Will we be here in 4 more?
Friday, May 6th, 2005 at 0915Well, now I know what the Americans felt like when Bush was re-elected, only we look even more stupid because this will be Mr Blair’s *third* shot at us.
More xenophobia, more taxes, more reduction of liberties in the name of “Security” against terrorists who don’t exist. It’s a wonderful world…
Of course I’m not saying anyone else would have done a better job, but come on, it would have been nice to give them a shot instead of lumping for the guys you *know* are going to make more mess.
So what party did you vote for?
Read my blog posts and I’d venture you’d have a pretty good idea.
Denyerec, I don’t follow U.K. politics enough to know the comparitive merits of Blair v. anyone else, so I won’t presume to say whether your election results were optimal.
I do have to question one thing you said, however…
“terrorists who don’t exist”?
Umm… can you clarify what you mean by that? Surely you’re not suggesting that there aren’t fanatic groups and individuals who seek to achieve their objectives through the use of terror via acts of mass murder?
“fanatic groups and individuals who seek to achieve their objectives through the use of terror via acts of mass murder?”
Such as western governments…?
Hah, under modern law I could probably be arrested and detained indefinately for saying something like that, such is our free democracy.
I’m not saying there are not radical groups around the place that will fight for their causes and beliefs using terror and death as their chosen weapon. What I mean and perhaps poorly articulated, is that the massive “terrorist threat” that we face these days is not what the governments make it out to be. Further more, rather than whipping people into a state of paranoid fear in which they’ll vote through any rights-violating acts the policitians will forward (*Cough* Patriot act *cough*), the governments should be having a jolly hard look at their respective foreign policies that are to blame for the discontent in the first place.
If you think I’m way off the mark I urge you to seek out a series of documentaries called “The Politics of Fear” as a starting point.
I’ll not pick a fight on your website. 😉
I will say that it seems governments are in a tough spot. When another 9/11 or Madrid happens, the public will scream for their heads, demanding to know why they didn’t prevent it. Meanwhile, efforts to do just that are excoriated as liberty-infringing acts of oppression.
Security and liberty are necessarily uneasy bedfellows; each is maintained or pursued at the cost of the other. Hopefully free societies will be able to find an acceptable balance.
In the meantime, doing the best we can to change the landscapes that produce the terrorist mentality is essential.
Though we disagree, I appreciate that you’ve allowed me to comment.
Cheers,
Unlike some, I don’t oppose a free voice 😉
I think you and I share some views though I get the hunch that we both stand just either side of some invisible line. Alas, sometimes I have trouble articulating things into human words, my mind works far better in abstract images :/
**sigh** Reading this almost makes me wish I voted. Almost. Sorta.
Ok. Mebby not.