The Future Upon US (Security and ME post 9/11)

[Whiskeyjack]

We have all seen, if not Total Recall, then the myriad of other sci-fi movies, a future of a security gone wild. Whether it is Ahrnuld fumbling the English language trying to get past a security checkpoint dressed as a roid-raged Mrs. Doubtfire, or just the idealistic overextending and peacekeeping of the "Alliance" of Serenity/Firefly. Most visions of the future, from Orwell to Phillip K. Dick, have a government as a large fixture of everyday life...sometimes in startling places, and usually serving as a cautionary tale.

In Jersey City, NJ, Homeland Security is beginning an experiment. X-ray baggage machines and walk-through metal detectors are being used as commuters go to take the PATH trains from the Jersey City station to get into New York City. These measures are a federal test program of Homeland Security designed to improve rail security around the country. People will line up, and, per Homeland Security, it will ONLY take 1 minute from their commute time to do this process.

A huge change has taken place, post-911. If you are not aware, please note Bush's recent eavesdropping without court orders. In fact, yesterday was the first congressional hearing to look into this issue. Not that you would know...CNN was busy running their Fall Fashion Week program. Despite news organizations failure to cover these important things, what is clear to me is that there has been a behavior modification, ESPECIALLY by the less-government touting Republicans and the so-called liberal Democrats who have the same desire to control masses, and to create MORE government direction and infiltration into our everyday lives. The Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and many other programs since 911 has been put on the fast-burner, and besides to protect and serve, they protect and serve in more extensive and powerful ways than ever before. Under the words or "Safety" and "Improvements" we are now waiting for our turn in line, to be "checked" by our government.

Now, I watched those towers fall from my building in NYC. I am a railroad commuter entering one of the worlds biggest and poorest run train stations every day. I sometimes imagine, in some anxious moments, how a explosion would rip through the narrow halls of Penn Station. I'd imagine something radiated or nuclear turning the stone into liquid and then burn that into gas in a savage explosion I hope I never see in my lifetime. I fear, like many others.

But despite those fears, which are lovingly caressed and festered by our post-911 government, there is another fear. The fear of overbearing overprotection and a government using that fear to promote, or even put to action without any vote at all, programs designed to get a fastidious grip on the population. One wonders if 911 was about the horror and the desire to not have it happen again, OR was a wake-up call to those in power that they were not as powerful as they were before. And the post-911 lipservice is just an attempt to control what they can, in reaction to not being in control of all.

[rjose]

What happened to "Give me liberty or give me death"? Freedom has its costs and they are for all of us to bare, not just the men and women of our armed forces. There are risks to living in a free and open society but the rewards have and always will outweigh them. We will always have enemies and our enemies will always find ways to hurt us, regardless of how many wiretaps, metal detectors, surveillance cameras, etc. the government has. If I have to choose between 9/11 and 1984, I'll take 9/11 every time.