Amnesty International slams "war on terror"

[Backtothemac]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/05/26/amnesty.reut/index.html

[zimv20]

fwiw, the CNN quick poll asks "Should some human rights be sacrificed for security?" and shows these results:
Yes 40%
No 60%

[trebblekicked]

i read that this morning and right away i thought about high school, and writing my first amnesty international letter. it was to turkey, about a group of political dissidents who were held prisoner in conditions similar to the ambiguous state the iraqi and gitmo detainees are held. i suppose now turkish students will write letters to washington. that is just sad.

[Thanatoast]

fwiw, the CNN quick poll asks "Should some human rights be sacrificed for security?" and shows these results:
Yes 40%
No 60%

a better question would be, "would you sacrifice your *own* human rights for security?" i'd love to see the results of that poll. then again, maybe i'd be even more scared. a girl in one of my classes said, "we're only giving up some *minor* civil liberties".

?!?

[zimv20]

a girl in one of my classes said, "we're only giving up some *minor* civil liberties".

lemme guess -- our "freedom" to stand in short airport security lines?

[numediaman]

a better question would be, "would you sacrifice your *own* human rights for security?" i'd love to see the results of that poll. then again, maybe i'd be even more scared. a girl in one of my classes said, "we're only giving up some *minor* civil liberties".

?!?

I almost posted when I saw that poll that Zim posted -- I'm glad you did.

I hope you are right that people don't truly understand what they are saying when they say they would sacrifice rights for security. Otherwise, 40% is a very scary number!

[Thanatoast]

lemme guess -- our "freedom" to stand in short airport security lines?actually, it was more like our freedom not to have warrantless, no-tell searches or to be detained without charge or access to council. the argument from the other side of the room was "if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about".

this was a 3000 level poly-sci course at a good university. there are people out there who really believe in what the president is doing and in the methods he uses. that people are willing to accept these things scares me as much as the issues themselves

[Neserk]

Instead of asking blanked questions like that they need to ask specific questions, like would you give up....? Then see what people say when you spell out for them what giving up ... actually means.

[Thanatoast]

Then see what people say when you spell out for them what giving up ... actually means.What do you mean? (...) could never happen to them! ;) :p

It's kinda funny, people are falling into a trap of their own devising. By believing in the honesty of those people to whom their giving away their rights, they actually are supporting their expressed ideals (in their own minds). After all, our honest government would never become abusive like those evil-doers we're fighting, right? They've become so accustomed to the idea of their own government's infailibility that they don't realize that the reason our government has become as good as it has (pre-W) was through the constant vigilance of people fighting to protect our rights and our system of checks and balances.