ZGram - 10/2/2001 - "Will liberty become a casualty of the September 11 attack?"

[Ingrid Rimland]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

October 2, 2001

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

The thoughts expressed below have been much on my mind ever since September
11, and my thanks goes to Keltie Zubko, one of the unsung fighters of
=46reedom of Speech in Canada.  Keltie has been in this struggle for decades
on attorney Doug Christie's side - especially during the Keegstra Trial and
the first Z=FCndel Trial.  She is a quiet but hard-working lady, and I don't
know of anyone who does not speak of Keltie with genuine affection.

I borrow from her monthly letter of the Canadian Free Speech League:

[START]

Terrorist Attacks to Result in Lost Liberty?

One of the gravest casualties of civil emergencies often is the liberty of
citizens as governments cope with other "more pressing" threats.
Suggestions for and implementations of much greater control over the North
American citizenry followed almost as soon as the hijackers hit their aims
onSeptember 11th. Fear, and its usual corollary, the desire for security,
have taken a great toll in both the U.S. and in Canada.

It remains to be seen what the end result will be, but the prognosis is not
good, as usually when governments implement emergency measures, they do not
repeal them when the state of immediate emergency ends. Of course, the real
necessity for such things is not easily measurable by ordinary citizens,
who are not privy to all the government-held information, and emotions
often reign. People often willingly resign their freedom, on faith.

In light of the quite justified intense emotions that resulted from the
terrible attacks and the sad events following them, some interesting
freedom-related facts emerge. One is the number of great writers who are
emerging from the crisis, to help us all clarify our understanding
--columnists and commentators who are doing their share to preserve freedom
of speech by their thoughtfulness, their integrity and honesty, and often
very moving, writing.

There is not a unanimity of opinion about the events, and there are some
tremendously valuable voices who dare to speak their sometimes unpopular
opinions. Reading the wide range of ideas, the different stories
andperspectives from around the world (which can only result in deeper
understanding) gives us great hope that the terrorists cannot destroy
freedom in North America.

Another interesting feature of the past several weeks is the amazing
resource of the Internet in providing ordinary people with information,
bypassing the state authorities, or the often uniform presentations of the
major media, but going directly from individual to individual. This always
will have its downside, but on the whole, it is one more demonstration of
the power of a free and unhindered media, in this case, a media which
includes every citizen that has access to the Internet and cares to
communicate.

Through the Internet a wide variety of views is available to the average
person who desires to look, to read, to think. True, the harrowing
electronic images of death and destruction will play and replay in the
memories of our generation, as long as we will live, but the thoughts and
ideas that can only contribute to more reason in our world, in the face of
fear and anger, make a profound difference.

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

Thought for the Day:

"The same people who left us vulnerable to the acts of Sept. 11 are now
claiming they will solve our future problems."

Christopher Ruddy, October 2, 2001