IP: Prepare ...

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 19:19:14 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Adam Shand <adam@spack.org>
>X-X-Sender:  <larry@maus.spack.org>
>To: <dave@farber.net>
>Subject: for interneting-people ...
>X-PGP-Key: http://www.spack.org/~larry/gnupgkey.html
>
>
>i appreciated the comments on the mailing list today.  here are my
>thoughts which i have collected over the day.
>
>Subject: Prepare ...
>
>... for an assault on our freedom in the name of preserving our safety.
>
>From: http://www.spack.org/index.cgi/PreserveOurFreedom
>
>For a long time the USA has lived in a hubris filled bubble. We've been
>protected by our size, our arrogance and our belief that we know better
>than everyone else, that "our way" is the "right way."
>
>Today we had our world rocked. I woke up to the radio and thought I was
>listening to a modern version of "War of the Worlds." It took a few
>minutes for the enormity of what I was hearing to sink in. As I realized,
>I was up, running for the TV, logging on to the Internet, trying to find
>out what had happened. As my parents remember where they where when
>Kennedy was shot, I will remember waking up to the news of planes crashing
>into the World Trade Center. Those first words and images are indelibly
>burned into my memory.
>
>I have to admit that my first reaction was retaliatory denial. I thought,
>"Bush did this, he created a building full of martyrs so he can spend our
>Social Security funds with the public's approval, to build more weapons,
>to go to war ... to make money." I assume that was momentary paranoid
>delusion, but the fact of the matter is that the USA is facing its largest
>crisis in many years with what I believe to be one of our least capable
>leaders. I have little faith in his vision, morals or ability to guide us
>through this dangerous time.
>
>I keep hearing comparisons to Pearl Harbor, and indeed that is the first
>thing that occurred to me this morning. However we need to be careful
>because there are crucial differences; when Pearl Harbor was bombed we
>knew beyond a doubt who the enemy was, it was a military attack against a
>military installation and there was ongoing harm being done in the world
>that needed to be stopped. This time around we do not know who our
>attacker is, civilians were the target and the harm has already been done.
>How do we retaliate, whom do we attack and with what end goal? Vengeance
>may make us feel strong, it may deter people from doing it again, but we
>are strong now, and were strong yesterday, and it still happened. We need
>to evaluate what actions are in society's best interests, put aside our
>emotions as well as we can, and work for the common good.
>
>It is easy for us to ignore our responsibility as a nation for what
>happened today. The horror and shock of the event makes it easy to dismiss
>the perpetrators as irrational extremists and think no deeper about their
>motivations, but these were people like you and I, who believed strongly
>enough in something to be willing to sacrifice their own lives for a
>cause. What we have done to warrant such hate deserves further inspection.
>Whatever the cause, the scary reality is that we must now deal with the
>constant looming threat of another attack.
>
>Which brings me to my final point, the aftermath. Assuming we avoid
>starting World War III over this, during the next days, weeks and months
>we will hear a cry that says we must sacrifice our freedom to live in
>safety. I see this in the opening of Bush's speech to the nation where he
>said, "...our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and
>deadly terrorist acts." Our freedom can't be attacked because freedom is
>an abstract ideal. This is preparation for them telling us that only by
>passing new laws can our government guarantee our safety.
>
>Our politicians will shortly be under a lot of pressure to do something to
>make sure that this never happens again. They will flail wildly looking
>for something to blame and something to fix. There will follow a rallying
>cry that in order to protect us they must get new laws passed which
>restrict our freedoms. They will want to keep secrets from us and not
>allow us to keep secrets from them. There may be a call for martial law.
>We will see a call for the return of export controls on encryption. We
>will see increased pressure to marginalize open source software because
>proprietary software is easier to control. We do not have to trade our
>freedom for safety and if, out of fear for our loved ones and ourselves,
>we allow ourselves to be manipulated, then and only then, will this attack
>have truly succeeded.
>
>The loss of life today is tragic and we all hope that no further attacks
>will devastate innocent people's lives, but we are not victims. We are an
>empowered people and an empowered nation, we can stand up for what we, and
>our founding fathers, believe in and not let our fear make us shirk our
>duty.
>
>As Ben Franklin said, "Those who would give up essential liberties for a
>measure of security, deserve neither liberty nor security."
>
>Adam.
>
>Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas, thoughts, spell checking and
>disapproval. It all helps.



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