The horrors and implications of the 9/11 attack are far-reaching and frightening to say the least. In the dawn of a new millenium, America adds its name to the list of countries attacked by nameless and shadowy figures from which there is little defense. Terrorism is all about spreading fear and panic among the populace through calculated acts of aggression. Terrorists often believe their cause to be a holy and righteous one. The people who perpetrated the crime of 9/11 are the worst of the lot: the political/religious fanatics who see the U.S. as a hindrance to their plans. These sorts of people want to create a religious theocracy, a power base built upon the fundamental beliefs of their faith, to the detriment of any other faith-based traditions or freedom loving peoples that might oppose them. Their idea of freedom is limited to the freedom of a theocratic elite to impose whatever restrictions and desires upon those whom they rule. It is the mentality of the thug or bully over an oppressed and victimized populace. What they lack in numbers and resources they make up for by concentrating their time and energies on high profile attacks. They seek to upset the delicate balance of power in nations, create widespread panic, and topple corrupt governments from the inside. The world has seen what this kind of brutality can do: Nazi Germany, perhaps the worst example of totalitarian brutality the world has ever seen, the Japanese Empire of the 30's and 40's produced similar atrocities, Stalin's Soviet Union is a close second, the Serb incursion in the Balkan Wars is the most modern example next to Afghanistan under the Taliban rule. The U.S. involvement in the Middle East, particularly in supporting Israel, has infuriated Islamics and Palistinians to no end. It is not surprising in the least that they see us as a threat.
These examples are at the same level of vicious anti-human atrocities humanity has ever seen in the modern era. They were perpetrated by a few over the many, often right under their noses with assistance and consent of the people who followed them. Some were a drastic and upheaval of change, others were a slow march of intricate deliberation. It took Hitler nearly 10 years to come to power in Germany. Stalin had to wait about the same amount of time for Lenin to die before he could consolidate his power base. The point is that often these sub-humans were able to dupe the very people they came to rule with the help of political, economic, and social pressures to be sure. These sorts of dangers are the kinds that give people sleepless nights. Yet the fact is the most effective propaganda tool for the proliferation of totalitarianism may be the attack on America on 9/11/01.
In the wake of the attacks, we saw unprecedented focus on the safety and security of our nation. The creation of yet another bureaucracy: The Office of Homeland Security, the rushed passage of questionable legislation in the USA Patriot Act, and the gradual erosion of civil liberties: wiretaps without warrants, reading a person's email without a warrant, arrests without probable cause or warrants, detaining people without charging them (suspension of habeas corpus). There are suggestions about justifying torture of people who might know about future attacks, the thinking being that if we can cause one person pain and suffering to save the lives of countless others, it is justifiable. Another idea is the national I.D. card, just what I want another identification card to keep in my wallet. Movie images of the German SS or Gestapo officer saying: "Your papers pleeze," is starting to become an all too real possibility. All sorts of things are being allowed suddenly as a reaction to the alarm of possible terrorist activity in our own country. An occasional warning that more terrorist activity may be imminent is enough to keep people from complaining about the loss of a few liberties. It is a frightening prospect indeed. In taking these steps, the U.S. is, in a way, doing exactly what the terrorists want. They make a sudden feint, we flinch. Our country has been placed on alert and we're afraid of our own shadows now. Most people are so afraid that they are ready to give up anything to feel safe.
Of course this is not a slow news day for the media, they have torn into this event with the fervor of piranhas in a feeding frenzy. Often times where there is a lack of factual information, the media is perfectly happy to speculate, which only serves spreads panic and fuels the fears of thousands of people. In a very real way, the news media is not on our side, but on the side of the terrorists. By speculating and analyzing, the news media also extends the "shelf life" of a story indefinitely. In this way, the news media shares a considerable amount of blame for the proliferation of speculation, unsubstantiated allegations, half-truths, and biased reporting. The people who view the news are charged with remembering that news stories are just as much "fitted to print," as they are printed to fit. Yet for millions of Americans the news is the only source of information, thus it must be the "gospel truth." To consider the worthiness or truth of any given news story may be far too taxing an exercise for the common citizen who has limited time to begin with. The news media is well aware of its responsibility, but it is rather evident that the desire to tell the news, any news, and keep the viewer mesmerized is more important. The important fact about any of our media in our society is they exist to create advertising dollars, not necessarily tell the truth. Propaganda has been and still is one of the most effective tools of any society.
Every time this nation faces a crisis of any sort, it seems politicians are eager to show the public that they are responding with vigor to the situation. The passage of the USA Patriot Act for example, several congressmen and senators complained that they never got a chance to read the bill before it came to a vote. The heightened security for airports and airplanes is an exercise in ineffectuality as well. The idea that cockpit doors weren't reinforced prior to this event is amazing in and of itself, the idea that increasing the level of scrutiny and security is going to stop a dedicated group of individuals from attacking in any method they choose is similarly laughable. The point is that our politicians have to look as though they are doing something, even when the fact is that there is nothing we can do but remain vigilant, train our emergency and rescue personnel, and utilize better intelligence assets in the future. America was caught with its pants down to be certain, but our response has been to put on a helmet!
As if to intensify our already inflated fears, someone decided to up the anty by mailing letters with anthrax spores in them to various people around the country, especially large media outlets and politicians- this ensured instant media coverage and an increased level of fear throughout the nation. Suddenly any suspicious white powder was "anthrax." Postal workers were wearing latex gloves, as were all sorts of people. Fears of "cross contamination" were fueled by outbreaks away from the main targets. Hospitals were overrun with panicked individuals afraid that their flu was really the far deadlier inhalation anthrax, people who had no reason to began taking the anti-anthrax drug Cipro "just to feel safe." As far as I know, there is nothing about the drug that prevents one from getting anthrax, it simply treats it effectively once you've been exposed or caught it. Gas masks, food stores, guns, all sorts of survival gear suddenly became popular again for the first time since the Millenium bug had everyone worried that our world would grind to a halt over improperly dated computer codes. Americans want to feel safe. Feeling safe would appear to be far more important than actually being safe. The fact is that the attacks and outbreaks were severely limited, but all it took was making sure the right targets were selected and then relying on the news media to spread the message of fear into everyone's mailbox and living room. Obviously this is a situation in which we needed to know what was going on in the off chance we needed to protect ourselves, but once again, the panic button was pushed so hard that it broke.
We must not forget the wave of religious hysteria that grew out of this event. It is completely natural to have a spiritual crisis at a time like this. It is hard to imagine a god that would condone such tremendous evil upon the world, (yet it did happen, challenging the faith of many). This event also grew into an opportunity for the dogmatic pitchmen of organized religion to use the fears and panic of this event to bring new and old sheep back into the flock. In fact the very event that triggered such religious fanaticism in our own country was perpetrated by religious fanatics! It is a subtle irony not lost upon me, even if it is on most people. The days of prayer, the invocation of the ever popular and arrogant "God Bless America," the gathering of thousands of people to celebrate all sorts of religious and patriotic events in the wake of this tragedy is exactly the mentality from which the terrorists operate. Their irrational acts have caused a wave of irrationality the likes of which hasn't been seen in many years, and has far-reaching implications for the future of our country and the human race.
Let's face it, we are the freest and most powerful nation on the Earth. We have had years of feeling smug and satisfied that nobody would dare attack us, which is precisely why we were targeted for attack. We are the nation that has the most goodies; even for our poor our standard of living is the envy of most of the world. Many foreign powers look upon us as spoiled brats who deserve a good ass kicking. The militant extremists who pulled off this attack are barbarians by our standards, they see themselves as freedom fighters for Allah, who, even as we speak has been lavishing the hijackers of those planes with rewards of beautiful virgin females and who knows what else (well, perhaps the ones who failed to reach their target and crashed in Pennsylvania aren't being so rewarded as the others). Yet in the wake of all this, we have done nothing but sink to their level on so many occasions. We have met concentrated force with overwhelming force, we have suspended liberties and freedoms for many, we have decided arbitrarily that a "suspicious person" isn't allowed to fly commercial airliners- definitions of a "suspicious person" could be someone who speaks a foreign language, someone who is carrying a book that looks controversial, or let's face it, anyone who is Arabic. We haven't only declared war outside the U.S., we're declaring it right here too and many people will suffer the consequences.
If what the government has done has made you feel safe; I challenge you to look back at history. In a country devastated by world war, a man came to power that promised security, promised prosperity, promised to get people back to work, and get the trains on time. A country in which the crushing economic sanctions placed upon them by the victors made it required for a wheelbarrow full of cash to be necessary to buy a loaf of bread. These horrible problems allowed one man to seize power legally and use the law to his own advantage. Once in power, he stripped most of the civil liberties off the entire populace and made it illegal for Jews to own property or enjoy even the reduced advantages of citizenship in their own country, among other things. His name was Adolf Hitler. He simply took advantage of the despair and panic of the times. If you think that can't happen in America, you're not looking very carefully at what already is.
The attacks of 9/11 have succeeded far beyond the vision of a few fanatical extremists. They have succeeded in suspending many of our cherished freedoms, in forcing our civilized and humane desire for peace into an ugly desire for warfare and revenge. We are determined to trade an attack made by a few into an attack upon anyone we think might oppose us. The surgical strike on our nation has resulted in a blanket response. Our president himself has used the opportunity to consolidate power and popularity on his side, (as would any political opportunist). He has characterized all the fundamental Islamic nations and the Communist ones as an "Evil axis of terror," setting back relations with these countries by immeasurable amounts. Not only are we witnessing the emergence of another "Cold War, but we are witnessing the enactment of totalitarianistic restraints we fought for more than 40 years. Where will it end? With great freedom comes great responsibility, this is supposedly the creed of the social contract known as the United States Constitution. Are we really willing to trade this document in for the illusion of feeling safe? Every step we take out of fear and panic rather than reason advances the possibility of a police state in our future. Tread cautiously America, Big Brother is watching...and waiting.