Terrorism as excuse for government powers (10)

1 Name: Citizen : 2007-12-12 00:34 ID:4ukl4OyX

OK, I hope I won't step on anyone's toes by expressing an opinion in the first post, but I've been thinking about how a lot of new government powers (not just in the U.S., but also the UK's ID cards, etc.) that people would normally object to are justified because of the threat of terrorism.

Isn't this automatically wrong?

Terrorists by definition are trying to scare people; that's why a synonym for fear is in their name. The people who get blown up in a bombing are just collateral damage. The actual victims are the people who are terrified, and who change their way of life because of that.

So even if new government powers do make us safer (which is often questionable, but that's another thread), aren't they counterproductive if they change our way of life enough that terrorism even NEEDS to be used as a justification?

I guess this is a loaded question, but I have trouble seeing how you could disagree, knowing what terrorism is. 4-ch, do you feel like playing devil's advocate (or actually think I have it wrong)?

2 Name: Citizen : 2007-12-12 01:39 ID:4Y0Hp2LF

This this isn't anything new, it's been down with communism too. Really the media has put people more into fear then the terrorist themselves.
Fear and ignorants leads to war, war is a great source of profit for big businesses (read War is a Racket), but at the same time the middle class is weakening and economy falls. Just look at all the stuff that we have privatized in the military since Bush has been in office.
I have people in my family that are far right conservatives that believe that colleges and public schools should check the students everyday before they enter the building. They already have so many people in a state of complete fear were they could convince them to give up all their rights of privacy for security.

War is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler
http://www.wanttoknow.info/warisaracket

3 Name: Citizen : 2008-01-01 20:26 ID:moXR/ZIQ

Notice how journalists aren't concentrating on how excessive airline security is, and are instead concentrating on how easy it still is to smuggle bombs on airplanes?

4 Name: Citizen : 2008-01-02 00:13 ID:Heaven

If someone really wants to bomb a plane, they're going to bomb the plane.
An SMAW or something similar would be much more effective, considering the perp wouldn't even need to enter the airport to use it.

5 Name: Citizen : 2008-01-02 12:51 ID:s0my4xZf

I would rather live with the slight chance of being bombed, rather than give the police & government new powers.

6 Name: Citizen : 2008-01-14 01:12 ID:gXa2sUQ/

OK, so the Balkans are genrally agreed upon as being a terrible place (including countries only sometimes included in this group), and economically weak. Going on the assumption that countries and nations develop borders (Spain, Italy, France) based on the geography of their region, what are states that SHOULD have developed in the Balkans as large as those in Western Europe, and what would their borders be?

7 Name: Citizen : 2008-01-14 01:17 ID:gXa2sUQ/

>>6 oops, supposed to be new thread

8 Name: Citizen : 2008-01-19 04:43 ID:Qm2Xdkkr

I'd recommend that you watch Ze Frank's the show from August 10, 2006, to see more of my feelings:
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/08/081006.html

I love my country, I really do. But Americans have become the biggest gullibles on earth. We're fat, spoiled, idiotic fucks, and my generation (gen y) is not going to help anything if things continue.

The classic American idea was opposition to any government outside of what is necessary. Of course, now people are spoiled. God forbid we let terrorists blow up our precious material goods. God forbid we tear our eyes away from meaningless celebrities. God forbid we actually go outside and interact. Or, most bothering, God forbid we actually think for ourselves.

So we just let the government take care of our lives for us. A friend of mine even suggested putting a dictatorship in power so he wouldn't have to worry about the issues.

Bottom line, fuck the mindless gullible American who neither want nor deserve the freedom that our founders secured for us. They'll finally open their eyes when it's too late.

9 Name: pand : 2008-01-24 12:31 ID:S90wn/jD

ONly americans would think of liberals as left.

IN a socailists view, Liberals as just as bad a s conservatives in their economic policies of capitalism

10 Name: Citizen : 2008-01-24 16:28 ID:O8/P9qY8

>>9, I think it is a linguistic shift of American English. For generations, the leftist parties in the US have labeled themselves "liberal" or occasionally "progressive."

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