Thursday, March 11, 2004
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
How about the Patriot Act? I have only one thing to say: I told you so. Back in late September of 2001 millions of people were crying for the downfall of terrorism; we can't allow this to happen; millions of Americans are going to die; this is an infestation in our country that must be controlled; etc. etc. etc. And everyone was warned that we could improve security, but by necessity basic freedoms would have to go and we would be inconvenienced. You'll have a background check and thorough search at the airport. Employers will have more access to background information. Security will be tighter everywhere. Police will be able to respond more quickly. And the American public said "Do it. We must stop 9/11 from happening again. I don't have anything to hide, and I'm not a terrorist so why should it affect me."
So the legislators did it. And now all anyone can do is bitch. Airport security is back to normal except that now they put the scanners out front so people can see their bags being scanned. And the legislation that allows background checks and faster response by the police is being criticized by everyone with a pen and some paper. Look folks, you asked for it. You got it. Luckily, they included "sunset provisions" so that the legislation will go away. But you would have passed it without them.
The complaints are mostly about the lack of privacy. I thought you didn't have anything to hide? Oh, NOW you care about your privacy. I thought you weren't a terrorist? Oh, you don't want to know that sometimes terrorists aren't muslim, middle-easterners; that sometimes the terrorists are the white males across the aisle from you on the bus. That's certainly inconvenient; you can't look like a patriot for refusing to sit next to a white male on an airplane. I thought you wanted to be able to electronically track terrorist activities? Oh, you must not have realized that the feds could also see how much porn you look at on a yearly basis with the same technology - that somehow the terrorist activity was conveniently labelled so that they could filter out anything not labelled "terrorist activity." I thought you were sick of the CIA having information about terrorists but the FBI had no clue, or vice-versa? Oh, you didn't realize that the same databases also contain your public information, too.
Look, the Patriot Act doesn't really do anything that couldn't already be done, anyway. It just makes it easier for law enforcement to do. It makes information sharing easier. It makes task force coordination easier. But, hey, if you want to go back to pre-9/11 security and bureauocracy, that's your perogative; you're the American public. If you bitch enough you'll get your way.
Just don't be surprised when you find out you've sacrificed more of your American citizens for privacy.
So the legislators did it. And now all anyone can do is bitch. Airport security is back to normal except that now they put the scanners out front so people can see their bags being scanned. And the legislation that allows background checks and faster response by the police is being criticized by everyone with a pen and some paper. Look folks, you asked for it. You got it. Luckily, they included "sunset provisions" so that the legislation will go away. But you would have passed it without them.
The complaints are mostly about the lack of privacy. I thought you didn't have anything to hide? Oh, NOW you care about your privacy. I thought you weren't a terrorist? Oh, you don't want to know that sometimes terrorists aren't muslim, middle-easterners; that sometimes the terrorists are the white males across the aisle from you on the bus. That's certainly inconvenient; you can't look like a patriot for refusing to sit next to a white male on an airplane. I thought you wanted to be able to electronically track terrorist activities? Oh, you must not have realized that the feds could also see how much porn you look at on a yearly basis with the same technology - that somehow the terrorist activity was conveniently labelled so that they could filter out anything not labelled "terrorist activity." I thought you were sick of the CIA having information about terrorists but the FBI had no clue, or vice-versa? Oh, you didn't realize that the same databases also contain your public information, too.
Look, the Patriot Act doesn't really do anything that couldn't already be done, anyway. It just makes it easier for law enforcement to do. It makes information sharing easier. It makes task force coordination easier. But, hey, if you want to go back to pre-9/11 security and bureauocracy, that's your perogative; you're the American public. If you bitch enough you'll get your way.
Just don't be surprised when you find out you've sacrificed more of your American citizens for privacy.
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