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Oct. 28th, 2004

branchandroot: oak against sky (Default)
I was going to stay quiet about this, but since when have I ever been able to stay quiet about a hot political topic?

So. Someone on lj posted a rather black joke recently, in the form of a mock-prayer that Bush expire in as personally and politically embarassing a way as possible. I say mock-prayer, since the opening sentiments note that, despite currently addressing God, she does not belive in Him.

This post was reported as a threat against the Executive, thus setting in motion an investigation.

In accordance with the policy established for over fifty years, now, I believe, the Secret Service paid the poster a very brief visit, ascertained that she was in no way a threat, and dropped the matter.

Because of the fact of report and investigation, she now has an open FBI file.

Because of the current particularly high degree of paranoia exercised by the Dept. of Homeland Security and all its members, she may or may not be additionally subject to restrictions on her travel, search and seizure of private property without warrant or permission, or surveillance of her personal communications without her knowledge.

The parts about the investigation taking place neither surprise nor particularly outrage me; I, too, have a file, purely because my step-father once worked for a company that took DOD contracts that required he have security clearances. It's never impeded me. One of my uncles had a file from his wild young college days of burning busses that he had to apply to have closed/cleared/inactivated when his job started requiring that he travel overseas, before he could get his passport; this was done without any particular fuss, though I suspect the fuss might be greater today. I think the paranoia of the policies in question is stupid, and that the policies could do with being reviewed and re-written. I'm all for a referendum for this purpose; but this part of what happened is nothing new or surprising.

I am rather disgusted that the post in question could be given credence as a "threat", since the poster expressed a wish and not an intention. Unless, as has been pointed out elsewhere, one takes the very Bush point of view that prayer constitutes action. The thought that this idea might re-enter US law, after considerable time and effort has been spent to get rid of it, does disturb me. Again, however, this is a fairly long established response. I believe it is unjustified, and needs to be addressed and reviewed, but it's nothing new.

The two things that utterly outrage me are 1) that this was reported with malicious intent and 2) that serious threat-containment action could be invoked against the poster.

Actually, it infuriates me that some those policies could be invoked against anyone. As currently written, they are unreasonable and of questionable legality. They expand the definition of "threat" to utter absurdity, and use it to curtail civil liberties in a manner deeply reminiscent of McCarthy. The fact that any citizen of this country could possibly accept "Homeland Security" as a necessary or useful measure makes me want to scream with horror. There were already judicial and law-enforcement proceedures laid down before 9-11 that made provision for investigating possible threats to any of the people of this country, including the Executive. To suspend the limitations on those is reprehensible, and serves no purpose other than making it easier to persecute anyone the current administration (and next administration, and next, and next...) does not favor and vice versa. The fact that the provisions for curtailing civil liberties may yet be invoked against this woman highlights precisely the irrationality encoded in thir current incarnation that I find objectionable.

It's possible, though, that the report itself disturbs me even more. The poster indicates that she has some idea of who may have done it, and that her differences with that person are fandom-based.

The unthinking viciousness involved makes me cringe. This is taking the concept of a Denial-of-Service attack to the absolute extreme. One reports the victim for a spurious breach of law. In this case, though, the concequenses reach so far beyond, say, having one's email account deactivated, that I'm at a loss for words to describe the blind cruelty and malice involved. I earnestly hope that this will, in some way, rebound on the attacker, and he or she will be penalized for a false report. In the political climate that allowed "Homeland Security" to be instituted, I have little genuine trust that any such thing will happen, but I still hope.

What are we, that this kind of character assasination and careless vandalism directed at another person's liberty for the sake of a fandom disagreement is even concievable? Are we really going to emulate Salem, and allow petty grievances to reach such a level of destructiveness? I find the person who reported this utterly contemptible.


I think it was rather incautious of the poster to post her distaste for the Bush administration in quite those terms on a public forum such as lj. The public expression of such sentiments has, for some time, been likely, if noticed, to result in a cautionary visit from the Boys in Black.

I think it was ridiculous that established policy required two members of the Secret Service to waste their time checking up on her in person.

I think it is laughable that her "prayer" could be construed as a threat.

I think it is appalling that measures designed to contain serious threats may be invoked against her, particularly any limit on her ability to fly. The implication that one will be considered a dangerous criminal for really despising the current office-holders terrifies me. Especially because I despise a solid majority of them. The day it is criminalized to hate the government is the day I give up on attempting to improve this arrogant, brainless, apathetic excuse for a nation and move to New Zealand.

But if the poster's suspicions are correct, then the fact of the report, made over different opinions of a damned story, is what makes me feel like I've just seen someone point a gun at another person and pull the trigger for a joke.

November 2024

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