Lamontre Randall
Blog #1
The event of 9/11 shaped our lives in ways we couldn't imagine. This was one of the biggest events
of terrorism committed on American soil by a terrorist group. Soon after the events, the Bush
administration took measures to upgrade our military efforts in addressing the War on Terror. As a
result, 9/11 has changed our outlook on terrorism and made it morally acceptable to take away our
America ideals in order to ensure National Security.
9/11 took away our moral standards of liberty. We accept the fact that as citizens we can get our
data compromised by government agencies like the National Security Agency. Before 9/11 happened
we would not trade our liberty of not being eavesdropped by our own government into consideration.
However, after the terror attack we accepted the tactics of government agencies as a trade-off for the
protection of our right to liberty and freedom. The irony is made with liberty as we are looked to no
longer be liberated if we are monitored by a government in which we are apart of.
Also, the event of 9/11 shaped our policies as being ones that promote the idea of being just. We
were willing to promote policies that contrasted our basic ideals of treating individuals fairly. As you
can see in the new released Torture Report, the Bush administration was willing to approve acts of
torture in order to promote national security. Throughout the post 9/11 period we have increased our
presence within other countries as we portray ourselves as securization leaders. The National Security
Strategy of the USA states that in order to make our nation secure we had to fight globally "on many
fronts...over an extended period of time(NSS)" which reveals the United States notion of bringing
national security by fighting internationally.
The event of 9/11 has been used to heighten our international presence. The cost of our
international security came with us contradicting ideals that are looked to be the core of our founding
values such as liberty and freedom. We as citizens have lost our sense of core values in order to
maintain a secured nation-state that ensures our safety against terror attacks like 9/11.
I also find it really ironic that we have taken away the liberties and privacy of our citizens in order to prevent others from attacking our liberties and freedom. It seems to me as though the government says that it needs to be done to keep us all safe, but that they are being taken away anyway. While I think that The USA PATRIOT Act is helpful on some level and is necessary because of the threats that have been made to Americans, I agree with you in that there is some sort of hypocrisy in taking our privacy away. There needs to be more of a fine line and I think there should be more guidelines or criteria that the suspect or investigation has to reach in order to take liberties from someone they only believe could be a threat. However, I don't agree that America is using 9/11 to heighten their international presence. I think it inevitably put America in the global spotlight because it was devastating and it fostered fear around the world. I don't think that the government is using it to bring light to themselves. Do you mean that because of 9/11 the USA has made more efforts to invade the Middle East and protect other countries from these attacks?
ReplyDeleteLamontre,
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see where you stand after we talk about privacy in a couple weeks.
One question. You mention that 9/11 took away our liberties. Is this true? While it seems obvious that an event can't take anything away since it is not a person, do you think that it necessitated this response or that it created the space that the Bush and Obama Adminstrations have used to do so? I think this is an important difference as the latter opens up other possibilities and maybe even the specter of change while the former is much more fatalistic and would lead one to argue that, "we can't have liberties in times of threat".
I think the event necessitated the response. I think during the moment of initial response we were willing to do everything possible to ensure our freedom which included maybe giving up some liberties. The main reason why this was able to come about was through fear and our government plays the role of ensuring that we have nothing to fear from. Due to the fear we were more willing to let our government operate secretly. However, once the fear subsided and we realized what liberties were really at stake then we saw more of an uproar.
DeleteHi Lamontre,
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that U.S citizens did probably give up some level of "core American values" that you speak of post 9/11: the right to privacy comes to mind. Also, I don't think many U.S citizens surrendered some degree of their privacy happily and without a second thought- just think of the public's initial reaction to the information recently leaked by Edward Snowden.
Another interesting aspect of national security is the "costs" or sacrifices associated with it. What were the costs of the "War on Terror" on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan? Do you think that the means justified the ends?