Removing Freedom to Increase Security
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5257518.stm
Mr Reid said the "challenge to all of us" means "we may have to modify some of our freedoms in the short-term in order to prevent their misuse and abuse by those who oppose our fundamental values and would destroy our freedoms and values in the long-term".
In short, Mr Reid is asking British society to start thinking about a new settlement where we "evolve" our thinking to deal with the increased terrorist threat, an evolution that leads to some of our freedoms being sacrificed.
He fails to mention which freedoms specifically will be sacrificed, or how long this "short-term" hardship will be for. Or whether this will lead to Tony Blair being installed as a permanent Head Of State, the other parties being disbanded and Muslims being barcoded, for, you know, "security reasons".
posted by silas @ 15:01
2 Comments:
I sympathise with the tone of your argument but not your content.
Don't you think we *should* evolve our thinking and behaviour to deal with new threats?
Sure, you can't trust Mr Reid - he's a polititian and new labour at that, but I don't have any problem with what you've quoted him as saying.
We have to protect our freedoms from Mr Reid et. al. you're right.
But he's got a good case as well- there is a threat, for whatever reasons, and we need to adapt to deal with it. Don't we?
I think what offends me is that you are unwilling to allow a free discussion or consideration of options open to us without suggesting that people want to barcode muslims. Or have you had a discussion with Mr Reid which you won't reveal to us, and which led you to believe that he is a racist. Which of course would make you free to persecute him.
For your beliefs, of course.
You know, I do actually think you're right about this. Not wholly, obviously, as I fail to see how I've not allowed a free discussion.
I did deliberately add the provocative comment about barcoding Muslims just to see whether I'd garner any response. It was a continuance of a previous post where I linked Tony Blair to Hitler (and it should have been Mussolini as I've since had pointed out).
This response could then form the part of a larger discussion. Which it may, or may not, do. At no point have I actually said that I'm not open to considering other points of view.
My concern about adapting our thinking, is that we're effectively being told what we *should* be thinking by a Government I no longer trust.
Today we've been told that a major terrorist event has been stopped and that 25 people were arrested, 21 of whom are still being held. There are suggestions that these people are radicalised English Muslims.
By adopting some of the restrictions of freedom that Reid et al are proposing, my concern is that there will be even more radicalised English Muslims.
A similar policy in Northern Ireland led to a large increase in the popularity and membership of the IRA. If the same were to occur now with the Muslim population, then I personally feel deeply saddened that "we" have learned nothing from history.
YMMV
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