Been a while since I posted, though I read advogato
regularly. Still working on why that is. My life is a
mess in some ways, not bad in others... and maybe I'm just
not the journaling type.
9-11 events:
Simply put, while the event is shocking, my opinion of the
media and the masses are confirmed sadly. I am more
saddened by the rampant patriotic bullshit and lack of
awareness than anything else, even the deaths themselves.
I have relatives in NY, and yes, thankfully none of them
were hurt. Yes, I was scared, and if one of them had been
hurt, I'd be a mess right now. No argument there.
And yes, the pain and grief and terror and rage are driving
people right now. Feeling all of that is good.
Acting from that is not. There is a difference.
I had no hope for this country, even before this mess
happened, and I see nothing to change my mind: The US is
screwed up in so many many ways and it's unlikely to change.
ESR voices a valid if unpopular opinion, and he's
personally attacked for it. Fuck all of you who did so.
Bush and others are willing and wanting to go to war,
regardless of the realities or even the logic of such.
Fuck that.
Flag waving patriots who think that "America" really means
something good and true these days: Wake up, or you
continue to earn the stupid American image. Fuck the flag
and learn the truth about what the rest of the world thinks
about ugly American involvements. We are not innocents.
CNN, and the rest of the media (with the exception of BBC
for some odd reason): plastic propaganda machines, all of
you.
Heroes? Yes, there are heroes. Flight 93's brave
passengers who probably saved many lives, even while losing
their own in the process. Firefighters and policemen who
rushed into burning buildings to rescue people, buildings
whose exits should have be fixed the first time a tragedy
happened there and weren't. All of the people who are
giving time and energy to pick up the pieces and breathe
smoke and sweat for hours. Those are the heroes, and
nobody will argue that, will they?
Anyone who picks up a gun or a bomb and goes to kill
someone 'responsible'? Not a hero. Not in my book, and
shouldn't be in anyone else's either. Feel free to
disagree. Many do. But if you so value the 'freedoms' we
have, you cannot argue that my voice isn't as valid as
yours. Freedom to voice the unpopular view is one of the
most important of freedoms.
Now, watch the powersthatbe shut down encryption, privacy,
and myriad other freedoms, all in the name of 'peace'
and 'justice'. I won't join conspriracy theorists who
wonder if the US had a part in the attacks, but it wouldn't
surprise me to one day learn that someone knew
something was going to happen, decided there was no point
in warning people because they couldn't stop it happening
eventually, and decided that a huge horrible event was just
what they needed to let them take charge the way they
wanted to all along.
To end this, I'll quote Niven's law:
F x S = k. The product of Freedom and
Security is a constant. To gain more freedom of thought
and/or action, you must give up some security, and vice
versa.
These remarks apply to individuals, nations, and
civilizations. Notice that the constant k is different for
every civilization and different for every individual.
We have people in charge who don't care about F at all. F
them.