More on Cat Stevens: Can an economy of fear survive?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger () ibd com>
Date: September 25, 2004 10:42:28 PM EDT
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>, Dave Farber 
<dave () farber net>
Subject: More on Cat Stevens: Can an economy of fear survive?


Can an economy of fear survive?

http://blog.redherring.com/MT/archives/main/000396.html

Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is Why
 must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss


Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train Oh
 peace train take this country, come take me home again

The United States has stopped an aircraft bound for the
Washington, D.C., rerouting it to Bangor, Maine, in order to
de-plane the author of the lyrics to Peace Train, Yusef Islam,
formerly known as Cat Stevens. Just how afraid have we become and
what is it doing to the U.S. economy and business opportunity?

Look, forget the fact Mr. Islam is a Muslim for just a
moment. Distance yourself from the knee-jerk reaction some people
have to Muslims, especially when they are cast in news stories
presented by U.S. government officials. If you believe, as we do,
that the economic freedom enjoyed in the United States is a key to
the nation's greatness, then all the other freedoms – to speak, to
travel, to disagree – have to precede the success of the economy,
or prosperity will be choked off.

 Islam, who has traveled to the United States earlier in the year
 without being detained, told Rolling Stone in 2000 that he enjoys
 visiting the country: "There is a sense of optimism and
 openness," he said. But, because he purportedly supports Hamas
 (though this was an assertion made by a Homeland Security
 spokesperson that was not backed up with proof), the Muslim
 organization that conducts terror attacks as well as operating
 schools, hospitals and relief programs in the Middle East,
 America is no longer open to the former Cat Stevens. As the Daily
 Kos points out, at least we are now safe from the Cat Stevens
 boxed sets advertised all night on cable.

But, of course, we're not safe from those late-night
commercials. The boxed sets will still be advertised, because
that's commerce, and not conscience, we'd be aborting if a record
label were not able to sell its wares, even the wares of Cat
Stevens, now known as Yusef Islam. These old songs exist and will
be sold because they are popular; if the former Cat Stevens starts
singing praises of Osama bin Laden (he hasn't), let the market
decide whether it will pay for those songs. If, however, Peace
Train, Moon Shadow and everything Mr. Islam has said about the
demands for a peaceful existence among followers of Islam are not
dangerous, why are planes being diverted?

 A great country needs to be open, even to those who present an
 attractive face for a faith that a country does not universally
 embrace. This event in the air over the Atlantic tells us that
 the interests of "security" have started to infringe on the
 freedom of thought that has produced generation after generation
 of American innovation. From the cotton gin, Model T,
 semiconductors, and integrated circuit to Scientology's idiotic
 teachings – all protected commercial concepts – this has always
 been the land of the freely invented worldview and technologies
 that transform worldviews. Why stop that tradition now, or even
 stop a plane carrying Cat Stevens?

Karl Popper wrote in The Open Society and Its Enemies:

"[E]conomic intervention, even...piecemeal methods...will tend to
increase the power of the state. Interventionism is therefore
extremely dangerous. This is not a decisive argument against it;
state power must always remain a dangerous, though, necessary
evil. But it should be a warning that if we relax our
watchfulness, and if we do not strengthen our democratic
institutions while giving more power to the state by
interventionist "planning", then we may lose our freedom. And if
freedom is lost, everything is lost, including "planning". For why
should plans for the welfare of the people be carried out if the
people have no power to enforce them? Only freedom can make
security secure."

Popper would certainly have seen the logic in stopping Mr. Islam
from traveling, had the old pop star shown up at the airport with
a bomb or made comments to security about his desire to destroy
the plane in flight, but the philosopher would not have understood
closing the doors to America (or his native Britain, where
Mr. Islam supports Islamic schools and has met with government
officials, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, many times) to the
ideas in Mr. Islam's head. Popper would attribute this to what he
called "oracular philosophy," what he said was "a poisonous
intellectual disease" that seeks to predict human action rather
than understand it. Such predictions have the tendency to become
self-fulfilling prophecy, or at least seem to when the government
seeks to place blame for something before it actually happens.

Basically, the rationale for detaining Mr. Islam is fanaticism
pure and simple, a fear of differences of opinion and belief. It
represents the most dangerous challenge to American innovation and
ingenuity the country has ever faced, because it threatens to
close the American mind to all the hues and tones of culture and
thought that must be blended to create new ideas, products,
services and programs with the potential to change the world. If
we cannot interact with the world without the government's
interference, as businesspeople we are shut off from the sources
of innovation we need.

The detention of Yusef Islam, though it may seem trivial, should
be regarded as a warning sign, like the failure of an organ or the
loss of a key species, alerting U.S. business and citizens to the
coming night of extremism that such stupid policies represent.

Posted by Red Herring at September 22, 2004 03:02 PM

--
Robert J. Berger - Internet Bandwidth Development, LLC.
Voice: 408-882-4755 eFax: +1-408-490-2868
http://www.ibd.com


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