Again with the Justification!

Hmm. "In times of war," seems to be the echoing refrain for why any action taken by the American government is justified, whether it's suppressing rights at Guantanamo, or tapping phones, or now tracking the finances of alleged persons who may (or may not) be involved in "terrorist" activities.

I take issue with the justification for a few reasons. One, here in Canada, we've seen a number of people wrongfully arrested, caused great duress, and eventually released, all on the premise that they might be a terrorist, but mostly because they're of the right descent, religion, and skin colour. This bothers me. I'm certain there are a great many more travesties occurring under the guise of "war-time safety" in the US, though.

Let's get something straight. It's not war. It's not a constant barrage of attacks, an endless stream of night-time air raids and frontline assaults. It's random, it's sporadic, and frankly, nothing has happened for almost half a decade. I'm not suggesting it's time to get all soft and nonchalant about the dangers posed by extremists, but I am indeed saying that calling it an ongoing war is a misuse of vocabulary.

What it is, my jaded little political hacks, is a new normal. We're living in a world where money talks and nuclear devices walk. There's trade for everything, and there are weapons to be had, and had by the wrong sort of crowd. This isn't some five-year moratorium on right and wrong. This is a new normal and it's never, ever going to go back to the good old days.

So, where is the line drawn? When do we finally get the right to talk in private on our own phones, to send emails under the assumption that it's private, or do banking without recrimination? When does it become an invasion of privacy on the part of the government?

It's bad enough that corporations sell our purchasing habits as "demographic" research to each other and have the legal right to do so. It's bad enough that almost anyone can Google who we are and discover rather unsavoury things about each of us with a flick of the mouse button. It's bad enough that this reality of the world having changed so drastically on our watch is becoming more and more unavoidable with each passing day. But now we have governments trying to justify eroding the last of our freedoms, freedoms alotted to each of us by way of constitutional protection.

It's simply not right that a changing state of the world today can leave the government with greater powers than ever before. It's disgusting that this decision to have government not interfere with business so as to keep a thriving market alive should contradict so greatly with the government's enthusiasm to invade the life of the everyman. I mean, where's the outcry? Where's the realization that there's a big bad ol' twinge of hypocrisy going on here, huh?

It's sad how complacent the average person has gotten, how willing they are to succumb to a government that tells them it needs to take away rights to protect people. I think the government's a little too given to the path of least resistence, and instead of being more judicious about the usurping of rights, they tend to use too much justification for using a broad approach.

Once freedoms are gone, though, it's pretty fucking difficult to win them back. It's ironic, this quest to bring freedom to others elsewhere, yet continuously eroding them at home. It's almost comedic, really.

(JobSearch update: Three interviews? I meant to say four! Off to the fourth one now. Booked it on my lunch, it was the cellphone message from the weekend. Glad I called, too, because they're apparently only interviewing today, so I'd have been out of luck. One of those must-hire-NOW scenarios. My old employer informs me that I've had one reference check now, and that they loved my resume and couldn't stop praising it, which is nice to hear, and I have a phone interview scheduled with those people tomorrow, so that's not even including the folks I've spoken with today. Fingers crossed! And toes. Must cross toes. Trickier, though.)