Laptop seizures by US government highlight 9/11-era climate of fear
The treatment of dissidents is the true measure of how free a society is: consider today’s examples from the US
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/04/us-constitution-and-civil-liberties
This is a really interesting article that speaks to what it means to live (or fail to live, as is the case for US citizens today) in a free society. This last bit, I feel, is really excellent:
In essence, the bargain offered by the state is as follows: if you meaningfully challenge what we’re doing, then we will subject you to harsh recriminations. But if you passively comply with what we want, refrain from challenging us, and acquiesce to our prevailing order, then you are “free” and will be left alone. The genius is that those who accept this bargain are easily convinced that repression does not exist in the US, that it only takes place in those Other Bad countries, because, as a reward for their compliant posture, they are not subjected to it.
But even in most of the worst tyrannies, those who are content with the status quo and who refrain from meaningfully challenging prevailing power systems are free of punishment. Rights exist to protect dissidents and those who challenge orthodoxies, not those who acquiesce to those orthodoxies or support state power; the latter group rarely needs any such protections. The effect, and intent, of this climate of fear is to force as many citizens as possible into the latter group.
The true measure of how free a society is how its dissidents are treated, not those who refrain from meaningful anti-government activism and dissent. To apply that metric to the US, just look at what the American citizens quoted in this Times article this morning are saying and doing.
So, for those who still consider the US to be a ‘free’ country, I challenge you to defend the activity described in the article.
