Patriot Games - Dear Mr. Orwell, you were right

PATRIOT GAMES
Dear Mr. Orwell…
You Were Right

By Zain Deane

What’s happened to us? Just over ten years ago, as a college student in Boston, I was surrounded by a politically active, socially aware, and above all, morally empowered community. And it wasn’t just the students and academics. The country cared more about the world, about the law, and about itself. What the hell happened to us?

Why do I bring this up now? Because the FBI just landed in hot water for underreporting its use of the Patriot Act to unearth confidential information about anyone remotely connected to or suspected in a terrorist case. Their blunder only highlights the grim reality of a government whose paranoia is so great, and thirst for information so unquenchable, that the law now resembles an underpaid security guard that you barely acknowledge on your way to work.

It’s amazing how prophetic some books are. When George Orwell wrote 1984, the sinister bureaucracy he described was so ludicrously opposed to the public will that it was the work of fantasy. I wonder if he even had any inkling, at the time, that there would come a day when Big Brother took control, letting us know that the phrase “private citizen” would become an oxymoron. That the government would demand the right to delve into our personal experiences, telling us that financial data, business records, private information, phone calls are now part of the public domain.

Look, I’m not naļve enough to say things were perfect before Bush came on the scene. I know the world has changed irrevocably since 1996, when I graduated from college. I know September 11 left a wound in America that goes far beyond the cavity that is now Ground Zero. I was there when it happened; I still feel those scars. And I remember the way the nation, following New York’s example, rallied together and stood proud.

Where is that fire now? Why are we so docile when it’s the government carrying out the invasion? Because that’s all the Patriot Act is: an invasion into our privacy. Maybe most of us think that any price is worth paying to root out the evil hidden inside our borders. Perhaps some feel it’s not that big a deal, and there are other battles worth fighting. But I’m willing to bet most people feel that they’re immune; that their solid all-American lineage will protect them from this scrutiny. And all of these people are missing the bigger picture.

This isn’t just about terrorism. It’s not about catching Bin Laden, quelling Iraq, or vanquishing evil. The Patriot Act spits in the face of the very laws it is designed to uphold. It is the quintessential definition of the means justifying the end. When other people do it, we have cool names for it: spying, subversion, despotism, tyranny. Orwell called it the “Thought Police.” We call it The Patriot Act.

I’m at fault too. When I talk to my friends, we joke about how our phones must surely be tapped. We’re minorities in this country and we’re both well-traveled, so we must be on a short-list somewhere. When I talk to my family, I can detect the sensitivity of the persecuted in our conversations. And when I go abroad, I hear almost universally that nobody wants to come to America anymore. So I shouldn’t joke; I should be furious. I am furious, but my anger is expended into thin air. Because, just like the citizens of 1984, I feel powerless against this government, in which I see no reason, no negotiation, and no restraint. It will conquer a foreign power on the basis of a rumor, spy on its own people for fear of treachery, and engage in the same morally repulsive practices that we righteously condemned not long ago. What happened to us?

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has come down hard against the Patriot Act, but its voice has yet to be echoed resoundingly throughout the country. Yes, the Act has been criticized, Bush dragged through the mud in public opinion polls, the demonstrators taken to the streets. All well and good, but those actions are appropriate for a much lesser infraction. The Patriot Act, as it stands, is in direct violation of our most sacred national doctrine, and we have not responded in kind.

Nixon was threatened with impeachment for less than this. Clinton’s presidency teetered on slippery ground for less than this. But the tidal wave of fury that I expected the Patriot Act to trigger never came; in its stead, a few ripples lapped against The Capitol, a squall or two beat ineffectually against the White House. And in the process, we lost something integral to what makes America the most powerful nation on Earth.

In Mr. Orwell’s 1984, the public meekly accepts the tyranny of its own government. In 2007, he is being proved right. I bet even he would think, what the hell happened to us?