[Infowarrior] - Comment: Happy Birthday, America 2.0 !!

[Richard Forno]

July 4 celebrates America 1.0 and the America That Was.    Sadly, the actions taken in the aftermath of September 11 symbolises America 2.0 and the America That Is.

The hallmark legal framework that began the "New Normal" for America turns 10 today.[2]  Break out the party hats!

But what is the New Normal?  What is America 2.0, or the America That Is?

For those living in a cave or exclusively within the intellectual confines of sappy reality television, among other things, this term refers to the systemic removal (or dramatic reinterpretation) of many civil liberties[1] and/or government powers over the past ten years, enacting greater secrecy over laws, jurisprudence, policies, procedures, and legal status of law-abiding citizens (ie, watchlists), perpetuating a national culture that fears the strange, different, or foreign, all of which contributes to a modern American society that desires (or tolerates) things like invasive, embarrassing (and ineffective) 'security' at airports, overly-broad monitoring of business transactions, large roving anti-terror squads in NYC and around the country under TSA's VIPR program, the mass surveillance of our citizens in an attempt to foster "pre-crime" intelligence, the creation of a generally-incompetent-but-profitable federal homeland security apparatus (military-industrial-congressional-contractor), the deployment of multiple layers of dubious intelligence and "fusion" centers that although being "needed" to fight terrorism are used more and more for non-terrorist investigative purposes, and the back-door implementation of a national identity card in the form of the REAL ID Act.  That's just the highlights -- there just aren't enough hours in the day to list the specific areas of nationalised idiocy that's been displayed in the name of "protecting the homeland" by people and politicians operating from a position of fear (of one sort or other) instead of objective analysis and rationality. [3]

So be sure to celebrate the day today, because nationalised idiocy knows no bounds!!  Just be sure to smile for the cameras, say nice things when on the phone, don't buy, wear, or say anything suspicious, and wear clean underwear when moving through the airports.  In other words, to tweak a quote the Most Interesting Man in The World:  "Stay fearful, my friends."        *headdesk*

--- rick


[1] As George Carlin once said, "they're not 'rights', they're 'privileges' that can be revoked at any time."  He was right.

[2]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act
The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the "Patriot Act") is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. The title of the act is a ten letter acronym (USA PATRIOT) that stands for: Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.[1]

[3] Yes, I know what a run-on-sentence is.  Deal.  ;)

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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.