I Am Not
A Terrorist
Just because the
President says so?
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 proactively pissed off. I made 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.
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."
— What the Terrorists Want
BTW, the Arabic was vetted by three sources, but even they couldn't agree on it 100%. The general consensus is that it makes the point.
Update: I'm working on getting the appropriate translation for female speakers. Email me if you'd like to know when it's available. The female variant is avilable.
Update: Here is a pronunciation guide: http://o2b.net/archives/116#comment-5978
Recently, Congress passed a bill that gives the President the power to:
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.
Knowing our fear of terrorism (and doing quite a bit to encourage it, in fact), they expect us to ignore them as they change the way our government operates at the highest levels.
Well, the New York Times isn't ignoring them:
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.
— Pirates of the Mediterranean
The bloggers aren't ignoring them:
Many of my friends and neighbors have no clue that today USA ceased to be a democracy. They do not realize that Congress and Courts do not have any power to stop Bush from doing whatever he wants. He never cared what they said before and did it anyway. But starting today, it became legal.
— We are now officially living in a dictatorship
And I can't ignore them.
I offer these shirts as my response to the ridiculousness that is modern American politics. Our leaders are doing a big thing badly.
The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act. We are reacting badly.
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