This may seem like a pretty straightforward issue. After making a couple of moves, changing city or state, or both, there is this sudden realization that the need for the move caused panic at first, took up way too much time, accidents intervened, and it was time to get in touch again.
Today, it is not a simple search of the Internet. Friends that began life in all corners of the world, might be on a 'list' somewhere. I might be on a list somewhere. Will the mere act of searching cause a problem for my friends or myself? The answer is...
on the flip
Today, it is not a simple search of the Internet. Friends that began life in all corners of the world, might be on a 'list' somewhere. I might be on a list somewhere. Will the mere act of searching cause a problem for my friends or myself? The answer is...
It already has.
In my life, which has been neither overly long nor star-studded, there are quite a number of people that I know or know of, who could be on a list. I could be on a list.
I have strong opinions, and they haven't kept me free of trouble. Ever.
Why does this bother me? Simple. Would my Google search turn a switch in some anonymous room in Bethesda, Maryland? Are we constrained to use the techniques of Cold War Russia?
It doesn't really matter. The thought is there that somewhere, somehow, we are being watched. Or not.
Iron bars do not a prison make. The Bush Administration has made that clear. We are now wondering if contacting someone on some "possibly of interest" list from among good friends with Arabic-sounding names will activate a switch. In turn, the switch will allow massive intrusion into thoughts that become electronic signals as we write an email or search for a phone number.
The sought after person for me need not be of any ethnic background more varied than "residing in Illinois".
That is the real prison. It is a prison of ideas, thoughts and actions silenced Expression of ideas hindered because of the bloody-minded insistance we must be terrified because of terrorists. We become terrified or anxious at our own government possibly looking over our shoulders. That terror is, I submit, greater than any color-coded terror scale.
It is also a censorship of ideas more effective than a mandatory order barring a thoughtful person or group from expressing their thoughts, ideas and dreams. It won't last forever. Yet it could permanently alter the concept of individual liberty. It may turn us into a nation of loners, bereft of friends, for fear of causing trouble for a person we respect and call friend.