Thursday, September 11, 2014
9/11
Well, here is the last thread for the week. On the anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks feel free to discuss the implications here. You don't need to re-hash the events, I/we have watched them and I/we all remember them vividly. I don't want to discuss "conspiracy" theories here. I want to hear factual evidence with supporting references and connect the idea that this was a GLOBAL event with significant impacts for future generations. You can take one aspect and do it in detail (i.e. airport security and what this means to you, etc.), or touch on several aspects (politics, military, alliances, NATO) in brief. 
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is my weekly post...
ReplyDeleteThe events that occurred on September 11th 2001 have majorly changed and impacted our world as we know it. I will be focusing on the security repercussion/improvement and also the discrimination towards Islams and "middle eastern looking people" that followed.
Shortly after the attacks on 9/11, countries around the world made efforts to make potential terrorism more transparent; such as gaining the ability to freeze bank accounts of those who are under suspicion of terrorist activity. Other efforts such as airport/aircraft security were improved greatly. Specifically in the United States, aircrafts have been equipped with a locked and bulletproof Cockpit (where the pilot is located) and CCTV (closed circuit television camera) cameras for the pilot to monitor activity within the plane. Pilots are now allowed to carry firearm so long as they are trained and licensed, and an air marshall (in the U.S) will join the flight for extra security. The airport screening for passengers has also improved a great deal. Before 9/11, passengers were allowed to carry a small pocket knife with them, and regular security checks were not as strict as they are today. Since the attack, airports have installed a TSA full-body screening system, which would see through a persons clothing; newer versions do not produce an image, but will alert the security check of flagged areas to be manually searched. Lastly, the identification process has been changed so that every person boarding flight is to prove their identity with legal documentation.
Although the backlash from 9/11 positively pushed countries to improve their security and understanding of terrorism, minorities were feeling a huge negative backlash from the events. People from Islamic, Muslim and Sikh backgrounds were penalized, as well as south-asians and middle-easterns. On September 15th, Balbir Singh Sodhi (a Sikh man) was the first man after the 9/11 attack to be fatally shot. The gunman was on a rampage, and after killing Sodhi, he attempted to shoot an employee of Lebanese decent at a gas station, and fired shots at the home of a family of Afghan descent. When arrested, Frank Roque exclaimed, “I stand for America all the way”. Later, Roque confessed his minset was, "I'm going to go out and shoot some towel-heads," (Sikh males most often wear Turbans). Not only was Balbir a victim of hate crime, but also Waqar Hassan (Pakistani Muslim), Adelal Karas (Egyptian Christian) were fatally shot not long after 9/11. The general public also became hostile and discriminatory to those who appear to be of middle-eastern decent. As written by the Huffington Post, “For when you 'other' and dehumanise groups of people to define yourself against, it allows you to speak in a language of unspeakable destruction and violence. This pornography of force became a seductive message that convinced millions that our 'freedoms' and 'values' were worth defending at all costs. Such a mindset saw Islamophobic attacks increase by 1,700% in 2001. Prior to 9/11, the FBI recorded just 28 hate crimes against Muslims. The following year it increased to 481.”
We can clearly see the repercussion of 9/11 as being mostly hostility, fear and hate. Yes some things such as airport/aircraft security, and terrorism monitoring have been improved/implemented, our society still faces racial challenges. To this day, the minorities that have been discriminated against have had to deal with these after-effects since September 11th. Islamophobia still exists, 9/11 jokes still exist, and the after-effects are still present in our society.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDo you think that there's a connection between increased airport security and the racism towards these "Middle Eastern looking people"?
DeleteDoes airport security and even other passengers get nervous when a man with a turban enters an airport or boards a plane? Even if they don't believe it themselves, is it still a thought in the back of their mind that no matter how disgusted they are by it, it still manages to be there? I know that when I went to Florida with the school's rugby team the security people seemed quite nice and, well, who would think anything of a 16-year-old white girl, right? Do you think a 45-year-old Islamic man would feel the same way?
The views of Western society's have forever been tainted by the idea that when someone does something horrific, anyone that looks like them must be capable of those same actions. So why then has the conclusion of the Columbine High School shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting been "they must have been mentally disturbed" or "we need to stop bullying so that this sort of thing doesn't happen again" instead of a complete and utter discrimination of young white males?
Tying this in to our immigration discussions, do you think that these events, be it the actual event of 9/11 or the hateful repercussions on "middle eastern looking people" had an impact on immigration from the Middle East?
I think it's absolutely disgusting that Americans have attempted to mask their acts of hate and racism with the idea that they're being patriotic. Even the thought that someone can utter the words "I'm going to go out and shoot some towel-heads," and "I stand for America all the way" in the same breath is pathetic. That is the reason why America is not progressing as a country. Instead of speaking of peace in attempt to pick their country back up after this tragedy, they've decided to deflect the blame onto each other and react with more violence. Americans are choosing violence over learning to accept differences in appearance, religion, beliefs etc and coexisting with those differences.
My dearest darlings Hannah and Avery...
DeleteHey. It's Liz. Replying to your posts! Yay!
In regard to the racial discrimination that has occurred in the years following 9/11, do you think that the racism has translated to Canada at all? And if so has it become a problem comparable to America?
In my own personal experience, I have seen quite a few instances where such prejudices have been exhibited. Once on a billboard on a Barrie city bus there had been an ad that depicted a variety of working-class citizens of different races. There was one middle-eastern man on the sign wearing a turban, but someone had blatantly scratched his face and body off of the board. I have also met many Canadian citizens who have shocked me with the disgustingly racist things they have said about people from Middle East (will not repeat for fear of offending anyone).
Avery, I do think that 9/11 greatly impacted the immigration of people from the Middle East to North America. I imagine racial discrimination can make it incredibly hard for them to settle here, as well as achieve their proper amount of success. (PS. I really like/agree with your point made about the Colombine and Sandy Hook shootings).
As disgusting as racism is, I think it's a natural falling point for humans after tragedy. It's a lot easier to demonize an entire race than it is to look at the people who created such an unfathomable tragedy and say, "That's human, too". We don't want to associate ourselves with those terrorists in any way, so instead we persecute an entire race of innocent people, which is completely inexcusable. I wish that such hatred didn't exist towards the Middle East, most are innocent and decent people, and should not have to be mistreated due to their race.
Sources:
ReplyDelete"Airport security repercussions due to the September 11 attacks." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. .
Lewin, Tamar. "Sikh Owner Of Gas Station Is Fatally Shot In Rampage." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Sept. 2001. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.
.
"Since 9/11, Racism and Islamophobia Remain Intertwined." The Huffington Post UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. .
This is my weekly post...
ReplyDeleteThe events that occurred on September 11th 2001 changed the way the government looks at their citizens. The government now has new ways to determine who you are, how you express yourself and what you try to hide from the world. The government claims they have done nothing wrong and that it is necessary to catch criminals. But the citizens are not educated on what the government knows about them.
The government can track exactly were you've been through your GPS on a cellular device, even if it's turned off on your end. They can trace every phone call, every text and they can even see inside your webcams. They store this info so they can supposedly use it to keep people safe. However I fail to realize how keeping our text messages will keep you and me safe. From 9/11 the war on terror is number one on the political agenda. Even currently in North America with the ISIS/ISIL group spreading around the world. These groups now use social media outlets to plan and recruit.
The bottom line is the number of people joining or commiting huge crimes are very minimal and in no way does that give the government permission to spy on the everyday human? No. Even if they had reasons to spy on criminals that would be fine but just normal people is going way to far. There is also no way of knowing who is on the other side of your texts, videos, and calls. What if the person in the government who is paid to spy on you doesn't have good intentions in mind. Just something interesting to think about.
Sources:
Deletehttp://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-surveillance-in-america-drastically-changed-after-911-2012-8
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summary-details-us-spy-networks-successes-failures-and-objectives/2013/08/29/7e57bb78-10ab-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html
Due to the Patriot Act, the US/Canadian government keeps track of all your electronic records for 72 years. Scary thought, isn't it? But when you think of it, most people do have good intentions, and the government most likely realizes this. Having an everyday conversation with one of your friends over Facebook really won't matter to the government. They look for keywords or phrases that could potentially lead to something else - whether it be a terrorist bombing or shooting, money laundering, etc..-. The thing to keep in mind is that everyday people should not be frightened by this, even though everything is online. A scary thought that every text, tweet, post you make it stored, really isn't all that scary. I mean, who has the time to read everything, even if you had 10 000 people, it would still take ages.
DeleteSources: Classroom talk
www.wikipedia.org/Canadian_Anti-Terrorism_Act
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment is directed mostly at Steve, though open to anyone.
DeleteYou've said you don't think that the technology-scanning of the NSA is a problem. But I guarantee you if I took your phone and started searching, you would be pretty frantic to get it back. That's not just you, that goes for me, you - anyone we all know. Imagine someone looking over your shoulder every moment of every day. Someone you can't delete your search history from. Someone who knows everything about everything you do. Imagine a system so detailed and complicated, it can actually predict your browsing patterns before you can - that's the NSA. And like Simon states below, it's not run by angels. They're people too, and they mess up. Do you really want and trust someone who's never met you - who doesn't care about you - to have the ability to destroy your life?
I personally believe that immediately after 9/11, when the Patriot Act was put into effect, it was a disjointed and frantic time. This is proven with headlines of papers such as "A Day of Terror" (1). I believe that much like people turning the blame on Muslims, the government went looking for somewhere that they could deposit the blame - and they found it. Technology.
I am going to step back from 9/11 as a specific event, and turn instead to post-9/11 terrorist activities. ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - formerly known as ISIS), are CURRENTLY using Twitter(2) and YouTube to recruit almost 30% of new members - approximately 25,000 people. These include men from: Canada, United States, Mexico, England, Germany, and larger parts of Africa. Not only has the government failed to erase these files from the internet - they were not able to back-track the information on the accounts.
So while the government is NOT successfully tracking pro-radical information; they ARE saving things such as: "Hey dude, I just picked up 3gs, we should chill after school tomorrow". They may not have caught the men who beheaded the Jim Foley or Steven Scotloff - but now you're a criminal. I know I've painted this in a very one-sided light, but please feel free to let me know your opinions on the governments' intelligence protocols.
1: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2eMkDdRw-MM/TmTyTBDCjEI/AAAAAAAAAg0/ZzOZ0X_eVPU/s1600/9.11+headlines008.jpg
2: https://twitter.com/ISIS_Media_Hub
With the recent exposure of the NSA we are beginning to see how something like the patriot act, which may start under good intentions, can spiral out of control. Their list of keywords that can red flag you as a "terrorist" is speculated to include phrases such as: dictionary, firewalls, Sphinx, ninja, redheads, Texas, and many other equally irrelevant terms.
ReplyDeleteOn top of all this is a blatant violation of privacy. Edwards Snowden told the Guardian that young employees would routinely intercept and share intimate photos of strangers that were meant to remain extremely private. These employees have access to our entire lives and thanks to a weak auditing system, aren't afraid to exploit that responsibility.
In reality, it's not enough to say "I have nothing to hide" because there is no way of telling how far the government is willing to take this. They have already been busted for accessing the Mexican president's emails as well as spying on German citizens. The problem here is that it is nearly impossible to show any dissatisfaction towards the government without ending up on a list that groups you with terrorists. And, historically speaking, the United States has no issue dealing with anyone they deem as "terrorists". Compromising freedom (a word that earns you a red flag) for supposed security is a slippery slope that can give the government far too much control over our everyday lives.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/nude-photos-of-strangers-are-a-fringe-benefit-for-nsa-employees-says-snowden-9614097.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-prism-keywords-for-domestic-spying-2013-6
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nsa-hacked-email-account-of-mexican-president-a-928817.html#ref=rss
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/new-snowden-revelations-on-nsa-spying-in-germany-a-975441.html#ref=rss
I agree with you, the way the government goes about this is the real problem here. Majority of people will stay off the government's radar for the most part. Another problem is that the people working for the government might not have good intentions. For example what if that person was to spy on friends or family members. That seems really creepy to me, knowing that the person can know everything about you gives me a worse feeling than a computer knowing me, and storing that info.
DeleteThis is my weekly post.
ReplyDelete9/11 was devastating, and caused fear throughout the nation. It could be argued that the American government used this fear to help justify it's own attacks against Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern Countries. America used the incident to start a war on terror, claiming it was to protect themselves from another attack. When under international law the 'war' could be seen as illegal.
The fear that 9/11 produced caused the nation to have a common enemy even if they don't know what that enemy is. A war on terror is a war that America can't necessarily win, as it has no specific target. But the people of north america see it as necessary because our government helps to perpetuate the fear that we are now constantly at risk. We are conditioned to believe that we have no choice but to fight, and that terrorists brought the war to us. It is this fear that is used to justify drone attacks and unwarranted invasions in the Middle East.
It's clear that 9/11 had a great impact on life in North America including changes in security and immigration policies, racial profiling etc. But it is also important that we look more closely on the changes that don't necessarily affect us directly.
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/05/9-11-impact-world-al-qaida
http://www.globalresearch.ca/did-9-11-justify-the-war-in-afghanistan/19891
I agree with you when you say that the United States government is implementing fear to justify anti-terrorist campaigns and using it's countries fear to support their wars. I believe that the US is unjustified in their invasions and drone attacks, but what do you think should be done about terrorism? Do you think they should find a new non aggressive tatic? Or should they continue down Obamas current plans? You can't expect a government to idly stand by and wait for another terrorism attack, but their current ideology goes against everyone's basic rights and freedoms.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete