Posted on 09/24/2001 3:10:00 AM PDT by Ada Coddington
Unfree Republic
by Jeff Elkins
Let the stench of Middle East flesh reach Paradise reassuring them that these filth have gone to hell permanently."
The quote above is representative of many posted on the FreeRepublic.com site in the wake of the WTC attack, and unfortunately its like is not uncommon elsewhere. Americans are angry, predictably and rightly so, but just as predictable are the side effects. As always, that righteous anger will be accepted as a beloved gift by the state and molded into tools of oppression.
It’s funny how that works. Every single state-sponsored war the US has become embroiled in has resulted in an inexorable increase in the power of the state.
It’s also funny that it’s always assumed that human behavior in the past has no relation to how we behave today. Why those people were old-fashioned, we’re modern, educated, etc.
The beginning of this repeating pattern has already become public with the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security. It has an ominous sound, that name, almost Germanic. (I can’t wait to see the uniforms.)
On April 13, 1917, days after our entry into World War One, President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information to promote the war domestically while publicizing American war aims abroad. Bush has replicated that step, with this new cabinet-level department.
Under the leadership of journalistic muckraker George Creel, the CPI was a propaganda apparatus unparalleled at that point in world history. The CPI functioned as a de facto public censor, vetting nearly all published material about the war and helping to draft legislation such as the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. In the months prior to our entry into the war and especially after our entry when they were nearly criminal, antiwar viewpoints were rarely heard.
The same pattern emerges now: Penn. Gov. Tom Ridge will be President Bush’s George Creel, and just as in those dim days of yesteryear, he’ll have plenty of willing civilian accomplices. And after all, there’s so much more to censor -- Ridge will need all the help he can get. In seeking warriors for the front line of Internet censorship, Ridge needs look no farther than FreeRepublic.com. The atmosphere there is now poisonous.
Again, look back to Wilson's CPI. It encouraged businesses to spy on their employees, parents to spy on their children, children to spy on their parents, neighbors to spy on neighbors, and above all to report "disloyal," pro-German sentiments. State authorities banned the teaching of German in schools and changed German street names. As the madness mounted, those regarded as pro-German were hounded from their jobs, pressured to change their German names, beaten, and in a few cases lynched. Almost all cases of violence, while incited by the state, were carried out by "civilians" in the grip of war hysteria.
Along with this anti-German hysteria, Congress passed several measures designed to rigidly suppress criticism of the war. In particular, the Espionage Act, passed in June 1917, specified a fine of $10,000 or twenty years in prison for "whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, and whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the flag."
The Espionage Act was very popular in its day. It was cheered on by mindless lemmings under the influence of state propaganda. Their great grandchildren now inhabit FreeRepublic.com, viciously attacking anyone who questions the wisdom of the state.
Our Congress is considering similar measures under the rubric of "anti-terrorism," and as it was at the beginning of the 20th Century, the FreeRepublic lemmings of the 21st are cheering the morally corrupt politicians along.
It’s not just message posters on the site. The management of FreeRepublic has instituted a "loose lips sink ships" campaign, with new moderators patrolling the forum to delete posts that in their opinion are detrimental to the "war effort."
The FreeRepublic mission statement claims "We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America."
Sanctimonious hogwash. Everything old is new again – the keyboard warriors of FreeRepublic would be right at home in 1917 shilling for Wilson.
September 24, 2001
Jeff Elkins is a freelance consultant and writer living in North Central Florida. His personal website is located at www.elkins.org.
I'm sure most on this thread were not, or are not aware of the past terrorist bills that were passed in the GOP led congress. Not a single line of text in those bills stopped what happened here on the 11th. But, no law abiding citizen can aquire certain weapons any more.
The article above is BS, but the errosion of our rights for security is a reality. Bit by bit, little by little...I guess I need some foil too aye??
SR
"Define us."
Terrorist exterminators!
" Define them."
Terrorists and their sycophants!
The Right Of The People To Keep And Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed!!
An Armed Citizen, Is A Safe Citizen!!
No Guns, No Rights!!
Molon Labe!!
Pacifism is durable due to its malleability; at the risk of mixing metaphors, the willow bends while the oak thunders to the ground, groaning in its desperate struggle all the while.
America has grown fat since the success of its earlier wars against tyranny and insidious influence; we have embraced nonsensical notions such as multicultural egalitarianism, while slumbering slovenly on our Serta Sleepers purchased on the installment plan, we are now more underbelly than backbone.
Standing on our hind legs will prove difficult enough, shaking off the sleep that clouds our eyes collected over these 50 years in order to focus on the enemy both within and without so as to move against those who've so callously disturbed our rest will take giant steps, we dare not stumble.
Prudence ought always temper passion; but when the way is clear, it is time to press on to the end, we may never rest so easily again.
I'm not certain I understand what you think "the left side of the aisle" has done. Support for open borders and Muslim "freedom frighters" has not come primarily from the left. (BTW, same goes for our policies with regard to China.)
Rare is it that so much is said with such clarity and brevity.
(cackles spinkie as he gathers his little clique for the next round of "bait and hit abuse button".)
Me too. The atmosphere around here is eerily reminiscent of the post MFJ bloodbath. Some of the names have changed, but the "beat and crush anyone who dares to question anything we say" mentality is just the same, and more easily justified within our new state of "war."
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