Thursday, December 22, 2005
Patriot Act?
There are two views on the renewal of the Patriot act. Many Patriotic Americans are shouting "hurray!" and believing that this act will help curb terrorism in the US. However, I will tell you what it means from my point of view.
The Patriot Act basically means that if the government gets a wild hair for any reason about anyone (many times without reason) who's name contains Arabic lettering, the government has the "right" to come in and violate privacy, eavesdrop on phone calls, read personal e-mails and see what they've checked out at the library. I would like to say that Karim has nothing to worry about because he doesn't participate in anything remotely anti-American, but the fact remains that he is an Arab, and simply being an Arab, according to what I'm reading in the media is cause enough for the American Government to suspect you. I, personally don't feel that the Patriot Act is necessary for the safety of the US because my personal feeling, (and you can contradict me if you like, this is simply my own opinion) is that it's all a show to make the American public believe there is a threat of terrorism. Many Americans believe, as I do, that our war isn't over terrorism at all, but is a dictator's attempt to conquer the Middle East for his own "economical" reasons and using "terrorism" as a justification.
I would be very upset to find out that my e-mails are being monitored by the US government, or that some "man in black" is listening to our conversations with my mother-in-law on how to correctly prepare lentil soup. And why would they need to know that I've read various books by Virginia Woolf and Charles Dickens? Does that make me an insurgent? Does that make my husband a terrorist? What has happened to America? I'll tell you what my mother says..."George Bush is the AntiChrist!" And my mother is a VERY patriotic, devout Christian woman.
The Patriot Act basically means that if the government gets a wild hair for any reason about anyone (many times without reason) who's name contains Arabic lettering, the government has the "right" to come in and violate privacy, eavesdrop on phone calls, read personal e-mails and see what they've checked out at the library. I would like to say that Karim has nothing to worry about because he doesn't participate in anything remotely anti-American, but the fact remains that he is an Arab, and simply being an Arab, according to what I'm reading in the media is cause enough for the American Government to suspect you. I, personally don't feel that the Patriot Act is necessary for the safety of the US because my personal feeling, (and you can contradict me if you like, this is simply my own opinion) is that it's all a show to make the American public believe there is a threat of terrorism. Many Americans believe, as I do, that our war isn't over terrorism at all, but is a dictator's attempt to conquer the Middle East for his own "economical" reasons and using "terrorism" as a justification.
I would be very upset to find out that my e-mails are being monitored by the US government, or that some "man in black" is listening to our conversations with my mother-in-law on how to correctly prepare lentil soup. And why would they need to know that I've read various books by Virginia Woolf and Charles Dickens? Does that make me an insurgent? Does that make my husband a terrorist? What has happened to America? I'll tell you what my mother says..."George Bush is the AntiChrist!" And my mother is a VERY patriotic, devout Christian woman.
