Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
Could Americans be starting to wake up at long last? (I mean, apart from you, Deborski, lol!)
Terrorism is just a bogeyman and an excuse for starting wars, spying on citizens and much more.

The UK had IRA who killed lots of people, Spain had ETA,Germany had RAF, Russia has Dagestan/Chechnya Etc!!

None flipped out like the USA did over 9/11.
And guess what; IRA agreed to a peace treaty, ETA voluntarily put down their arms, the RAF members got old and decided they had enough of fighting the system and Chechnya did --- whatever they did -- but at least they stopped killing regular Russians.

There is no need to turn the whole world upside down, start wars and become Big Brother from 1984 just because of one terrorist attack!

Although I'm no conspiracy theorist it's certainly INTERESTING to note that 9/11 gave the US government and top corporations carte blanche to start wars, start snooping, sell weapons like there's no tomorrow, create a whole privately employed army in the Middle East, start the drone programme and what not.
Reminds me of a Ludlum novel I read many years ago, where private weapons/security interests set off a bunch of disasters, to turn the whole planet into a Big Brother states so they could rake in the profits from it. To many of thew private corporations in the USA, Osama bin Laden is the best thing that ever happened to their balance sheets.
If what I see on Facebook is any indicator, then people are definitely waking up. When the Snowden story first broke, I heard a lot of people calling him "traitor" and now I am hearing more concern from those very same people, not about Snowden, but about the police state we live in. Then again, it's only Facebook. But the poll I posted above gives me hope that this could be a new trend.

I think America's biggest problem right now, what is causing this police state as well as our military aggression overseas, is greed, bottom line. The military-industrial complex is the strongest in our nation. It has bought and paid for all of our political representatives, so that they no longer represent the people but rather the lobbyists who bribe them (legally).

If we could eliminate public campaign funding, and ensure that every candidate gets equal and fair publicity, we might have a chance at turning things around I think. That was the original goal of the Occupy movement, before they got sidetracked trying to protest everything at the same time. But I have little hope that this will ever change, especially given prevalent attitudes in the United States.

I do know, however, that every time I gather with my friends, the overriding concern everyone has is the militarization of America, the loss of our freedoms, and the burgeoning police state. What we can actually DO about it is a completely different matter, unfortunately. I think nothing will change until some breaking point is reached, and people are still far too comfortable (and distracted) for that to happen here.