It seems governments have always taken the attitude that it's
their job to protect the people from everything except their own
tyranny. I imagine they figure it's the people's job to protect
themselves against that. The trouble with that attitude is:
besides being unconstitutional, it's gov tyranny that's
statistically the far bigger danger. For example, what is the
biggest risk each American faces each and every moment of every
day (besides the usual risks of driving, working, etc)? My best
guess would be the gov-induced war on drugs. How many people have
been seriously harmed, injured and killed as a result, since the
beginnings of drug prohibitions? Untold millions. But the
government's role in causing the harm is often overlooked because
it's been with us so long, and because the harm seems to be
self-inflicted by the people. Plus, the extreme broad
ramifications of drug-war-based social harms are a hard pill to
swallow by a proud people even after prohibition dynamics are
understood. After all, the origins of drug prohibitions are
people-based prejudices. But governments, being what they are,
have tuned a primitive prejudice into institutionalized
oppression. Like the war on drugs, the war on terror will
certainly turn a defeatable fear of an infinitesimal risk into
widespread everyday death and destruction.
-mark
_____
The 'War on Terror' Scam
by David MacGregor
The greatest threat to our freedom today is not terrorism,
but what governments are doing to counter this perceived
terrorist threat.
Let me say that again. Terrorism is not the real danger we
face, it's what governments around the world are doing to make us
"safe."
It's a scam because it is based on two lies.
Lie #1: You are seriously at risk of being killed by a
terrorist.
Now, while this is remotely possible, it's highly unlikely.
Based on global statistics and what country you live in, you are
much more likely to die of AIDS, malaria, while driving your car,
by being murdered, by a tsunami or an earthquake, or by other
natural and man-made causes.
The point is this. You are going to die anyway - so your
primary objective is to delay this biological eventuality to the
best of your ability.
Most of us accept natural death - as normal. On the other
hand, we don't want to die early, by accident, of a fatal
disease, or by having our lives snuffed out by someone else - or
something else.
But we can't lock ourselves in a bunker and hide from the
rest of the world. We cannot let the fear of some premature death
stop us from living now. So it comes down to assessing risk and
acting accordingly.
Governments have a vested interest in overstating the risk
of you dying by a terrorist act. They have a vested interest in
creating a state of fear in your mind.
Any "self-respecting" politician will consider it his duty
to protect you from this danger - and to do whatever is necessary
to do this - including abolishing your personal freedoms.
The state thrives on fear. If it's global warming, then the
state has "plans" - which usually involve infringing on your
freedoms. If it's a global pandemic, then once again your
government has plans in place which would rob you of at least
some of your freedoms. But it's all done to protect you of
course!
The number of people killed by terrorist acts is
infinitesimal compared to the number of people killed in other
ways. So why are we afraid of terrorists so much?
One reason, of course, is that your government is always
harping on about it - raising the terror alert colour level, or
issuing warnings about impending, though vague, threats of one
kind or another.
But let's face it. The question you need to be asking
yourself is this: "What exactly are the odds of my dying at the
hands of a terrorist?"
Life is not risk-free. You have to live your life in the
face of constant risks. Your job is to assess these on a scale of
probability, and act accordingly.
You know that driving a car carries certain risks. But even
then, you still drive your car. Why? Because the benefits
outweigh the statistical risks.
On the other hand, if everyone who drove a car was to die
in an accident within one year - I guarantee you'd be walking
from now on!
As I write this, I'm spending a few weeks in Australia. The
government here has just rushed through new "improved" anti-
terror legislation. The effect of this is to reduce everyone's
freedom - freedom of action, freedom of speech, freedom to not be
wrongfully arrested and incarcerated. All this in the name of
"protecting freedom."
It's such a barefaced attack on individual freedom that
even some judges are speaking out against it.
Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, stands up with a
straight face and says this is necessary to protect Australians -
and that the first duty of any government is to protect its
citizens.
He didn't mention how the presence of Australian troops in
Iraq, or of his country's willing, unthinking acceptance of that
immoral war, is in fact putting Australians in danger. No, don't
you know, terrorism has nothing to do with the war in Iraq!
Lie #2: The government can protect you from terrorists.
This is a downright lie. The UK government could not
protect its citizens from the London train bombings. The
Indonesian government could not prevent the Bali bombings. And,
dare I say it, the US government was unable to prevent 9/11.
Sheesh! The government cannot even protect you from
burglars and muggers!
The fact is, the very nature of terrorism - whether by the
IRA, the Tamil Tigers, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, or any
future new group - is to use non-standard methods of "warfare".
Terrorists do not announce their intentions. They do not
martial their forces en masse and do battle in open fields. They
do not wear uniforms. They have no ships or tanks - or even
buildings. They do not have a geographic location, or even a
national identity.
If someone wants to blow themselves up outside your house,
who is going to stop them? The Americans, with all their
thousands of troops in Iraq, cannot even stop the terrorism
there, so what chance does your local policeman have of stopping
a terrorist act in your neighbourhood? Next to zero.
The government cannot protect you from terrorists. But this
is precisely their justification for all the anti-freedom laws
being passed - to ostensibly "protect" you.
Just as in Orwell's 1984, words are being used to distort
the truth. The "war on terror" is in fact the "war on freedom."
I repeat: the war on terror IS the war on freedom.
But it's worse than that. Governments are not only
incapable of protecting us from terrorists, they are the very
CAUSE of terrorism in the first place.
Just think of all the historical examples of terrorism. In
every case it was some group, fighting some government. Sure,
they target civilians, but their real enemy is some government.
And why is this? Because they claim to have been wronged by some
some government. They have a grievance against some government.
They want to secede from some government.
Terrorists do not have a grievance against Microsoft,
General Motors or KFC. They do not have a grievance against your
local supermarket. They do not have a grievance against YOU or
your family. They have a grievance against your government.
The IRA had a grievance against the British government.
They wanted the British out of Ireland. So they waged a terror
"war" for ages until it became apparent they could not win by
military means - so the two parties sat down to talk.
People in the Middle East have a grievance against some
governments in the west, not because they "hate our freedoms,"
but because they hate our governments interfering in their
affairs.
If they are in our back yard threatening us, it's precisely
because our governments have been in their back yard for ages.
Of course, not ALL the West is a target for terrorists,
only those countries that have been actively intruding on the
Middle East. That's why countries like Norway or Switzerland are
not reporting any terrorist attacks. The reason is simple. The
terrorists do not have a grievance against those governments.
Political leaders like Bush, Blair and Howard have one
thing in common. They are all convinced that we can win a war
against terrorism - by military means. Well, it isn't going to
happen. They are not even winning in Iraq, a third rate theatre
of war if there ever was one. So what chance do they have against
a global terrorist network?
Just think about it: These mighty governments and their
military forces are bogged down in Iraq by a virtual handful of
terrorists - or insurgents, as they see themselves. If we cannot
protect Iraqis from such violence, why on earth should we believe
their ravings when they say they can protect us?
They can't. End of story. Which means that all the
draconian anti-terror legislation can only have one actual result
- the destruction of the very freedoms we say we believe in and
are "defending."
I don't know about you, but I think it hugely ironic that
our "fight" against the forces that "hate us because of our
freedoms" means we must lose those very freedoms in the process
of defending them.
Who will have won this war then?
No, the "war on terror" is a scam. It's a sham. It's a
hoax. It's a clever ruse to use fear of the unknown to drive a
totalitarian agenda through the legislative chambers of so-called
democracies in the so-called free world.
It's a pact with the devil.
Freedom cannot be compromised. There is no "new reality"
that has to be accounted for with "new" laws. There is no new
situation which warrants the destruction of freedom. There is no
justification for even the removal of ONE basic freedom in the
quest for "security."
Don't be fooled. Stand up for your rights. Oppose the war
on freedom.
November 8, 2005
discuss this column in the forum
David MacGregor runs an information service and publishes a
newsletter for freedom seekers and aspiring sovereign individuals
at www.sovereignlife.com
David MacGregor Archive
_____
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