Liberties Continue to be Trampled by Fear in U.S.

In a rather disturbing episode, Iraqi peace activist and blogger Raed Jarrar was forced by officials to remove a political t-shirt at JFK airport in New York because officials claimed the t-shirt was offending other passengers. The shirt, which said "We Will Not Be Silent" in Arabic and English, was intended as a protest of the Iraq war. After Jarrar passed through a security search, officials approached him and said that "People are feeling offended because of your t-shirt." They officials asked Jarrar to remove the shirt, and he initially refused, claiming that his freedom of expression was being violated. He later complied with the officials' demands, and changed shirts, though he says that he intends to pursue legal action against the officials.

Strikingly, one of the officials said to Jarrar, "You can't wear a T-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads 'I am a robber' and going to a bank". Have five years of living in fear of terrorism, fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and being subjected to the fearmongering rhetoric of our government succeeded so completely in transforming Americans into this kind of intolerant, xenophobic monsters? By what bigoted standard does the Arabic language amount to terrorism, as the official implied in his statement? Even more striking (and indicative of a sick, intolerant culture) is the absurdity of the thought that a terrorist would ever wear a shirt with Arabic writing on it to an airport -- and the fact that most Americans are probably so saturated with fear that they would not realize this. Who in their right mind would think a would-be terrorist would draw attention to themselves in such a manner? This stifling of free expression can thus not reasonably be defended as any sort of legitimate defense against terrorism. It is about something entirely different and more disturbing.

This episode reveals in all its ugliness the transformation that is taking place in American society -- and which has taken place in many decadent, powerful societies -- in which Americans are growing increasingly paranoid, intolerant, militant, and at odds with the world around them. Only in such a decaying, sick society could mainstream conservative writers speak seriously of the imminent danger of Muslim conquest and the threat to our society from immigrants. These nonsensical, paranoid imaginings -- intended to feed a culture of fear and increasing desperation -- are successfully fueling the transformation of our society into one in which absolute government power is welcomed and differences (whether cultural, religious, or political) are seen as dangerous.

If our few remaining freedoms are to survive much longer, Americans need to shake off the cloud of fear and ignorance that has been set in front of them and seek to repair the damage already done.