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FLIGHTPATH
I suppose we just see things differently, you and I. Not better or worse, clearer or foggier, just differently.
posted by
Unidentified_Hacker
on July 12, 2005 at 4:44 PM
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You want to live your life as before all of this?? Then stop complaining about the precautions... which MUST take place at this time !! Your life may never be quite the same. This conflict as well as the precautions will last a long time. That's all from here; reread my other comments.
posted by
reasons
on July 12, 2005 at 3:15 PM
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Excessive measures reflect on our fears. In this way, the terrorists have managed to strike terror in our hearts.
Ben.
posted by
A-and-B
on July 12, 2005 at 2:55 PM
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FLIGHTPATH
But haven't the terrorists already done it? Since their attacks, haven't we become more fearful and suspicious of everything and everyone? Is retaliation the courageous thing to do? Am I a coward for wanting to just go on and live my life without making any changes due to some terrorist attack? As far as I can tell, not creating new laws and restrictions IS keeping my freedom and liberty intact, while giving up certain aspects of privacy and such to protect myself from the (EXTREMELY SMALL) chance that I or someone I know might die in a terrorist attack seems to be limiting my freedom to try and feel a little safer.
A terrorist blowing up a bomb or crashing a plane into a building doesn’t suffocate our liberty or our freedom. Do you measure your freedom by how many people are killed in terrorist attacks? New laws and restrictions might help to prevent some attacks, but it certainly doesn’t make us any freer, and most definitely doesn’t stop the people who are dead set on blowing people up.
I don’t want to hide from the terrorists. I don’t want to make security tighter to make me feel safer. I don’t want to give up my privacy so that the government can spy on people they deem to be terrorists. I want to live my life as I did before all of this, I want to keep trekking forward no matter what threatens me from the darkness. I don’t think freedom is about whether or not people get killed, I think it’s about me being able to live my life without giving in to fear. Does that make me a coward?
posted by
Unidentified_Hacker
on July 12, 2005 at 10:38 AM
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Hacker...Today's cautions are taken in hopes of deterring terrorists who would BOX IN AND SUFFOCATE the creative, open, life of freedom and liberty for each individual. Only cowards would let them do it.
posted by
reasons
on July 12, 2005 at 10:19 AM
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FLIGHTPATH
Interesting points. Here’s one thing I don’t quite understand: Is dying really that scary? I mean sure, we all have that desire for self preservation, but how strong is it? Now, you’ll never hear me complain about how all this paranoia makes things less convenient for me, because really it hasn’t at all. I’ve been searched quite a few times at airports in the past few years. I don’t really care, and hey, I get my revenge in my own subtle little way: I always wear dirty socks when I fly. They take my shoes off and WHAM they get a nose full of hell. Hehe, suckers.
Anyhow, how far are you willing to take these preventative measures? Would you live your life in a box if it made you safer? Of course not, don’t answer that, it was a lead in question. Are you familiar with fuzzy logic and what not? There’s a concept from that school of thought that is very interesting. You see, from where we are right now, living in a box to protect yourself is a major leap and bound away. It seems silly and stupid. Now, here’s where things get interesting. Say you have two blocks of wood, one is a solid block, the other is all mangled and chiseled to hell and back. If you look at the two, it’s pretty clear, “Yeah, those are waaaayyy different.” But lets suppose you had, oh, 1,000 blocks of wood, and each block was only different from the next by a single chisel mark. So, the first block is your nice, pretty block. The second has a single mark. The third has two marks, etc etc. If you looked at the first two you would say, “No, there’s not much difference at all. In fact, there’s practically no difference.” The same would apply to the third block and fourth block. Each time you saw a new block, your mind would become accustom to the changes that had been made and start to accept those changes as an original of sorts. So, 1,000 blocks later you’re still saying, “No, there’s not much difference at all”, but when you look at the last compared to the first, holy sweet mother of God is there ever a difference.
What was the point of that long, drawn out story? We are in fact limiting our lives more and more, little by little. We take little steps away from where we started so that the changes aren’t very noticeable, and at our slow pace we can hardly discern where we were 10 seconds ago compared to 10 minutes ago. If someone who lived in, say, 1800, could see the preventative measures we take today, would they see major, ghastly changes? Probably. Oh, sure, it’s a different world, yadda yadda. So then, the scarier the world gets, the more preventative measures can be justified? The more there is to fear, the deeper in our holes we can hide without being called cowards? Or were we cowards the second we set foot in that hole, rather than facing our fears with courage?
posted by
Unidentified_Hacker
on July 12, 2005 at 9:56 AM
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What we are experiencing today is wise caution. Only cowards fear giving up a more comfortable status quo for necessary inconvenience. They will be the first to complain that 'not enough was done to protect us' when the next terrorist disaster occurs. In fact many such events have been thwarted with wise caution; but, even the preventive measures taken may not be enough.
posted by
reasons
on July 12, 2005 at 9:39 AM
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FLIGHTPATH
You’re right, there is a big difference, however is evacuating an entire train because of a stray package really wise caution? Patting down the elderly and small children at an airport? Going to war? We aren’t just being cautious, we’re being paranoid. We’re not just keeping mindful of what’s going on around us, we’re hiding from our fears. We’re so afraid to get blown up we’re willing to go to incredible extremes to shield ourselves from the threat, to hide away from that which scares us.
posted by
Unidentified_Hacker
on July 12, 2005 at 9:26 AM
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True . . . .
And what we are experiencing today is mass cowardice.
posted by
archiew
on July 12, 2005 at 9:22 AM
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Unidentified Hacker...There's a big difference between wise caution and cowardice.
posted by
reasons
on July 12, 2005 at 9:18 AM
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archiew
Thank you =). When I heard that report on the radio I just had to shake my head. I guess I wanted to see if we could all shake our heads collectively.
posted by
Unidentified_Hacker
on July 12, 2005 at 8:53 AM
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Excellent Points
Well put!
posted by
archiew
on July 12, 2005 at 8:48 AM
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