Since Sept. 11, 2001, “terrorism” has been the buzzword on everyone’s lips. It’s a concept that has taken up a large and ever-growing presence in the American mind. We’re changing our laws, changing our way of life and even sacrificing some of our ideals to cope with this threat.
However, in doing so, we are both encouraging potential terrorists and creating a society on a lower moral ground that is actually more vulnerable to terrorism.
Terrorists are criminals who justify their crimes with one ideology or another. Freedom of expression, including political expression, is a necessary feature of a free society. However, the terrorist is willing to commit murder, kidnapping and the like to be heard.
While the idea of taking someone’s life to make a political statement is repugnant, it is no more or less repugnant than taking someone’s life for his wallet or his shoes. In either case, the victim is dead. His family will suffer and it is society’s duty to bring the murderer to justice.
By treating the terrorist as a special case, society gives him a sort of legitimacy-he’s not a murderer, he’s a terrorist who kills people for reasons. Others who identify with his “cause” may see him as a martyr or a hero, not the criminal he is. They may even be encouraged to express themselves in a similar manner.
In our fear-driven reactions to the “terrorist threat,” we’ve passed laws and made concessions that previously were rejected as dangerous breaches of our freedom.
As an example, the USA Patriot Act has greatly extended the government’s ability to do searches in secret.
This is a violation of the letter and principle of the Fourth Amendment, and a dangerous precedent that is reminiscent of the civil rights violations perpetrated by government entities such as the CIA and the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission.
The Patriot Act and other laws in consideration also infringe upon the right to freedom of expression. In doing so, they are weakening America’s greatest defense against terrorism-our open, free society. Terrorists use violence as a means of expressing themselves, often because they feel no other way is possible.
American history bears this out. Oppressed groups have often turned to violence because without the protections guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, they had no safe way to express themselves. However, once society extended those protections to the formerly oppressed, the violence abated.
Americans have become newly awakened to the terrorist threat that has existed for years. In reacting to that threat, we must be careful not to give the terrorist any more legitimacy than any other criminal. We must ensure we do not destroy our greatest defense against terrorism-our free society.
Nathan Alday is a senior aerospace engineering major.