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Attack on Freedom
I recieved countless responses as friends forwarded my letter on to people I did not know personally. Included here are those responses recieved on the first day after sending out the letter. Interstingly, the very first response I recieved was the only negative one I ever got - and the only person who declined to have me publsh his name and email address. From: <Address withheld by request> Thu 9/13/2001 2:25 PM I am actually getting very sick of hearing from these shitheads who fear a threat to their freedoms because of what happened. What reduced freedoms is he talking about? Awww.. he won't be able to get on a plane in 30 minutes now? Or will someone look through his bag when he goes to an airport? Drive a fucking car, fuckass if you don't want someone routing through Jo's crusty fucking panties. As for authorities using this to further their careers - that has got to be the most callous thing I have ever heard. Would this little punk-ass shit run into a collapsing building to SAVE someone? I doubt it. It's easy for these people to sit back in front of their TVs and think they're taking the intellectual high-road and "debate" their impending loss of freedoms. Paranoid dumbfucks who preach from on high with home-grown pamphlets about the impending governmental abuse to every free-loving citizen in AMERICA. Get a grip.. two airplanes took out two of the tallest buildings in the US - maybe you were too busy watching the ParanoiaChannel to see what the rest of the world was seeing. You have the nerve to think your freedom is in danger? What do you expect when most of southern Manhattan is, for all intents and purposes, a war zone? Do you really think you'd be able to walk to the local PetSmart and buy treats for your little shit Wasabi? Fucking assholes.. <Name Withheld by request>
From: Fratelxvi@aol.com Thu 9/13/2001 4:40 PM Like you I suddenly became sick and fearful as our leader was hiding someplace, and people like John Ashcroft and Al Haig come on television to say things like our society will never be "the same." I am horrified that "temporary measures" will be used to prosecute this "war." We must be very mindful to honor those heroic deeds and actions by the police and firefighters, national guard, etc., and we must be sure their families get their pensions, and they all get the honor they deserve, however any attempt to take away our constitutional liberties in their names would besmirch their memory and ruin our country in a far worse way than anything Bin Laden could imagine. We must guard against prejudice against people of the Islamic faith, against singling out any ethnic group for reprisals, and against allowing the erosion of our constitutional rights. The fact of the matter is the United States of America will be the same. All you have to do to understand how great a country we have is to look at how the people, all of them, cops, firefighters, civilians, clergy -- everyone -- conducted themselves at ground zero. No panic, no rioting, no fighting, just people helping one another get through a horror. They did not have to be trained or ordered to do what they could, they just did it. We have all awakened on days two and three, and we have slowly gone back to our jobs, schools, and lives. We will resume our sports and diversions, and we will rebuild our markets and our economy. Of course we should take military action against the right people, and we should destroy the infrastructure of the terrorist networks. Of course there will be a dark side to some of this, but that comes with what must be done. But we must not allow those who would expunge the Constitution to use what has happened as a pretense. From: Millerdj@aol.com Thu 9/13/2001 7:50 PM Dear Sean, Good for you. Thanks for making this very important point. I fear losing some of our freedoms... though it IS a delicate balance. I also fear retaliating, because it seems to me that it would only further antagonize these already irrational people, and not too long after that, we might have the same kind of never-ending, quasi-war that the Israelis and Palestinians do. Thanks again, David Miller San Diego From: karlm@speakeasy.net Thu 9/13/2001 9:23 PM Dear Sean - I think that the government already has all the tools they need, and more besides, to deal with this attack and its consequences. To give them more or further extraordinary powers would be a serious mistake. Karl J Martin ps - my considered opinion, FWIW, is that we should positively identify the nation which sponsored or co-sponsored this attack, and use atomic and radiological weapons to exterminate their entire population and ensure that no living thing can survive on their land for the next thousand years. That is an eminently practical response, as well as an emotionally satisfying one. But of course we don't do business that way. From: sthomson@spinn.net Thu 9/13/2001 11:11 PM Hello, Sean: Thank you for the sanity and common sense in your post. We could surely use more of that kind of sentiment. I am dismayed to think that our country might kill innocent people to make a statement instead of identifying the real planners and taking action against them. Even now, the spin doctors are telling Dubya that nuking Afghanistan will make the American people think that he has cojones. O really? The more people we kill, the more people will be willing to kill us, even at the cost of their own lives. Sadly, the one quick and inexpensive solution to aircraft hijacking will not be considered: allow passengers and crew to carry their own weapons on board. I would feel quite safe if half of my fellow passengers were packing, and if I had my own weapon at hand, I would feel it my duty to cancel the demands of any terrorist who happened to jump up. The idea has been advanced that shooting is a Very Difficult Art and only persons licensed by Our Masters should be allowed to attempt it. Well, as a nearsighted woman recently introduced to firearms, I can tell you that it is not at all difficult to shoot well. _It is not hard to do_. If you have a weapon that fits your hand and you hold it correctly, minimal practice will make you a good shot. I would feel quite safe on an airplane if I knew that my fellow passengers were allowed to carry. Right now, you couldn't pay me to get on an airplane. It is outrageous that this simple solution to the hijacking problem isn't being considered. If terrorists are among us, as seems likely, we should take more responsibility for our own defense. If our whole population were armed and observant, terrorists would get short shrift if they tried anything. No matter where they tried, capische? Doesn't this make sense to you? Will you write about it? If weapons had been permitted, we wouldn't have had four airliners hijacked, and we would never have another one. We should repeal all of the ill-considered victim disarmament zones that have been enacted over the years. Shelley |