Living insecurely
Wednesday, January 29th, 2003 02:30 pmSo lots of people are talking about the State of the Union address as well as the realities it supposedly referred to. Good. I'm glad some of you out there can stomach political speeches long enough to analyze them; I decided to turn off the TV last night to preserve what's left of my mental health.
I don't get why so many people are willing to give up so much for "homeland security," to regain a sense of safety they had before September 11, 2001. As I said earlier: I was raised in the '70s and '80s near Washington, DC by a nuclear physicist who worked for the government. I don't remember ever having that sense of safety--to me, the world has always been a scary place where somebody could drop a nuclear bomb on me at a moment's notice. My problem these days is that it's not foreign governments that frighten me so much as the officials in my own country. Which isn't to say that I've got fluffy puppy feelings for the known terrorists, but at least the terrorists aren't as secretive about what they do as the people who want our vote can be.
Yeah, that kind of sums things up for me. I was an unpopular child, I know what sorts of things "innocent children" plot against each other in secret. When adult politicians accustomed to scheming and with the power to put their schemes into action begin to do things under a cover of secrecy that the general public will go along with because it's in the name of "homeland security," I get scared.
Of course I'm scared a lot lately as it is. Those of you who've read my journal the last few weeks know this. At this very moment there's a mental block which not only keeps me from talking about things I need to do, but even thinking about them. Being able to bring these things out in the open and deal with them in the open would be a good thing. It would be a sign of security.
Not sure where I was going with this--I think the caffeine just wore off.
I don't get why so many people are willing to give up so much for "homeland security," to regain a sense of safety they had before September 11, 2001. As I said earlier: I was raised in the '70s and '80s near Washington, DC by a nuclear physicist who worked for the government. I don't remember ever having that sense of safety--to me, the world has always been a scary place where somebody could drop a nuclear bomb on me at a moment's notice. My problem these days is that it's not foreign governments that frighten me so much as the officials in my own country. Which isn't to say that I've got fluffy puppy feelings for the known terrorists, but at least the terrorists aren't as secretive about what they do as the people who want our vote can be.
Yeah, that kind of sums things up for me. I was an unpopular child, I know what sorts of things "innocent children" plot against each other in secret. When adult politicians accustomed to scheming and with the power to put their schemes into action begin to do things under a cover of secrecy that the general public will go along with because it's in the name of "homeland security," I get scared.
Of course I'm scared a lot lately as it is. Those of you who've read my journal the last few weeks know this. At this very moment there's a mental block which not only keeps me from talking about things I need to do, but even thinking about them. Being able to bring these things out in the open and deal with them in the open would be a good thing. It would be a sign of security.
Not sure where I was going with this--I think the caffeine just wore off.
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