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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

False Security

If I hear one more person say, "Well, as long as it makes us safer.." in regard to full-body scanners and invasive security pat-downs, I think my head will explode.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Wrong, because there is no proof that these methods are making us safer. Wrong, because people with medical conditions or prostheses or ostomy bags shouldn't have to go through further humiliation and extreme screening, something I posted about ages ago. Wrong, because children, elderly people, those trying to avoid extra radiation, and the religiously modest should not have to be subjected to these tactics.

These latest security developments are an illusion. They make us feel as if the government is proactively protecting us. Unfortunately, the government can't protect us from crazy people; people who would plot and scheme and attempt to kill themselves and others at the command of a leader who is no doubt safely hiding in a cave somewhere. There is no protection against the highly motivated killer.

That is why we are so terrified by serial killers, and random acts of violence from lone gunmen, and school shootings...because we know that we have almost no control over them. Death can come for us unexpectedly and without cause.

America...you have temporarily lost your senses!!

Freedom has a cost....and the cost is not invasive governmental intrusion...the cost is the risk that someone, somewhere, might do something bad that harms you, might make a choice that is not beneficial to you.

If you are not willing to assume that risk, then you are not willing to live free.

When we were discussing this, DH said to me, "Just imagine how much worse it would be if a terrorist incident actually occurred."

"How could it be worse?" I replied.

Seriously, what would be the next step? Cavity searches?

When the next level involves actual nudity, instead of virtual nudity, it's a sign that the train has gone off the rails.

3 comments:

jackscrow said...

"America...you have temporarily lost your senses!!"

Temporarily????

DH said...

It's the same issue with Guantanimo Bay and holding "suspected" terrorists. It goes against the foundational freedoms and ideals that our predecessors fought and died to secure and preserve, yet we sacrifice those freedoms and ideals out of fear. We become the antithesis of what we tell ourselves we are because we're afraid.

Fear is a powerful, driving force. It can make the most principled of person, and nation, do things that they thought they never would. But it's our job as individuals and as a society to recognize this fear, be honest about it, and refuse to give in to it. No matter what the price, fear can not determine our actions and shape our character. Otherwise, what's left over really isn't worth protecting.

DoOrDoNot said...

amen