Not too long ago, a high profile Republican candidate (ahem) attempted to sell us on the idea that "corporations are people" too. We think this attitude is a big part of what's wrong with the decisions and discourse happening in this country. The needs of people are being ankled aside for the needs of the money-makers, whether they are people or not. (Looking for more information? Check out The Corporation, a documentary available on both Hulu and Netflix.)
In response, an unknown driver taped this text to the window of their car. It's such a perfect message, we wanted to do what we could to pass it along.
After reading about blogger Raed Jarrar's experience at JFK (he was forced to take off a shirt with Arabic writing on it or miss his flight; new BBC article), I finally stopped being depressed about the war on terror and began being pissed off. I designed this shirt, which says "I am not a terrorist" in Arabic. I plan to wear it every time I go to the airport from now on. (Updated June 1, 2011 to say: I did wear it for a while; it got some great looks!)
We have already given away too many freedoms in the name of war on terror. Freedom of speech cannot be one of them.
To quote Bruce Schneier:
"The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics. The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act."
A few years ago, Congress passed a bill that gives the President the power to:
Declare anyone, even a U.S. citizen, to be an "enemy combatant";
Detain enemy combatants indefinitely without trial
This is highly, highly significant. For the first time since King George, the ruler of the United States has powers that are beyond the normal checks and balances set forth by the constitution.
The NYTimes:
Those of us who are not Americans can only look on in wonder at the similar ease with which the ancient rights and liberties of the individual are being surrendered in the United States in the wake of 9/11. The vote by the Senate on Thursday to suspend the right of habeas corpus for terrorism detainees, denying them their right to challenge their detention in court; the careful wording about torture, which forbids only the inducement of "serious" physical and mental suffering to obtain information; the admissibility of evidence obtained in the United States without a search warrant; the licensing of the president to declare a legal resident of the United States an enemy combatant -- all this represents an historic shift in the balance of power between the citizen and the executive.
Casual Disobedience is just a little pet project. Every couple of years the world throws something ridiculous in our face, and these t-shirts are a simple way to respond.
