Terror

[bladespark]

I find myself afraid at times.

I am not afraid of terrorists. Should I happen to be on a plane that gets hijacked, or in a building that gets blown up, I may die. But that's it. I've never really feared death, though of course I have a nice strong survival instinct and thus try my best to avoid it. But death is not the worst fate I can imagine. And I know perfectly well that I have more to fear from drunk teenagers in cars than from fundamentalist Muslims, on the sudden unavoidable death front.

I am afraid of the future.

I am afraid of this country falling apart into anarchy, but I am also afraid of it not falling apart, but merely continuing down the road of present trends.

I am afraid of my government.

I am afraid of the nearly unthinkable, and yet alarmingly plausible idea that Bush and co. may try to stay in power after his term is up.

I am afraid of the fact that the FBI would interview a man merely for reading something, and even more afraid of the fact that somebody reported that man for suspicious activity merely for reading something.

I am afraid of the fact that I no longer have any rights that cannot be taken from me.

The terrorists haven't won. They have gained nothing. But I live in a terrorized nation anyway, not because of what terrorists did on 9-11, but because of what my own government did afterwards.

And most of the time I just go on with my life and try not to think about it too much. I will vote for those who I hope will not terrorize this country further, that's all I can do. And there's the bit that really scares me. That's all I can do, and it's not much. Say all you want about the power of people working together, one person's vote means nothing in our current system.

Comments

[silveradept]

It's been one of the greatest Statue of Liberty plays run in the history of the country. And what's really frightening is that it doesn't look like it'll stop, even at the point where it's mandated by law that there has to be turnover in teh government. There's the ideal hope that the next executor turns out to be good-hearted and undoes the damage, and the great fear that it will not only be more of the same from the next, but worse.

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid of Americans.
I'm afraid of the world.
I'm afraid I can't help it.
I'm afraid I can't...

Dammit, Beavis. Now I have that song in my head.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I am afraid we are going backwards

I am afraid we aren't learning and are repeating the mistakes of the past

But most of all I am afraid because 90% of the people DO NOT CARE.

That makes me very very afraid, because I think it means we cannot stop it.

It may even mean that we don't deserve to

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

We don't "deserve" to? I think not. Whether we take it for granted or we don't, we have the right to our freedom. People may try to tell you that we don't deserve our liberty since we don't use it "wisely." Invariably, those people will attempt to take it from you, subtly or otherwise. People may spend their time frivolously more often than not, but they remain humans. As long as they do, John Locke's observations on life, liberty and property hold true.

As for those who try to take our freedom away: the United States government currently hosts two major political factions, each telling us that the other will destroy our Lord-given rights. Who to believe on that claim? On the one hand, we have the Republicans, whose anti-terror bent likely will produce a police state that will exert total control over our lives if they gain power. On the other hand, we have the Democrats, who show signs of covering us all with a web of high taxes and inescapable "greater good" programs which will...uh...exert total control over our lives if they gain power.

Hmmm.

Meanwhile, both sides have decided to grind on each other in Congress, meaning that absolutely nothing is getting done except a number of insane things that a great many Americans didn't want. As America continues to polarize, the specters of Fascism and Socialism have formed in our nation's capital and have set to battling for our hearts and minds.

If we want to keep our freedom, we need another answer. Our own answer, not theirs.

(And if there's anything in there you can contradict, feel free to yell at me about it.)

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

...the "spectre" of socialism?
Erm. Speaking as someone from this predominantly socialist-tinged location called "Europe", ITYM "communism".

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think they're two different things. If I remember my Communist Manifesto correctly, Marx described Socialism as the step before Communism, but I can't recall how he describes them differently. But yeah, Socialism and Communism have the same core principles in mind.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

We have a right to our freedom. But rights mean nothing if you don't exercise them.

We have a right to freedom of speach, but if we can't be bothered to open our mouths then having the right on paper means nothing. We have the right to freedom of movement, but if we never move our backsides we have just ink on paper. We have the right to fair trials and equality and numerous other vital rights, but if we allow our fear and our prejudice to rule us so we completely ignore them, if we believe politicians blindly, if we think "our country right or wrong" or, worse "our country, always right" if we think "criminals have too many rights" or "terrorists don't deserve rights" or that our various holy book of choice trumps all rights - then our rights are just ink and paper. Ink and paper is worth little and is easily ignored.

We have no rights unless we are willing to exercise them and protect them. We have no rights if our reaction to someone violating them is just "meh" and reaching for another hamburger and changing the channel on the television

[tarathene.livejournal.com]

I am afraid that when the time comes that I can leave, I will no longer be able to leave.
I am afraid that I might have to leave before I can.
I am afraid that the only way to be safe will be to leave.

[starkruzr.livejournal.com]

They wanted to inflict fear on us.

They succeeded.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Which "they" do you mean? If you mean the Islamic fundamentalists, I beg to differ. They inflicted very little on us, and fear wasn't their final goal, it was a means to an end which was never realized in any way.

If you mean the government, yes, very much so.

[rimspace.livejournal.com]

Actually, you could argue that the aim of the terrorists was to produce an environemnt of fear and to undermine the ideals that americans claimed as central to their way of life.

In that they have, with help from the government, been quite spectacularly successful.

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

Remember, if you don't do X, the Terrorists will Win! ¬¬

[rimspace.livejournal.com]

I much prefer the way we used to deal with the IRA...

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

what, dubbing over the voice of the leader of their political party?

[rimspace.livejournal.com]

No, the "oh, it's them again, whatever" attitude, and just getting the hell on with life regardless.

I've never been afraid of a 'terrorist' in my life, and have no intention of ever being. Otherwise I'd just be playing the game by their rules.

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, the "oh, them" attitude seems to be the predominant UK reaction to the current "Evil Terrorist Plots". It's the US which is having the issue with panic.

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

Funny. From my vantage point over here, we don't seem all that panicked. We rank-and-file Americans more or less have settled back into the complacency of television and celebrity scandals (okay, not all of us. I just laugh at inane things on the Internet). The government has other ideas, though, and since I'm sure many higher-ups have studied Roman history, I'm not sure I should blame them. With the exception of the border security issue, however, I think they might better secure the country by telling everyone to keep an eye out and refraining from peeking into everyone's business.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Security is a myth. It is completely, 100%, utterly and totally impossible to secure anything. Nothing is unstealable, nothing is unbombable, nothing can be protected against all possible forms of attack. You can take precautions against specifics, but there will always be a way around those precautions. I personally would rather have our energies directed in other places. Basic measures against crime and terrorism are fine, but doing away with freedoms and rights in return for a "security" that doesn't even exist isn't something I favor at all.

[wtftastic.livejournal.com]

...Okay, sure, President Bush has made mistakes. Big ones, little ones, whatever. But he is by no stretch of the imagination EVIL. He is not what you make him out to be.

Sure, bad things happen to good people because someone is following the rules, mayhap a little to zealously. But the same can happen with cops for minor road violations, etc. (Please, look at Cpl. Bruce McKay, I believe it was. He made a bad choice, and paid dearly for it.)

When people bitch and moan about democracy, and their vote, "not counting", I find it generally means, "Waaaahhhh I didn't get my way". I've sat my ass through plenty of administrations that I did not vote for. I did not say that my vote did not count. I realized that my opinion was not shared by the few people who did vote.

And by few people, I mean the ones who weren't consumed with voter apathy. Vote for whoever you want, but all I ask is that you, and for that fact most other liberals/conservatives/greens/libertarians stop whining like babies and just put up with shit with some kind of a proportionate and rational world view.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

.......................................................................

You know, I just lost a HUGE chunk of respect for you.

You SUPPORT Bush?

You think he's "following the rules too zealously?" WTF? Have you HEARD about signing orders, BREAKING THE LAW, and SAYING outright that he is above the law? He's not following the rules! He's thrown the rules out the window!

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

You know, I'd started to write up a whole explanation of why I don't trust Bush any further than I could throw him, but screw it. If you're so blind you actually think he's "following the rules" there's nothing I have to say to you.

[wtftastic.livejournal.com]

I don't support him. I'm actually more or less ambivalent. He's the elected leader of the country. Just as much as Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and etc were.

I may not have liked Slick Willy, and felt... discomfort at his decisions, but I didn't feel it was worth getting all hot and bothered about.

I'm more unsettled by the general "crisis" feeling about the administration. Too many people believe that the administration gets away with so much, but I have to say that with the amount of public oversight, I feel that less and less escapes the public eye.

And as for "following the rules", I wasn't referring to the President, but rather to the members of the law enforcement who read very heavily into Patriot act et all.

[wtftastic.livejournal.com]

As an addendum:

I'm fine with what ever you think or feel about politics. I'm not one to convince anyone to change their minds. I'm just more addressing the "evil" aspect and the "worried about my vote counting" bit.

Its just two things I hear way too often from very sensible people, when they (those ideas) don't seem very sensible.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Explain to me how encouraging torture is not evil.

Explain to me how authorizing people to break the law, and claiming that this is okay because you're the president is not evil.

Here's a nice recent one! Explain to me how calling a press conference about the Minneapolis bridge disaster, and then discussing your own adgenda rather than the disaster itself, is not evil.

And PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME why you think it's upsetting for me to feel my vote doesn't count, but YOU JUST SAID that you don't feel it's "worth getting all hot and bothered about" our PRESIDENT making bad decisions?

[wtftastic.livejournal.com]

Encouraging torture is evil, but I believe that the situation was rectified, if it ever did exist, of torturing prisoners. President Bush told his CIA operatives, interrogators, etc that the Geneva convention is to be upheld. (While I'm very against torture, its odd that he chose the Geneva convention which applies to sovereign nations states that signed it, not organizations like terror cells).

As to your second point, authorizing people to break the law is bad. Understandably so. But I don't feel that it makes it evil. I guess I'm not 100% sure to what incident you are referring.

As for the news conference, I didn't see it, so i can't comment on it. Other than to say, that I've seen many such conferences where he comments on the issue, moves on to another or is prompted to do so by reporters etc. This kind of political two for one-ing seems common enough.

Its not upsetting to me. I actually don't really feel that strongly about it, its just... something I hear all the time. There are over 250 million people living in this country, if everyone were to vote, individual their vote has little meaning, correct? As a group, or party or bloc, what have you, the vote takes on significance. The individual's vote is still important, but it is not MORE important than anyone else's. Nor is it unimportant. Why else would candidate fight for it? That kind of thinking just leads to voter apathy, which is terrible.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Do you even have ANY understanding of how your system works? NOBODY is fighting for my vote! Have you heard of the electoral college? Unless you live in an area where the LOCAL balance of parties is very, very, very close, your vote means nothing.

They do not elect the president based on the number of individuals who voted for him, or Bush wouldn't be the president right now! It's based on the votes of the electoral college.

My vote means nothing, and no presidential candidate in the race campaigns in Oregon.

As for the torture thing - get out there and READ a little, don't just watch Fox news. It's STILL going on right now. The USA is breaking that self-same Geneva convention right this instant.