PATRIOTIC DISSIDENCE
I think it's time to get political again. There's only so many blogs I can write about me and Nicole's ecstatic love for one another. Or about our uncertain future, now that another life may be involved. How about the uncertain future of the United States. For just a minute or two...indulge me.
Not that I haven't been thinking about this for a while, but things flared back up again, the other night when I attended the Dave Egger's reading. Let me relate his story to you as concisely and completely as I am able. Although the real charm in the anecdote came through Egger's relating, here are just the facts
Eggers asked if anyone has been directly affected by the implementing of the Patriot Act. He then explained that he has been working on a biography about a Sudanese man for 3 years now, and had attended a conference in Atlanta last year, where a large group of "the lost boys of Sudan" were meeting. Unfortunately, on the plane leaving Georgia, en route to D.C., he accidentally left behind his writing notebook. Just a black notebook. About the size of a large Moleskine. In this notebook were his notes, obviously, concerning the book he is writing. Among other things. He called the airline as soon as he realized it was missing and they said they had it. It was in the lost and found, and they would send it to him through the us mail. Immediately. Taken care of like that. Great customer service, he thought. Two hours later, however, he received a call from the state department. They said they were in possession of his notebook and would like to talk to him about his "writings".
(I just want to point out, as Eggers did, that writers are known by what they write; crazy people, on the other hand, are marked by their "writings")
Anyway, seems the kind flight attendant, that initially wanted to help out Mr. Eggers and send him his notebook, started to take a peek. What she found was the following: pages of notes on the Sudan story with words like oil and George Bush and terrorists and Sadaam Hussein, and Dave's assorted drawings, which included Yeti snowmen heads and fire. It only took a minute for this flight attendant to put two and two together and derive that Mr Eggers, a Pulitzer prize nominated writer, posed a great threat to this country. She made some calls, and Eggers was met at the gate in D.C. to be questioned about this incriminating notebook.
Am I the only one who finds this scary? Not to mention preposterous? If I were Dave Eggers, I would be pissed. I am pissed. Do you know that I was stopped on my own street about a month ago. The police called me over to their unmarked car with a "Hey, boss. C'mere" Seems there had been some break-ins in the area and they wanted to ask me some questions. Check my id. That sort of thing. And I guess I looked suspicious. Home in the middle of the day with my long hair and Old Navy ski vest. Yeah, I posed a real threat. I shouldn't be so offended since I had nothing to hide. Police just doing their job and all, right? I was profiled because I looked like a delinquent, okay? And that's just not right.
This Patriot Act was supposedly established for our protection, following 9-11. But everything that I've read about it makes me think that the real crime is being perpetrated on us. If my dad is arrested for terrorist activity, they can hold me without cause? For as long as they want? If I buy a new house, I have to sign a waver allowing them to stockpile troops at my house if the government feels it necessary? I just don't know about it all.
My big problem stems from Egger's experience. I am scared about being subject to a government that will hold me accountable or make me defend anything I might write down. Or anything I might read. Did you know that if you check out certain books from the library, you will be "flagged" by the cia? Don't think I will be checking out Mein Kampf anytime soon. I did, however, get a copy of the Patriot Act, and am currently trudging through the 342 pages in pdf format.
Maybe I am overreacting a bit. But isn't this the land of the free and the home of the brave? I am sure that my government knows better about what is needed for my protection than me. And maybe a little invasion of privacy is a small price to pay for not being blown up. But, I just don't feel very free or brave anymore.
Not that I haven't been thinking about this for a while, but things flared back up again, the other night when I attended the Dave Egger's reading. Let me relate his story to you as concisely and completely as I am able. Although the real charm in the anecdote came through Egger's relating, here are just the facts
Eggers asked if anyone has been directly affected by the implementing of the Patriot Act. He then explained that he has been working on a biography about a Sudanese man for 3 years now, and had attended a conference in Atlanta last year, where a large group of "the lost boys of Sudan" were meeting. Unfortunately, on the plane leaving Georgia, en route to D.C., he accidentally left behind his writing notebook. Just a black notebook. About the size of a large Moleskine. In this notebook were his notes, obviously, concerning the book he is writing. Among other things. He called the airline as soon as he realized it was missing and they said they had it. It was in the lost and found, and they would send it to him through the us mail. Immediately. Taken care of like that. Great customer service, he thought. Two hours later, however, he received a call from the state department. They said they were in possession of his notebook and would like to talk to him about his "writings".
(I just want to point out, as Eggers did, that writers are known by what they write; crazy people, on the other hand, are marked by their "writings")
Anyway, seems the kind flight attendant, that initially wanted to help out Mr. Eggers and send him his notebook, started to take a peek. What she found was the following: pages of notes on the Sudan story with words like oil and George Bush and terrorists and Sadaam Hussein, and Dave's assorted drawings, which included Yeti snowmen heads and fire. It only took a minute for this flight attendant to put two and two together and derive that Mr Eggers, a Pulitzer prize nominated writer, posed a great threat to this country. She made some calls, and Eggers was met at the gate in D.C. to be questioned about this incriminating notebook.
Am I the only one who finds this scary? Not to mention preposterous? If I were Dave Eggers, I would be pissed. I am pissed. Do you know that I was stopped on my own street about a month ago. The police called me over to their unmarked car with a "Hey, boss. C'mere" Seems there had been some break-ins in the area and they wanted to ask me some questions. Check my id. That sort of thing. And I guess I looked suspicious. Home in the middle of the day with my long hair and Old Navy ski vest. Yeah, I posed a real threat. I shouldn't be so offended since I had nothing to hide. Police just doing their job and all, right? I was profiled because I looked like a delinquent, okay? And that's just not right.
This Patriot Act was supposedly established for our protection, following 9-11. But everything that I've read about it makes me think that the real crime is being perpetrated on us. If my dad is arrested for terrorist activity, they can hold me without cause? For as long as they want? If I buy a new house, I have to sign a waver allowing them to stockpile troops at my house if the government feels it necessary? I just don't know about it all.
My big problem stems from Egger's experience. I am scared about being subject to a government that will hold me accountable or make me defend anything I might write down. Or anything I might read. Did you know that if you check out certain books from the library, you will be "flagged" by the cia? Don't think I will be checking out Mein Kampf anytime soon. I did, however, get a copy of the Patriot Act, and am currently trudging through the 342 pages in pdf format.
Maybe I am overreacting a bit. But isn't this the land of the free and the home of the brave? I am sure that my government knows better about what is needed for my protection than me. And maybe a little invasion of privacy is a small price to pay for not being blown up. But, I just don't feel very free or brave anymore.
posted by The Passenger at 12:46 PM
1 Comments:
Could one not also say that if you don't want your stuff looked at - don't leave it behind? OR What if the book was found and belonged to a terrorist and a plane went down - what then? We all love our freedoms, we just get pissed and vindictive when people get killed.
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