Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Paranoia, Self - Destroya
It seems that everywhere I go, all I meet are frightened people. Al-Quaeda terrorists are out to get them, wacko serial killers are out to get them, car jackers are out to get them, sexual predators are out to get their children. And they will insist that all these people are out to get me, too.
Okay, people can believe whatever they want. And they can arm themselves to the hilt, and advocate for kids to go to school with a gun strapped on -- I live in Texas, this is honest-to-God an argument I hear frequently. But when they throw away our constitutional rights with both hands, I have a mixture of anger, sadness and frustration.
We as Americans live under a rule of law. Our 6th amendment says that you cannot arrest and jail someone without specifically charging him and providing him with legal counsel. You can't make up a name, like "enemy combatant", and say that that justifies unconstitutional actions. As Donald Rumsfeld said, democracy is untidy. We live with some risk. You can eliminate all threats with a totalitarian government -- after all, Russia had no citizen crime when it was a Communist state. All they had to fear was the very government that was protecting them. This is exactly what Benjamin Franklin meant when he said "He who would trade freedom for security, deserves neither."
It isn't just the jailing of people illegally that bothers me. The 4th amendment specifically prohibits unreasonable search and seizure; certainly warrantless wiretapping, or for that matter, searching a car for drugs without probable cause, is a clear violation of the 4th amendment.
Then there's the indignities inflicted upon us at the airports. Take off your shoes, have all your liquids in a plastic bag, take out your computer, have your nail scissors confiscated -- you know the drill. But the moment the second plane hit the World Trade Center, the possibility of someone hijacking a plane and flying it into a building ended. Who would sit quietly in their seat and let that happen? Just like the people on the United flight, most of us would rush the hijackers and make sure that if we had to die, we wouldn't take any other people with us.
But people say "I'm all for it if it keeps us safe". Meanwhile, checked luggage is not x-rayed. If someone wants to blow up a plane, there's one way. Or bribe someone with security clearance to hide a package on the plane. And haven't all of us gotten to our destination and discovered that we had accidentally brought some forbidden object? For all the aggravation and indignities inflicted upon us, security missed it. Oh yeah, that's keeping us safe.
Anyway, why would a terrorist bother getting on a plane? All they have to do is leak a supposed plot, and we work ourselves into a frenzy. Shoe bombs? Explosive liquids? Blowing up JFK airport and the entire pipeline? (A physical impossibility, by the way.) I don't think Al-Quaeda is too bright, but they have figured out that there are a lot of paranoid people in this country. If they plant a suggestion, we will cheerfully give up more rights, inconvenience ourselves further, and cost ourselves lots more money.
Oh wait, didn't Al-Quaeda state long ago that their intention was to ruin our economy? Little by little, they seem to be doing exactly that, with our enthusiastic help.
I am not minimizing the things that have happened: the Murrah building in Oklahoma, the World Trade Center twice, the subways in Spain and England, as well as hotels and military bases around the world. These were all tragic events. But you cannot live danger-free unless you, along with everyone else, gives up every right in order to be safe. A good analogy, I think, is an animal in the zoo: completely safe, well-fed, possibly even a little bit happy. But who would choose a cage over freedom?
Statistically, we're all much more likey to die in a car accident than at the hands of a terrorist, serial killer, or even from contaminated food. But we all continue to drive. Our greatest fears are not rational, yet we are willing to give up our rights in the name of keeping us safe from them.
Just think about it.
Okay, people can believe whatever they want. And they can arm themselves to the hilt, and advocate for kids to go to school with a gun strapped on -- I live in Texas, this is honest-to-God an argument I hear frequently. But when they throw away our constitutional rights with both hands, I have a mixture of anger, sadness and frustration.
We as Americans live under a rule of law. Our 6th amendment says that you cannot arrest and jail someone without specifically charging him and providing him with legal counsel. You can't make up a name, like "enemy combatant", and say that that justifies unconstitutional actions. As Donald Rumsfeld said, democracy is untidy. We live with some risk. You can eliminate all threats with a totalitarian government -- after all, Russia had no citizen crime when it was a Communist state. All they had to fear was the very government that was protecting them. This is exactly what Benjamin Franklin meant when he said "He who would trade freedom for security, deserves neither."
It isn't just the jailing of people illegally that bothers me. The 4th amendment specifically prohibits unreasonable search and seizure; certainly warrantless wiretapping, or for that matter, searching a car for drugs without probable cause, is a clear violation of the 4th amendment.
Then there's the indignities inflicted upon us at the airports. Take off your shoes, have all your liquids in a plastic bag, take out your computer, have your nail scissors confiscated -- you know the drill. But the moment the second plane hit the World Trade Center, the possibility of someone hijacking a plane and flying it into a building ended. Who would sit quietly in their seat and let that happen? Just like the people on the United flight, most of us would rush the hijackers and make sure that if we had to die, we wouldn't take any other people with us.
But people say "I'm all for it if it keeps us safe". Meanwhile, checked luggage is not x-rayed. If someone wants to blow up a plane, there's one way. Or bribe someone with security clearance to hide a package on the plane. And haven't all of us gotten to our destination and discovered that we had accidentally brought some forbidden object? For all the aggravation and indignities inflicted upon us, security missed it. Oh yeah, that's keeping us safe.
Anyway, why would a terrorist bother getting on a plane? All they have to do is leak a supposed plot, and we work ourselves into a frenzy. Shoe bombs? Explosive liquids? Blowing up JFK airport and the entire pipeline? (A physical impossibility, by the way.) I don't think Al-Quaeda is too bright, but they have figured out that there are a lot of paranoid people in this country. If they plant a suggestion, we will cheerfully give up more rights, inconvenience ourselves further, and cost ourselves lots more money.
Oh wait, didn't Al-Quaeda state long ago that their intention was to ruin our economy? Little by little, they seem to be doing exactly that, with our enthusiastic help.
I am not minimizing the things that have happened: the Murrah building in Oklahoma, the World Trade Center twice, the subways in Spain and England, as well as hotels and military bases around the world. These were all tragic events. But you cannot live danger-free unless you, along with everyone else, gives up every right in order to be safe. A good analogy, I think, is an animal in the zoo: completely safe, well-fed, possibly even a little bit happy. But who would choose a cage over freedom?
Statistically, we're all much more likey to die in a car accident than at the hands of a terrorist, serial killer, or even from contaminated food. But we all continue to drive. Our greatest fears are not rational, yet we are willing to give up our rights in the name of keeping us safe from them.
Just think about it.
6 Comments:
Well said. Why do so many people not understand that, even if they still *feel* irrationally?
What you left out was...
who is this person/persons in charge
of 'the scare them all to death'?
Who was the person/persons in charge
of " I am the law and your rights
are history', cause that is the only
way to protect you
Who???
and then why????
and then why did we let this
go on for so long?
kay lee
You and I think alike.
I believe that if it's your time, then it's your time. No one is going to spare you or deter something from happening to you if it's your time.
If someone wants to do harm, they will find a way.
If someone wants to hurt people at an airport, what's to stop someone from storming through a security checkpoint. Same with schools and metal detectors.
just my 2 cents.
I think too many people worry about things that may happen (and usually don't) instead of living life to the fullest. I would rather live my life without the fear and worry.
I do agree. It is not the sensational catastrphic events that will do us in.In fact, they only erve to make us stronger. Those truly intent on causing mayhem are doing it quietly behind the scenes. and we feed into it with our hysteria.
And having just flown through 3 different airports, one the smallest ever and one of the nation's busiest, your point about ecurity checks really hit home.
Yes!! Finally, someone who thinks and verbalizes just what I've been thinking all along. Your comparison to an animal in a cage is so 'on the top of things'.
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