Terror Feeds Terrorism
Fife Paris
March 14, 2005
It was recently put to me by a supporter of further beefed up airport security frisking that Americans need to sacrifice some freedoms in the war on terrorism in order to stop REacting and start acting. To be PROactive, she said, privacy should be humbly laid aside and the government retrained in the spy business; domestic spying, especially on immigrants, is the only way to know what we're up to.
Well, doesn't THAT sound like a first-time parent?
Everyone wants to feel secure, and most of us would easily trim our privacy bounds for it, but the fact of the matter is that privacy isn't a convenience to be laid aside; it's an intricate part of governing a democracy. Forfeiting freedoms like privacy doesn't stop terrorism; it aids it. Right now terrorists have to work to fit in, find fake IDs and passports, wiggle through paperwork to get around, and our government has no trouble whatsoever tracking them down - even if it failed to act on information it had. It knew of the presence of the 9-1-1 attackers THREE YEARS in advance! That it wasn't bright enough to figure out what they were up to is another issue altogether. To eradicate privacy, search and spy on all, is to create an air, not of security, but of distrust. View all as potential terrorists, and POOF! The real terrorist is instantly invisible. Why should he bother with paperwork that can be tracked and traced trying to blend in when he can set up in a nice comfy house and let the government's peeping Tom look in to evaluate how normal he is? After all, being spyed out apparently didn't hinder his kind before.
What of the intensifying focus on immigrants? Are they now to be guilty until proven innocent? That's racism, my friend, by definition, discriminatory treatment regardless of whether the person has done anything wrong. We can't bestow the proud title of "American" on someone and then single him out as a potential enemy.
America needs to act, all right, but can someone explain how acting terrified and responding in blown-out fear, locking down doors and spying on neighbors, is not REacting? Spying on folks doesn't make them feel more secure. Singling out immigrant Americans dosn't draw this nation together in this war. The idea of giving up on freedoms in order to preserve freedoms isn't proactivism - it's paranoia.
Well, doesn't THAT sound like a first-time parent?
Everyone wants to feel secure, and most of us would easily trim our privacy bounds for it, but the fact of the matter is that privacy isn't a convenience to be laid aside; it's an intricate part of governing a democracy. Forfeiting freedoms like privacy doesn't stop terrorism; it aids it. Right now terrorists have to work to fit in, find fake IDs and passports, wiggle through paperwork to get around, and our government has no trouble whatsoever tracking them down - even if it failed to act on information it had. It knew of the presence of the 9-1-1 attackers THREE YEARS in advance! That it wasn't bright enough to figure out what they were up to is another issue altogether. To eradicate privacy, search and spy on all, is to create an air, not of security, but of distrust. View all as potential terrorists, and POOF! The real terrorist is instantly invisible. Why should he bother with paperwork that can be tracked and traced trying to blend in when he can set up in a nice comfy house and let the government's peeping Tom look in to evaluate how normal he is? After all, being spyed out apparently didn't hinder his kind before.
What of the intensifying focus on immigrants? Are they now to be guilty until proven innocent? That's racism, my friend, by definition, discriminatory treatment regardless of whether the person has done anything wrong. We can't bestow the proud title of "American" on someone and then single him out as a potential enemy.
America needs to act, all right, but can someone explain how acting terrified and responding in blown-out fear, locking down doors and spying on neighbors, is not REacting? Spying on folks doesn't make them feel more secure. Singling out immigrant Americans dosn't draw this nation together in this war. The idea of giving up on freedoms in order to preserve freedoms isn't proactivism - it's paranoia.
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