Black Water Dog said:
The medical example is no fine line at all - obseved outcomes, sensible precaution. Magic bullet? No, the best you can hope for is to increase the odds of detection.
On the TSA stuff, I would agree with you. The government created a monster that seems to thrive on idiocy. But then again, their goal seems to be reassuring the travelling public more than being effective. Airline management is probably deeply regretting turning over this function to the government.
As to the Japanese internment, I would have to say that the idea was necessary at the time. Since there were no problems with sabotage along the west coast during those years it appears to have been very effective. Easy to second guess 60+ years later, especially since you can't prove a negative.
We're on the same page with the TSA, at least we agree on something.
We only encourage women to get breast examinations. There is no forcing them. It is by choice. But by profiling all middle-eastern-looking people, you are FORCING them against their choice, and humiliating them because someone else of the same skin color bombed something earlier. It's completely unjustifiable.
Japanese internment... "necessary" at the time? How so? After the Pearl Harbor attacks, did the Japanese people living here even plan anything bad? No. The bombings were the result of the decision of the Japanese Armed forces (government).
And then of course, the question is, "Is it ever okay to kill innocent civilians during war?" Most would answer no. But, we dropped two nuclear bombs over Japan... wiping out entire cities. The way I see it, if a civilian picks up a gun or starts throwing rocks at you, that civilian is then a 'threat.' Threats should be neutralized. But everyday people living their everyday lives didn't deserve to die in those atomic bombs.
We can say all we want about freedom values that we belive in, but believe it, the Japanese will never forget or forgive what happened a few decades ago (even though they might pretend to). Same goes for black people, who weren't treated fairly their rights until the '60s. We can act like everything is peachy, but our history has been tainted.
What's really sad? These al-Qaeda soldiers kill our American soldiers with weapons that WE gave them in the '80s to fight against the Russians. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Humph. Supposedly, the US government (CIA) actually worked with bin Laden forces way back in the 80s. Our foreign policy and course of action in the last 30 years or so has helped create these vicious terrorist monsters.
And now, we are willing to profile (and hence, humiliate, and 'punish') brown colored people due largely to the failure of our government's policies since the last thiry years? That's sad....
Spreading democracy in the middle east? Good luck with that. How would you feel if tomorrow, China invaded us saying that we will have to follow communism (their belief)? Wouldn't you fight back? And I think that's exactly what the Iraqi insurgents are doing now. Sadly, our boys in Iraq continue to pay the price for the screw ups of this administration.
