According to the US government...
Sep. 19th, 2002 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnpalmerReceiving training from a group is providing material support.
*MATERIAL* support.
*MATERIAL*.
Solid, meaningful, *REAL*, support.
Like, money, guns, bombs, a hiding place, a stick of chewing gum so they can moisten their throat to do their secret terrorist bird call signal, assistance in some form of activity that is directly related to their organization.
I swear, sometimes the government strikes me as being a bad Usenet troll, only not quite as together on logic.
(Let it be noted that I am not suggesting that these men are innocent, upright US citizens; if I knew what they have actually done, I might want them flayed, while suspended upside down to keep blood pressure in their head for a longer period of time. (Thank you Thomas Harris for that little medical/historical fact) I'm appalled at what passes for criminal charges these days.)
I'm doubly appalled that at least some people will swallow this, hook line and sinker... and a lot of people just won't care.
I'll grant that it's not as bad as Japanese American interment during the Second World War, but the key difference there was that there was an actual, declared, visible war, and we would know if and when it was ended.
This is slower... but it worries me because changes can happen slowly, and no individual step seems all that bad, but then, you feel like you blink your eyes, and there you are, with terrible things happening, and maybe you don't even really understand how.
*MATERIAL* support.
*MATERIAL*.
Solid, meaningful, *REAL*, support.
Like, money, guns, bombs, a hiding place, a stick of chewing gum so they can moisten their throat to do their secret terrorist bird call signal, assistance in some form of activity that is directly related to their organization.
I swear, sometimes the government strikes me as being a bad Usenet troll, only not quite as together on logic.
(Let it be noted that I am not suggesting that these men are innocent, upright US citizens; if I knew what they have actually done, I might want them flayed, while suspended upside down to keep blood pressure in their head for a longer period of time. (Thank you Thomas Harris for that little medical/historical fact) I'm appalled at what passes for criminal charges these days.)
I'm doubly appalled that at least some people will swallow this, hook line and sinker... and a lot of people just won't care.
I'll grant that it's not as bad as Japanese American interment during the Second World War, but the key difference there was that there was an actual, declared, visible war, and we would know if and when it was ended.
This is slower... but it worries me because changes can happen slowly, and no individual step seems all that bad, but then, you feel like you blink your eyes, and there you are, with terrible things happening, and maybe you don't even really understand how.
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no subject
Date: 2002-09-19 11:00 pm (UTC)Well, what do you expect from a government led by a guy who thinks every day is "Talk Like An Idiot Day."
I swear to god - did you catch this (http://www.bushnews.com/ourfearlessleader.mp3)??? (Warning, .mp3. Work-friendly if you're not surrounded by Republicans...transcript available here (http://www.bushnews.com/english.htm), first quote on the page as of 9/19...)
But seriously: Yes. We definitely seem to be in a "two steps back" part of the civil rights cycle..