From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Thu Jul 31 2003 - 23:39:37 MDT
On Thursday 31 July 2003 17:02, Emlyn O'regan wrote:
> More subjective: would you rate yourself now (hopefully based on some kind
> of quasi-empirical guestimate, at least) as more or less safe than you were
> 10 years ago? 20 years ago? What are the major threats to your continued
> existence/lifestyle? How about 10 years into the future?
>
Less safe than 10 years. Ten years ago, post cold war, I had far more hopes
for the world becoming a much more progressive, rational and prosperous
place. For a while it almost seemed like it would be so. Ten years ago I
had more faith that people in the US understood freedom and its importance
and were willing to dismantle government bloat and control of their lives.
Ten years ago I had more freedoms that were not under direct attack by my own
government.
Much the same can be said for 20 years ago except that the cold war was still
on and there was the non-zero possibility of nuclear armaggedon.
Ten years in the future is a guessing game. It very much depends on whether
we grow beyond the almost total centering of all our policies on fear. It
depends on whether we create a vision of the future that unites us
successfully. If we fail in this then I think we will be vastly less safe 10
years from now than today.
The major threat to my lifestyle/exsitence at this time is from my own
government. The real erosion of rights and freedom and the vast planned
expansion of government surveillance and control capabilities are a very
serious threat to my plans and the plans of anyone who may be at or near the
cutting edge of change.
I don't think the "death sentence over our head" will be fixed by top-down
government control and dominantion. I don't think that it will be happened
by hyping our fears incessantly and acting from them.
- samantha
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