The day freedom died

Yesterday was one of the saddest birthdays in American history. On 9/11/2001, 3000 people lost their lives in the destruction of the world trade center. At the same time America was victim of a malicious rampant disease that would eventually damage its heart: our freedom.

It has been said many times that we take everything for granted, especially by those that lived through more difficult times. I do not think this is entirely true; After all we have almost none of the benefits that European countries have: we have no job security, poor medical coverage and no reliable system in place for our old days. When one looks at America, nothing is really guaranteed but our freedom.

 

Freedom is at the heart of our success; Unlike Europeans, which have ridiculously complicated laws preventing their economy from thriving, we are able to choose how we live and do business. This is so embedded into the American spirit that Freedom has almost become synonymous with the USA.

With freedom, there is no fear. We can express ourselves, and do what we please without having to worry if others are going to like it or not. Some say this is why our enemies hate us.
Historically fear has been one of the greatest motivators. Religion has existed through fear: do you think many would care about God if there was no Hell? Or what better motivation is there to love and sacrifice for your King than the fear of being tortured for not showing respect?
Fear and Freedom go hand in hand, take one away to give the other one.
Our modern fears are usually either distant, like the cold war, or minimal; some of it is healthy, fear of the heights might keep you alive and fear of repression keeps societies together. As in everything, it is all in the dose.
Many countries are using things to control their citizens. Iran, Egypt, Russia, Zimbabwe, Colombia and many others have managed to strip their citizens of their freedom in the name of fear. Of course, if I ask you about freedom in Sudan, you might laugh… the same way people will in 20 years about us.

Medias have an immense power; the grim confirmation is the state control of the Medias in many countries, whether current or historical. Who controls the Medias controls the masses.
In the last 30 years, Medias have been largely used to scare people off now and then to inflate their ratings, sell more crap, etc. Fear works really well on most people… but not everyone. It doesn’t work at all on those that dare to think for themselves.
But what about those on which it doesn’t work, those that feel insulted any time Fox News is on? They are nowadays on the internet. TV and Newspapers have lost their grip on them; People in place have lost their power. Unless one is uneducated or cut from the world, media’s propaganda has ceased to be as effective as before.
Can you imagine if the internet existed during Nixon? We are now discussing and dissecting any lies and fraud on the internet, whether they come from Bush or any insurance company.
We have entered a new era in which we have lost trust in those supposed to represent us. In a desperate hope to keep in power, the fear has been intensified.

"The politics of fear is fueling a downward spiral of human rights abuse in which no right is sacrosanct and no person is safe."
"Governments are undermining the rule of law and human rights with "short-sighted fear-mongering and divisive policies."
Irene Khan, secretary general of the human rights watchdog.

"The United States is ‘the leading country using fear to justify the unjustifiable’"
Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA.

We have been attacked on 9/11 and adding insult to the injury, it was used as an excuse to spawn an attack without precedent on our freedom. Since Florida decided to recount votes until they got the number they wanted, we were already an embarrassment to the world. As a leading nation, we had now a government as legitimate as our foreign policies. The attack on the World Trade Center could not have come at a better time for this illegitimate administration as it provided the perfect distraction: we were under attack, we had to be afraid and only by surrendering some of our rights, we would be protected. Not doing so would be unpatriotic. May it sound legitimate or outrageous; this is exactly the same things that happened in other countries. In what name do you think people are abused in Iran? They are claiming to protect their republic from an invader: the United States. Do you see any similarity there?

If you are interested to see how cultivating fear leads you to an East-Germany style of life, you can do just look at England. There is an estimated 4.2 million cameras in the streets in England, where people watch your every move. Any article you read will claim it is for your safety, because you’re supposed to be afraid of evil roaming in the streets.

The best is simply to look at a few quotes from people in our own government:

PETER SWIRE, White House Privacy Counsel, 1999-01: Everybody’s a suspect. And if you’re good, we won’t bother you, and if you look a little strange, then you might get on a watch list.

SUZANNE SPAULDING, Fmr. CIA Senior Attorney: It is inevitable that totally innocent Americans are going to be affected by these programs.

LARRY MEFFORD, FBI Assistant Director, 2002-03: I always said, when I was in my position running counterterrorism operations for the FBI, "How much security do you want, and how many rights do you want to give up?" I can give you more security, but I’ve got to take away some rights. And so there’s a balance. Personally, I want to live in a country where you have a common-sense, fair balance because I’m worried about people that are untrained, unsupervised, doing things with good intentions that at the end of the day, harm our liberties.

MICHAEL WOODS, FBI National Security Atty., 1997-02: When you talk about prevention, you’re saying to people, "Well, you can’t just focus on one person. You have to cast the net a bit more broadly, and you have to- you have to start to work with situations where you’re going to collect a lot of data and then try to connect the dots." But that means you’re going to collect a lot of data, and that means you’re going to end up holding a lot of data about ordinary people who have nothing to do with your threat.

WILLIAM WEAVER, Fmr. NSA Analyst: The average person doesn’t have a concept of the massive capability that is available to the National Security Agency. Forget about the idea of the guy with the earphones on, listening to something. That’s not what happens. You know, the calls are being sucked up by the millions. And not just the calls, you’re engaged with data mining.

PETER SWIRE, White House Privacy Counsel, 1999-01: One big change that most people haven’t quite seen is that before the Patriot Act, you could get a national security letter, one of these special "without a judge, get the phone records" letters, but it would be about one person, just about me. But now the language was changed so the government can get the entire database, and that’s just a little change in the language. NSLs - national security letters - get X, but X went from the suspect to being the entire database. Telephone records, financial records, your credit histories. And it applies to these other kind of orders for any kind of record in the American economy.

So, what is the conclusion? I am not here to discuss the war, Bush or anything else, but rather to remind how our success is intimately bound to our freedom, so let’s keep it!

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin