason, and where if a bureaucrat makes a mistake and labels you ‘enemy combatant’, you are essentially an UnPerson from that point forward… I have to ask, what kind of hellish life is that?
When we allow police to demand IDs or to search our bags with no probable cause, we are giving up the liberty to be left alone. Even if I’m not carrying contraband, do I really need some transit cop finding the pair of soiled panties in the bottom of my backpack, souvenir of a unfortunate day involving a really bad burrito and a tragically long restroom line?
When we permit the government to spy on us, secretly and without a warrant, we invite massive abuses of power by those who happen to be operating the levers of the machine (and trust me, they will rig things so that they ALWAYS stay at those levers). When we have to watch what we say (unless it’s in agreement with current policies), when we’re harassed for going to anti-war protests, the freedoms of speech and peaceful assembly are a chimera. When the government can lock you up solely on unproven assertions, you are not free. You have no rights. If that’s how things continue, all you can do is hope nobody important notices you and decides to ruin the rest of your life on a whim.
So stop being so damned scared already. Mommy&Daddy BigGovernment can’t save you. These fascists have only fooled you into thinking they can — all in exchange for just a few more essential liberties. And then a few more. Then a few more.
Because you feel fear and react accordingly, the terrorists have done exactly they they set out to do: To make you afraid. The only thing you haven’t realized yet is that our current leaders — and the Bush Administration in particular — are complicit. They want you to be afraid, too, because then they can control you.
As Frank Herbert says in his book, Dune, Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is why we let Bush and his minions drag us into an unnecessary war over WMDs that were never there. Fear is why we consent to enormously expanded government investigatory and prosecutorial powers. Fear is why we allow people to be imprisoned indefinitely without charge or trial. Fear is why some of us are willing to allow the torture of suspects, many of whom are entirely innocent. Fear is why our current President can get away with wiping his ass with the Constitution and thumbing his nose at the rule of law, as he did this past Saturday. He figures all he has to do is say “national security” and “9/11″ and we’ll bleat our acquiescence. (And as I tour the blogosphere, I see some are already drinking the kool-aid.)
Fear is why Americans are behaving like a bunch of frightened sheep, willing to give up any freedom in the name of fake security. Wake up already. It’s time for us to start behaving like grown adults — and to stop being such cowards.
About Becca
Owner and proprietor of this here establishment