the climate of fear

[eclectica]

Today I took my daughter to a place near the airport in which you can watch the planes landing. This spot is a small park only good for watching planes when they come in from a certain direction. I live in the flight route, so I know from my home that the planes are landing near that park. Here (http://www.tatom.org/photos/2003-05%20to%202003-08%20(film)/02.jpg) is a picture taken last year from there. At the park today there were other people. Kids were playing and you had some airplane fans who liked to look at the airplanes and take pictures.

A few months ago I went there and there were some Arabic looking men taking pictures of the planes landing. The police stopped and told them they weren't allowed to take pictures. I think that is some law they created on their own which doesn't really exist. Unfortunately there have been immigrants who have gotten in trouble because they were taking pictures of buildings. It was assumed that they were conducting surveillance for terrorist operations. After 9-11 some British people were arrested for plane spotting in Greece. They were hobbyists who were writing down the registration numbers of the airplanes.

I recall after 9-11, how they closed off lower Manhattan. Anyone looking to go there had to get his vehicle searched. I went there in the company truck and they opened up the back to search for bomb material. But that part of Manhattan was deserted. It wouldn't make sense for a terrorist to strike there. Meanwhile midtown Manhattan, where the Empire State building and Times Square are, had no security restrictions. Now those security checkpoints that were there are gone in lower Manhattan. People react after the fact thinking that they're going to actually stop something from happening, and that the same thing will happen again soon. After 9-11 air force planes were patrolling over New York, but they stopped soing so in December 2001. All this extra security is just for show to make people feel safer, like having soldiers in the airports with their M-16s.

Law enforcement or security people have to learn to think like terrorists in order to prevent terrorism. But creative thinking does not fit well in the culture of law enforcement.

The hobbyists are the ones who are being restricted in the climate of fear. Information like maps and diagrams is no longer made public. If you are a plane spotter, society has no use for you because YOU ARE A TERRORIST. If you want to see maps of the water system or are curious about other engineering feats, YOU ARE A TERRORIST.

We are not any safer now, but we are definitely dumber.

[slx]

i was reading some site this morning that GWB has created more regulations than any past president, mostly under cover of iraq & domestic security. since congress, etc doesn't have to ok regulations, GWB's fancy has never been question'd.

[Criminal_Sniper]

even things they are supposed to not do without congress are being done for reasons of national security
THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF WHAT?
more like who!
they will not let anything real bad happen to u yet
how stupid is the master who beats his slaves
is revolution out of the fucking question?
i mean they teach u for years about using words and no war
they use actions so we must also
rock on guys :p

[Maze]

I meant to be the first response to eclectia's thoughtful post yesterday ....but I got drunk and passed out.

...unlike Tim ...who has the awake staying power just this side of demonic.

(btw...Tim ...that last post of yours was just trumped up bullshit you've read off the net ...designed to make you look more intelligent than you actually are ...I know you ...don't force me to...nevermind ...and stop messin' with my boy Nic or he will put you in your place real quick. ....That's all I have to say ...yeah right ...lol)

Now, down to business, I have always loved your avatar eclectic one. (One of the best shots ever taken of the towers) ...Reading your post reminded me of what you have to deal with everyday ...You & Tata and her wonderus dreams (she's psychic ya know!) ...need a vacation. I was about to suggest my place ...but isn't slx in Key West? ....shiiiiiit.... I'll bet half his acquaintances are mine ....I'm going to to see him! ...lol

Here is a flash thingy I made in September 2001 ...It is sad ...too sad ...to watch ...but it was revelant to your post. Watch it to the very end ...because it looks like it fades out and is over ...but no ...I had a final message.

Message For Terrorists (http://www.cstone.net/~mays/9-11-2001/message.htm)

(I will never in my lifetime get over that horrible and dramatic event)

Tom

[eclectica]

I will never in my lifetime get over that horrible and dramatic event

Don't let anyone tell you that you need to get over it and move on with life, for if you were to get over it it would be like it never happened, and that wouldn't give the victims their justice and proper remembrance.

Here's the full size version of my avatar:
http://www.tatom.org/images/sunrise.twin.towers.jpg
and one I made with Dollar_Girl in it:
http://www.tatom.org/images/KatarinaMessiah.jpg

[eclectica]

What's going on in this climate of fear is just like the Red Scare in the 1950s. At that time there was a fear of Communism and that fear led to what became known as McCarthyism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism). Today there are similar abuses going on. The tortures of prisoners throughout the World as in places like Afghanistan, Cuba, and Iraq have put me into a mindset in which I no longer admire or love the United States. And the incidents which occurred with the lawyer Brandon Mayfield (http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel04/mayfield052404.htm) and the musician formerly known as Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1317260,00.html) were no accidents at all, even though the government claims they were.

[Maze]

May I confess something? This is the first time in my life where I felt like hoppin' on our plane and moving to the villa in the south of France. It's just that I don't know French all that well, but guess I could pick the rest of it up ...but it's so peaceful and lovely there. But I am a proud American...but...

I just can't stand to walk down the street anymore. Loud, obnoxious music with extremely hateful messages from boomboxes or souped-up cars. Everybody looks like a walking advertisment for corporate America to make even more money and do even more damage. It's depressing. The sight of telephone poles and wires and concrete makes me a combination between sad and nausous. ....K...first of all, all wiring should be underground. Far more attention should be paid to what people see. It affects ones spirit. Our world should be handled like Disneyworld ...think I'm kidding? ...I'm not. They did an experiment once and took an old run down crime ridden neighborhood ...and the people who lived there fixed it up and made it look great and productive ...that simple little thing which affects the spirit made crime drop by 75% within a couple of weeks of having done that neighborhood makeover ...hmmmm ....go figure ....it's called pride.

[nicobie]

i was reading some site this morning that GWB has created more regulations than any past president, mostly under cover of iraq & domestic security. since congress, etc doesn't have to ok regulations, GWB's fancy has never been question'd.


nope, not true.

He is getting a 'few' of our freedoms back.

Gun control is one, and Clintons last week in office enviro laws are another.

[eclectica]

My wife is a program director at her job. She fired one of the workers and what the worker did for revenge, was call the terrorism hotline and report her to them. He said that she was a supporter of Osama bin Laden.

So two detectives from NYC police came to interview her and asked her some questions. "Are you a supporter of Osama bin Laden?"..."Why are you wearing a head scarf?" They asked about her program as well. They told her a disgruntled ex-employee had tipped them off. She said they were polite and friendly. One question they asked was "What do you think about the United States of America?".

[slx]

a severe penalty should be imposed on anyone doing what happen'd to your wife.

i wonder what the authorites do about such false repots

[eclectica]

The authorities can't do anything with a false report, as it would be hard to prove that it was willfully false. Thousands of immigrants have been detained and deported due to terrorism investigations. Maybe one or two out of the thousands were actually terrorists. The climate of fear gives a tool for spiteful people to harass others, but its legitimate use is lacking.

One thing that has been abused by the authorities is the material witness warrant (http://talkleft.com/new_archives/001006.html), enacted in 1984, which has been used to detain people indefinitely. Its continued existence without being repealed for the last 20 years shows just how much members of Congress really care about their constituents.

The United States hasn't had as much of a climate of fear since the Red Scare and McCarthyism. This one is a little different than that one because Muslims are the target rather than Leftists. Most Americans will remain more oblivious to the abuses because Muslims are more separated from the mainstream populace than Leftists.

The climate of fear has reduced the public's sense of humor. People have gotten long prison sentences for sending anthrax hoax letters. It is a loss when one loses one's sense of humor to fear. Stupid people don't have much of a sense of humor and are more apt to lose it or never had it in the first place. The stupid mind is weak and susceptible to fear. Broad fear in which one loses one's sense of humor is a type of induced stupidity.