Patriot Act

Jason Wong
ASA2
Section 2
Week 6

"The USA Patriot Act: A Sketch" outlined some steps to be taken to address acts of terrorism, specifically prevention. Ways to tackle terrorism would be detecting terrorists before they can act which involved taping into emails, phone lines and etc.  A follow up article "ASNE memo on Patriot Act II" went more into explaining the government surveillance. What came to mind as I read these articles was, how far can the government go to ensure our safety? The act itself seems have good intentions in the regards to finding potential perpetrators and preventing large scale disasters, but then there are people who make us say, "This is why we cant have nice things". Although the goal is to prevent terrorist attacks, we never know when they will happen nor where it will happen, so to have a strict system to catch terrorists would require optimization. This optimization might make the government look more towards certain ethnic groups, but then that becomes racial profiling. The idea I'm getting at is there is no specific system that will help eliminate the potential threat. Though well intention, at what cost do we pay for this sense of security?  

Question: How much authority should the government have? Should the government have the authority to monitor civilian actions or are they overstepping their bounds?

Using Gender and Sexuality as a Weapon

Brina Sylve

ASA 02 - A02

May 3, 2015

Week 6

 

In our heteronormative, anti-gay, homophobic, and white supremist country we have utilized gender and sexuality in such a way to combat terrorism and our everyday fears. For it has become quite normal for one to call a male some sort of homophobic or misogynistic slur in order to degrade him. But what the true terror is here is how we use homophobia and feminism to belittle enemies of the state and minimalize the cause or reasons why one would commit acts of terrorism.

 

If you think of little children who call each other names in order to hurt one another, they do so as to avoid accepting any responsibility for the confrontation. Unfortunately, the United States resembles these bickering children all too well as we paint portraits of terrorist leaders being penetrated anally or as "little sissies" instead of realizing that perhaps they have contributed to the causes that led up to the act of terrorism. For if we honestly considered our role behind acts of terrorism we would see that we put pressure onto the very blade lying on our wrists.

 

 

 

 

Patriot Act Controversy

Ryan Ke

Section 1

Week 6

The article, “The USA Patriot Act: A Sketch,” by Charles Doyle gives a brief overview of the Patriot Act enacted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Patriot Act was created in order to give the government more power to intercept communications and gather information. Some describe it as a way for the government to spy on their citizens.

After reading the article, I still have mixed feelings on whether or not I personally believe the Patriot Act is necessary. I think it is an extremely controversial issue because it involves tradeoffs. On one hand, the 9/11 attacks are something that I’m sure no US citizen wants to see again, and the government needs to take preventative measures to ensure a similar tragedy does not occur in the future. Unfortunately, most laws that do this also take away the freedom and security of citizens. This makes me ask, are there better ways for the government to crack down on terrorism while maintaining the rights of its citizens? I am sure this is a question that has been widely discussed, and the discussion should continue.

Here is an infographic of how much each political party agrees with the Patriot Act. While a clear minority, there is still a sizeable group that supports the law. 

A Response to "Monster, Terrorist, Fag: The War on Terrorism" by Mary Grafilo

Mary Grafilo
ASA 2
Section 2
Week 6

Heterosexual Patriotism and False Pretenses of Terrorism

I'm so excited by this article! Heterosexual patriotism is a concept I've never heard of but once I read it I completely understood it. From the iconic posters of Rosie the Riveter to American Girl Dolls to West Wing, 24, and other TV shows, there are typical gender stereotypes that are associated with patriotism. It's more frequent with posters, images, toys, or games because there does not need to be as much character development, while in TV shows it adds to the depth of characters to talk about their sexualities. However, I find this topic so interesting! 

It is ridiculous that terrorism is tied to a "failed heterosexuality". That is a far-fetched, outlandish claim and should not be tolerated. Because there are people out there that see heterosexuality as something that a person chooses, I can (barely) logically connect their thinking to their mindset.

Obviously, I don't agree with them whatsoever. It would be an interesting, but very incorrect assumption to make. 

It is also particularly horrifying that emasculating bin Laden now equates to revealing his "queerness". Wanting peace instead of war isn't manly either?

My question for this week is: How far can the ignorance go? I know it's not a question that should be answered, especially not with examples, but it pains me to see that there are people with this kind of thinking.

U.S. is War

Drucella Anne Miranda
Section 01
Week 6

"Monster, Terrorist, Fag: The War on Terrorism and the Production of Docile Patriots" really brings me to sadness. I had first found out about the hatred towards brown people, specifically those of the Sikh religion, from watching the documentary Divided We Fall. It is quite apparent how well the government has hidden certain narratives in order to create a loyal citizen and a docile patriot. Violence outside the nation is no different than inside our borders. The images we see through the media and video games are a part of the media-military industrial complex. These images getting 'bombed' in our brain become engrained and supersede our humanity and empathy, so as to allow racial hatred and fear rule actions. I once was in an argument with a person enrolled in the military and we argued about the reasons going to war. He believed he was not a docile patriot because he said that if they had orders that he believed would harm civilians, he and his comrades would not follow them. But in a system where several people have no other choice but to join the military, they will follow orders. Several Americans have become blinded by believing that America knows best, and forget how we have always set up a system that is meant to harm everyone but the few. How do we begin to show people the poison they are being fed?

ASNE Memo on the Patriot Act 2

Tony Tran

Week 6

Section 2

In the ASNE Memo on the Patriot Act 2, I relearned the whole fuss about the Snowden leaking issue. It talked about how the government can essentially surveillance all of US if it wanted to. To me, this is quite an alarming fact. But the question is if we give a shit (thats right I said it) about domestic surveillance. This had me asking my roommates about this issue and one of them referred me to John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight talk show particularly focusing on Government Surveillance. What I learned was that the majority of the people don’t understand the US government and are essentially ignorant on many issues that are actually serious. I can relate b/c I myself actually just mentally want to be ignorant because we each have our own micro problems that we need to take care first. However, this cannot mean that US citizens aren’t exempt from making tough decisions and just find some place or people to blame. In the talk show, they stated that we cannot have perfect privacy and perfect safety, which is something that is simply true. There must be some restrictions; however, it is up to not only the government, but the citizens themselves as well, to reform and make sure we have a reasonable amount of both security and privacy. And this is something that actually pertains to us because as Snowden explains in the show, “The government has a gun at your head. I’m not going to pull the trigger. You just need to trust me.” So how much faith do you have in that? What will we do to change this?

Question: So how much privacy are we willing to sacrifice for the security of the US?

Tony Pham
Week 6

The Patriot Act allows for law enforcement to obtain private information from emails to phone calls. I find it interesting that there is so much scrutiny from Americans regarding this Act. There are a lot of people who believes this act is unconstitutional because it invades the rights and privacy of individuals. I believe that the government are doing their best to protect the general public and sometimes that calls for the need to bend rules. People have some misconception that the government is evil because they aren't a very transparent organization. I think that although the government can improve in their public relations area, the government has good intentions for the people it serves. Rules like the Patriot Act allows the government to do their job, which is to keep order within the states and safety among the people.

 What are some examples of the Patriot Act being used as it was intended to?