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La la la: They're watching you!
Oct. 28th, 2004 11:07 amhttp://www.livejournal.com/users/anniesj/331112.html
I think this is awfully creepy myself.
A) People reporting to the FBI shit that gets said on LiveJournal is just...well...gross, as well as deeply disturbing.
B) There is a huge difference between a stylistic threat, and a real threat: If Homeland Security cannot tell the difference, we are all in far deeper trouble than we had realized. For example, if I say: "Dear gods, my Lovecraft presentation is in less than 12 hours, and I'm going to kill myself" and y'all go on suicide watch, we've got deep problems.
C)While I know that the Secret Service response to the "threat" in this instance would have been the same regardless of whether the author spoke about Clinton or Bush, I think this is part of a much larger problem that I see in America today. Despite what we like to tell ourselves, and despite the lip service that America pays to democratic ideals, we have been living in an increasingly autocratic society without anything other than a superficial regard for civil liberties. We are a country that pays attention to flag burning stories, while ignoring the bias on CNN. That's protecting the first amendment? Please. If the Bush administration was really a fluke, it would not have been possible to pass the Patriot Act. Or authorize the war in Iraq. Or any of the rest of the legion of horrors inflicted upon us. We live in a society that has closed its eyes to these things, and no one is ever forced to think about them. Democracy survives because goverments are forced to communicate to the people what is going on - are questioned, and then held accountable, in other words, a free press. Which is something this country has not seen for a very long time. I also hear people saying, quite often, that we must get rid of Bush so that we can return to a pre-Police-state America, when we were respected abroad. I always think, what the hell are you talking about?! We as a country have never been respected abroad. We have been feared, and we have been imitated. But respected? No. People in other countries have first hand experience of the hypocrisy of a nation who purports to support democracy and yet establishes empire. Will any of this change if Kerry wins? No. All that will happen is that along with being feared and imitated, at least we will not have to be humiliated in a world arena. That will be a nice change. Also, perhaps, we can avoid appointing supreme court judges who will oppose abortion rights, perhaps the middle class will prosper a little more, perhaps gay rights will not be set back a few decades. I stress the "perhaps". All I am certain of is that if Kerry wins, there will no longer be a village in Texas missing its idiot. And that's enough for me.
I think this is awfully creepy myself.
A) People reporting to the FBI shit that gets said on LiveJournal is just...well...gross, as well as deeply disturbing.
B) There is a huge difference between a stylistic threat, and a real threat: If Homeland Security cannot tell the difference, we are all in far deeper trouble than we had realized. For example, if I say: "Dear gods, my Lovecraft presentation is in less than 12 hours, and I'm going to kill myself" and y'all go on suicide watch, we've got deep problems.
C)While I know that the Secret Service response to the "threat" in this instance would have been the same regardless of whether the author spoke about Clinton or Bush, I think this is part of a much larger problem that I see in America today. Despite what we like to tell ourselves, and despite the lip service that America pays to democratic ideals, we have been living in an increasingly autocratic society without anything other than a superficial regard for civil liberties. We are a country that pays attention to flag burning stories, while ignoring the bias on CNN. That's protecting the first amendment? Please. If the Bush administration was really a fluke, it would not have been possible to pass the Patriot Act. Or authorize the war in Iraq. Or any of the rest of the legion of horrors inflicted upon us. We live in a society that has closed its eyes to these things, and no one is ever forced to think about them. Democracy survives because goverments are forced to communicate to the people what is going on - are questioned, and then held accountable, in other words, a free press. Which is something this country has not seen for a very long time. I also hear people saying, quite often, that we must get rid of Bush so that we can return to a pre-Police-state America, when we were respected abroad. I always think, what the hell are you talking about?! We as a country have never been respected abroad. We have been feared, and we have been imitated. But respected? No. People in other countries have first hand experience of the hypocrisy of a nation who purports to support democracy and yet establishes empire. Will any of this change if Kerry wins? No. All that will happen is that along with being feared and imitated, at least we will not have to be humiliated in a world arena. That will be a nice change. Also, perhaps, we can avoid appointing supreme court judges who will oppose abortion rights, perhaps the middle class will prosper a little more, perhaps gay rights will not be set back a few decades. I stress the "perhaps". All I am certain of is that if Kerry wins, there will no longer be a village in Texas missing its idiot. And that's enough for me.
