It is a different world we live in now and there are several things I enjoyed in yesterday’s innocent world that I’d be willing to give up to insure a safer America tomorrow. There also are several ways I’ve changed after reflection on all the week’s events. Some of them include:
No more putting catnip on a dog’s testicles - Not that I ever really did that but I do consider myself much more of a pacifist now, or at least I will be after Trash bin Laden’s gone.
Less public information regarding what we’re about to do militarily - I didn’t need to hear last night that we already have commando units on Afghanistan’s border poised to enter from ABC news. WTF? Yes, Osama’s got intelligence sources but why should we just broadcast it straight onto his hovelroom TV or PC? That kind of info really needs to be on a need to know basis. Telling me isn’t going to make this situation end any faster or keep our boys any safer. Quite the contrary.
Firearm registration - I could give a rat’s ass if the government knows how many guns I have. Heck, if I’m ever ripped off maybe I can go to them for a list to give to my insurance company.
Increased airport searches, inconvenience and delay - put a little old lady behing that full body scanner and x-ray me until I glow for all I care. I just want to get to my destination safely and I’m happy to leave a little earlier to do so.
Internet and email scrutiny - If as the government legislates measures that will allow them to track the sites terrorists log onto, follow their money trails and intercept communications some of my privacy is lost, well tough dookey, I’ll get over it. I shouldn’t be doing anything illegal there in the first place.
Agree, disagree or have anything else to add to the list?
I agree that there are several things we can no longer enjoy now. For me, it would just seem wrong to insist on being called Admiral of the Seven Seas.
I agree that there are things we have all taken for granted that are gone. It’s reasonable to expect more safety precautions when we travel. It’s reasonable to not have military plans broadcast on the evening news. But I don’t know where the line is regarding loss of personal freedom.
It’s easy to say that if you aren’t doing something illegal, then you have nothing to worry about. Several Hollywood types attended Communist party meetings in the 1930s (perfectly legal) and then had their careers destroyed in the 1950s.
The point of these guarantees, as far as I understand them, is to prevent oppression regardless of which way the wind blows.
Don’t underestimate the power of counter-intelligence. The news sources are not broadcasting anything the military does not want them to know. Keep in mind that EVERYBODY is watching CNN these days. Making OBL squirmy and sweaty may lead to him making a move or mistake that we can capitalize on, such as giving away his position.
Right you are, xizor, but is that in fact what is happening? If it is then I’m fine with it. Sure, someday I’d like to know the real skinny behind all the ops but for right now information is power and I’d like to see us disseminate it judiciously.
Someone posted a quote the other day (’…in order to preserve freedom we had to destroy it…). I don’t know where it came from, but the prospect of doing that very thing in the name of national security scares the hell out of me, as does the 'Office of Home (or whatever) Security.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who got the heebie jeebies when I heard that name. I can just see an “expanding scope” for the department as years go on.
I don’t believe in conspiracies to control the population, but I think we are headed that way. The road to totalitarianism is paved with good intentions.