There was a school shooting in Manhattan eariler today, technically yesterday. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean it's a terrible thing to have happen. Two kids got hit, but apparently they are going to be ok.
My question is this. Does this silence the fanatics, or do they still not choose to hear? Everytime this kind of thing happens, everyone freaks out. After September 11, 2001, after the World Trade Center fell by two hi-jacked airplanes, and part of the Pentagon was destroyed by another, the country freaked out. After April 20, 1999, after two kids attacked Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, the country freaked out. See, in 1991, the World Trade Center was attacked when a bomb went off in the basement. Security was hightened, and bin Laden found another way. In 1999, the Columbine Massacre took place, and security was hightened at like every school in the country. And guess what. Through metal detectors in a New York City school, this shooter found another way. Airports have extensive security, but the guys who hijacked those planes on Sep 11 found a way through, by using knives or sharpened metal.
My point is this. All this need for hightened security is not the answer, or obviously there would still be two towers standing in New York City. Everyone looks to find fault in why something like this has been allowed to happen. The thing is, it happens. Freaking out and upping security doesn't make people reluctant to commit these acts, it makes them creative. I mean, this may sound terrible, but be assured I don't admire these people in the least, but you have to admit, hi-jacking planes and using them as missles is pretty damn creative. Like a Bond villain, who straps 007 to a table with a laser ready to cut through him like a hot knife through butter. Evil, heinous, disgusting, and creative.
That's what people are failing to realize. For every creative new security measure, there is a creative bad-guy out there who figured out a way to beat it. This is a downward spiral. I have a friend who moved here when he was 11 from Afghanistan. He's a great guy and he'd never hurt a fly, but he gave up his winter vacation plans because he knew he'd never get through an airport. We have kids getting sent home from school, some even suspended, for drawing a gun in their kindergarten class. How far are we as a country going to let this go? Add more background checks, add more security, add more psychological profiles, and when the bad-guys beat that, we'll just add more and more because we freak out. It's going to get to the point where we are constantly monitored like in Orwell's "1984." I am not kidding. I am not exaggerating. We will lose our freedoms to fear. We will give up what this country was founded on because we are afraid. When we found out that the guys on the planes used knives, we've now begun radar checks at airports. If we find out this kid used a porcelin gun (he didn't, the gun was recovered, it's hypothetical) kids will get patted down every day before school.
This is where we are going. It's only going to get worse.
Franklin D. Roosevelt once said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Now we see that fear alone can be a very scary thing.
My question is this. Does this silence the fanatics, or do they still not choose to hear? Everytime this kind of thing happens, everyone freaks out. After September 11, 2001, after the World Trade Center fell by two hi-jacked airplanes, and part of the Pentagon was destroyed by another, the country freaked out. After April 20, 1999, after two kids attacked Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, the country freaked out. See, in 1991, the World Trade Center was attacked when a bomb went off in the basement. Security was hightened, and bin Laden found another way. In 1999, the Columbine Massacre took place, and security was hightened at like every school in the country. And guess what. Through metal detectors in a New York City school, this shooter found another way. Airports have extensive security, but the guys who hijacked those planes on Sep 11 found a way through, by using knives or sharpened metal.
My point is this. All this need for hightened security is not the answer, or obviously there would still be two towers standing in New York City. Everyone looks to find fault in why something like this has been allowed to happen. The thing is, it happens. Freaking out and upping security doesn't make people reluctant to commit these acts, it makes them creative. I mean, this may sound terrible, but be assured I don't admire these people in the least, but you have to admit, hi-jacking planes and using them as missles is pretty damn creative. Like a Bond villain, who straps 007 to a table with a laser ready to cut through him like a hot knife through butter. Evil, heinous, disgusting, and creative.
That's what people are failing to realize. For every creative new security measure, there is a creative bad-guy out there who figured out a way to beat it. This is a downward spiral. I have a friend who moved here when he was 11 from Afghanistan. He's a great guy and he'd never hurt a fly, but he gave up his winter vacation plans because he knew he'd never get through an airport. We have kids getting sent home from school, some even suspended, for drawing a gun in their kindergarten class. How far are we as a country going to let this go? Add more background checks, add more security, add more psychological profiles, and when the bad-guys beat that, we'll just add more and more because we freak out. It's going to get to the point where we are constantly monitored like in Orwell's "1984." I am not kidding. I am not exaggerating. We will lose our freedoms to fear. We will give up what this country was founded on because we are afraid. When we found out that the guys on the planes used knives, we've now begun radar checks at airports. If we find out this kid used a porcelin gun (he didn't, the gun was recovered, it's hypothetical) kids will get patted down every day before school.
This is where we are going. It's only going to get worse.
Franklin D. Roosevelt once said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Now we see that fear alone can be a very scary thing.
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