From readers' comments, I've come to soften my hard-line view of the American people as unwitting dupes. Clearly they must bear some responsibility. But I cannot, as some do, blame the people of the United States entirely, as if they are actually in control, as they would be, say, in a democracy.
Here's an item that's been sitting in my inbox for nearly a month, from the terrific blog Attytood, sent to me by Allan. Read it carefully: The Patriotism Police.
Isaacson notes there was "almost a patriotism police" after 9/11 and when the network showed civilian casualties it would get phone calls from advertisers and the administration and "big people in corporations were calling up and saying, 'You're being anti-American here.'"
5 comments:
And the other police are getting scarier every day:
[Homeland Security Security secretary Michael Chertoff] suggested the Anglo-Saxon legal principle that "it is better that a thousand guilty go unpunished lest one innocent man be wrongly punished" might be outmoded.
From Surveillance state can't monitor itself, says US
Yes. The other thing I was going to blog about today was Stockwell Day's announcement about "preventive arrests".
the Anglo-Saxon legal principle... might be outmoded.
Like that other Anglo-Saxon legal principle, habeas corpus.
That 4000-year-old book of religious myths and tales, though? As relevant today as ever, right, Mike?
As for Stockwell Day's announcement, I believe I have an MP to write... it's been a while...
Like that other Anglo-Saxon legal principle, habeas corpus.
That 4000-year-old book of religious myths and tales, though? As relevant today as ever, right, Mike?
Ha! Very good. Now why didn't I think of that?
Yes. The other thing I was going to blog about today was Stockwell Day's announcement about "preventive arrests".
It's always a bad sign when politicians talk favourably about making the world more like a Philip K. Dick story.
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