Posted on 04/19/2013 9:59:50 AM PDT by Lacey
m from Boston. Over the years, I lived in two apartments within a stone's throw of Monday's bombings. Over the years, I stood and cheered marathon runners countless times. I know every square inch of the area in all the pictures, which is hardly unusual. It's the center of Boston. My nephew was around the corner when the explosions went off.
This week's terror hit home for me.
And what to do? That is always the question.
Do you stop going to sporting events? Cultural events? Outdoor rallies?
I was raped around the corner from where the bombs hit. I did not stop going out, didn't quit my job working nights as a bartender. (I was raped during the day, anyway.) I was determined not to let the crazies run my life. I was younger then.
An even harder question: What do we want the government to do?
How much of our liberty and privacy are we willing to give up in the hopes that it might stop terror?
My answer to that now is also different from what it would have been in the days when I lived around the corner from the bombings. Maybe it's because I'm older. Maybe it's because I'm a mother. Or maybe, probably mostly, it's because of the horrors we have seen. The two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11 took off that morning from Boston (my old home) en route to Los Angeles (my current home). Until my children were born, I commuted on those flights from Boston to LA.
So this is my answer: I'd give up a lot. You want to put cameras on every corner? Fine with me. I don't care who pats me down at the airport. Pat away. Keep the confidences of my clients, but otherwise, my email is an open book. Mine my data; listen to my conversations. If it will keep my children safe, I don't care.
But of course, that's not the question, either. I'm a middle-aged, well-dressed (mostly), respectable-looking white woman. No one is really interested in me, terrorism-wise.
So when I ask myself or my students how much liberty we're willing to give up, I'm not really asking about us. I'm asking about "others" — and we all know which others I mean. As I write this, Monday night, I would not want to be a Muslim going through security at Logan Airport. Just for instance. And I don't blame the TSA if they pay more careful attention. I just want the planes to take off and land.
I ask my students: If there are two security lines at the airport, and one has three white businessmen about to whisk off their jackets, and the other has three Muslim men, which line do you join? I know what I would do. Is that racist? Are we?
As I write this, we don't know who planted the bombs that tore off limbs, took innocent lives, disrupted a race that celebrates "Patriots Day" every year, a race where this year the 26th mile was dedicated to the 26 who died in Newtown. But the media are reporting that a Saudi student was being questioned after the bombings because of his proximity, the nature of his injuries and, yes, his nationality. Racist?
How do you avoid being a racist when you're afraid?
How do you avoid offering up your privacy and liberty — or, more likely, someone else's — when you are terrified of terror?
How do you maintain a free society when you see limbs flying?
It's true these events are rare. It's true that, compared to other countries, we are indeed remarkably free and safe. And perhaps we also are spoiled to believe that in this day and age we can have it all: freedom and safety, privacy and security, not to mention equality.
When I was a kid, we worried about the Russians. We practiced going to the basement of the school in case of a nuclear attack. How odd to see those as less terrifying days — and to long for them.
I hope the Saudi man had nothing to do with it. I hope the culprits, when they are found, will not add to our collective terror of "others." I hope this will not be a case that makes us even more afraid of those who are different from us, even though 99.9 percent of them mean us no harm. I hope.
But, we were told it HAD to be a white male heterosexual Tea Party Bible-thumping gun owner with a pressure cooker!
Wolf Blitzer (CNN) would NEVER lie!
Chris Matthews (MSNBC) would NEVER lie!
Salon.com even PRAYED for it to be a white guy!
Stay drunk, Susan. But you don’t need me to tell you that...
It’s effective on the sheep. Thats all that matters. AS a former reporter/editor, I assure you, when its done well, people empathize with about anything you tell them.
The press is more powerful than many think. Because many DON’T think.
Sorry, didn’t mean to claim anything like intent on your part.
There are a great many similar quotations floating around attributed to one or another of the Founders. Many of them came up during the Cold War, when anti-communists were trying to get moral backing for their cause.
The giveaway in this one is that it just doesn’t fit the period when TJ and the others were alive. This was before the invention of the welfare state and governments didn’t “give” things to their people, they took them. None of the political issues of the early country had much of anything to do with “giving” people more welfare. There was no such thing as welfare.
So why would TJ say something against governments that promise a lot of stuff? There were no such governments.
This is amazing. For someone so clueless to actually tell us the clues she is missing...
(Or in her case, an act of mercy)
And by defending borders, I mean not only constructing a fence across our southern border, but also stopping the awarding of easy legal status to persons from countries that have proved to be our enemies. Like say, Chechnya...Saudi Arabia...Somalia...
That this article saw release tells me that the left has lost control of their creation...not that they ever had it. They thought to use islam to tear down the western structure. Now they UNEXPECTADLY!!!fear their dhimmitude is not enough to pacify the beast/
I’m shocked.
Interesting... I didn't know Tsarist Russia was a threat all those years ago. Learn something knew every day.
Yeah - Ivan The Terrible was pretty scary. BTT.
This seems to be true for many lefty writers ... they know the power points, but utilize them for evil and un-American ways.
Good one !
Lets ask her how much freedom she would be willing to give up if someone like....oh, I dunno... George Bush was in charge?
If that’s a whole ‘nother issue, Estrich, then you need to learn that no, its THE issue.
You read dead’s book, didntcha?
Most mainstream leftist writers studied propaganda in great depth. They know most of the tricks. honesty takes a backseat to agenda in all cases.
Many of the reporters I worked with were great at propaganda and did not even care about the truth. They went in to a story with an agenda and wrote said story according to the principles of ‘social justice.
And this was at an area paper/media group, not one of the majors. So you can imagine how things work at the highest levels.
All together ... “Hiii John”
Well, Susan, would you submit to having government officials search your home on occasion, just to ensure you're not harboring unsavory people, keeping offensive documents, downloading distasteful photos or eating unhealthy foods?
Are you OK with having a GPS placed on your vehicle to ensure you're driving "safely" and not exceeding the number of miles the local commissars are willing to allot to you on a daily basis? Does the idea of living in a "sustainable habitat" such as a small apartment in a highrise in which every activity -- inside your apartment and out -- is monitored via video camera?
I never cease to be amazed at the number of people who claim to be American, yet would oh-so-readily surrender their God-given freedom in exchange for some perceived increase in security. During the era of the Taliban, Afghanistan had no shortage of "security." Ditto for Pol Pot's Cambodia, Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. "Security" was never in short supply there... you were deemed to be property of the State.
I knew, before I got one sentence into the article, that since this was obviously a “Me! Me! Me!!” article, that subject would come up. And I owe it to our dear friend, dead.
“It was an act of mercy.”
“What did you say?”
“I have a new house in Jersey.”
From 1999 - "Hannity & Colmes II":
COULTER: Susan, your hypocrisy is absolutely breathtaking. Are you suggesting that we should ignore a video tape of the president raping the wife of the vice president in the oval office?
ESTRICH: I’m saying….this is a matter between the president, the first lady, and the vice president. I mean, if Al Gore can forgive him, why do you still want to punish him? I mean, he gave her ice! How much more contrition does he have to show?
COULTER: I hate to be blunt, Susan, but you make me absolutely sick to my stomach. How can you call yourself a feminist with a straight face?
ESTRICH: Well Ann, I am sincerely sorry if my ability to see beyond these right-wing distractions upsets your stomach. I find it so amusing that we feminists, who used to be attacked for hating men, are now attacked for loving one man unconditionally. I had breakfast this morning with Patricia Ireland and Gloria Steinhem, and we all agreed that if we were married to Al Gore, a fat lip and a broken collar bone would be a small price to pay for a little fun with Clinton. And Pat’s a lesbian for goodness sakes!
HANNITY: I can’t believe what I am hearing Susan. You called for Clarence Thomas to be kept off the Supreme Court because he allegedly used dirty words, now you have no problem with a president who rapes?
ESTRICH: Sean, first of all, let me state that I do not support rape. You know, I was a rape victim myself.
LEVIN: (muttering) That was an act of mercy.
ESTRICH: What did you say, Mark!?
LEVIN: I said, “I have a house in Jersey.”
ESTRICH: Oh. Sean, as I was saying, I don’t support rape. It’s just that we need to move on. Where is this going? The president, in response to this never ending barrage of trumped up charges, has already self-pardoned himself for all crimes, now and in the future. The American people unequivocally support that self-pardon...
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