Quote:
Originally posted by Bronxite
I don't disagree with you.
I just don't see what else there is to do at this point. Everyone would like to think people aren't crazy/sick enough to walk onto a train and blow themselves up along with the train but there are individuals out there that are willing to do that.
I really don't know how to prevent that or deal with that, and all of those who argue against increased preventive measures or security checks or anything else never provide a solution or deterrence and instead just complain about their liberties being taken away.
Well, my freedom and liberties are taken away when some jackass blows me up on my way to work on the NYC subway. Frankly, I'd rather give away my freedom of entering the subway without having a security check than my freedom to live.
When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered. -- Dorothy Thompson.
The truth is that it is impossible to stop terrorism in a free society: we must make a choice between the cloying comfort of safety, or the inherent danger of freedom. I, for one, choose liberty.
And the sad is that things like random bag searches and the extra screening done in airports will not deter terrorists, they just infringe on our rights (and let the politicians say that they are doing some something so their constituents will keep them in office).
You say that those of us who wish to keep civil rights alive never come up with alternative solutions, but that is untrue. I, along with a great many others, have mentioned solutions that would actually deter terrorism far better than the methods currently implemented by the government, and do so without infringing on our civil rights. Here is an example:
Highjack Prevention 101
It has been proven with security tests that, no mater how well you try to screen the passengers and their belongings, terrorists will always be able to sneak weapons aboard a plane. So the surest way to to prevent a highjacking is not to wast time taking away knitting needles, swiss army knives and scissors from the passengers, but to actually arm each passenger and crew member with the equivalent of a lead pipe (you could make one of the arm rest detachable to be used as a weapon, or just put a club in the pouch on the back of each seat). If that was done any terrorists attempting to highjack an airplane would be quickly overwhelmed by the passengers. Add in Stronger cockpit doors and airport bomb sniffers and you have the airlines far safer then they are now, without infringing on our rights (or even adding screening time).
Things like the random bag searching of subway passengers will do nothing to hinder terrorists -- all it does is piss on the Forth Amendment and give fools a false sense of security. A terrorist could set off his bomb when the police ask to look into a his bag, killing everyone around him, or he could enter into the subway system from one of the thousands of gratings around the city. Of course, a terrorist could just set off a car bomb next to the sidewalk during rush hour -- it would kill more people than a subway attack. If you really want to prevent bombings, you don't instigate pointless random searches or security checks, you need to stop the terrorists before they make the bombs.
We need to keep tabs on everyone visiting our country, and infiltrate radical groups that encourage violence against us. That is where we should be spending our manpower and money, not on the unconstitutional harassment of our citizens.
