Warning: Unpopular Opinion Ahead.
Sep. 11th, 2006 06:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quidditchgrrlSo, today. Five years later.
Not much has changed for the better.
The terrorists didn't erode our safety, didn't compromise our freedoms. We did that ourselves, through complacency and a feeble sense that we deserve to be safe, just because we're Americans.
It seems like we're ready to believe anything, to give up our reasonable right to live our lives without government scrutiny, in pursuit of something no one is ever promised - tomorrow.
In my state, you can't walk down the street without being required to identify yourself. If you cannot produce papers, you can go to jail. This is supposed to fight terrorism.
It's an insult to every soldier currently fighting, to every civil servant serving, and to every last person who died on September 11, 2001. Heck, to anyone who has fought to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Am I sad? Sure. Am I still angry? You bet. Do I feel safe? Less than I did before September 11, 2001, but not because of the threat of terrorism.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.
--Benjamin Franklin (or Richard Jackson, depending on your source)
Not much has changed for the better.
The terrorists didn't erode our safety, didn't compromise our freedoms. We did that ourselves, through complacency and a feeble sense that we deserve to be safe, just because we're Americans.
It seems like we're ready to believe anything, to give up our reasonable right to live our lives without government scrutiny, in pursuit of something no one is ever promised - tomorrow.
In my state, you can't walk down the street without being required to identify yourself. If you cannot produce papers, you can go to jail. This is supposed to fight terrorism.
It's an insult to every soldier currently fighting, to every civil servant serving, and to every last person who died on September 11, 2001. Heck, to anyone who has fought to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Am I sad? Sure. Am I still angry? You bet. Do I feel safe? Less than I did before September 11, 2001, but not because of the threat of terrorism.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.
--Benjamin Franklin (or Richard Jackson, depending on your source)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 11:04 am (UTC)I had 2 family members on flight 11, and I'm sad, angry, and a million other things.
But I am so much more scared of losing our democracy than I am of losing my life. The next time the President says "we have to protect the American people," I just wish someone would tell him, "Um, that's a nice gesture but I'm fine thanks, and that's not in your job description, actually. You took an oath to protect the Constitution ABOVE ALL ELSE."
And his administration has done nothing but piss all over the Constitution for the last 6 years.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 03:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 03:30 pm (UTC)Thanks! I like you too, if you are as frustrated as I am ! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 08:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 03:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 03:57 pm (UTC)The admin essentially hijacked our grief, stole it, and flew it into Iraq.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 04:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 04:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 04:27 pm (UTC)