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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