MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. July 8, 2005: Adam W, writes WPCNR his thoughts on yesterdays' terrorist attack on the City of London:
Wow....
Bombs go off halfway around the world; the security beef-up in White Plains and Westchester
is instantaneous; no hesitation on the part of public safety officials.
An unfortunate woman is stabbed to death in a parking garage (parking garages are notorious
"victim sites" - women are afraid of them for good reason), and very little is done
to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
I would also like to mention that in the year 2001, 16, 652 Americans were killed on the roads
by drunken fellow citizens - roughly five times the number Al Queda killed that year. Since then
a similar number have died, per annum. No Americans after 2001 have died on US soil from terrorist
acts.
Michael Chertoff, the head of our redundant Department of Homeland Security (hmm... I thought
we had a Defense Department to protect us here and abroad) tells us to be vigilant as we
go about our daily commutes, but never brings up the far deadlier threat of drunk and careless
drivers. Your fellow drivers are likelier to ensure you never make it home than some
fanatic with a homicidal/suicidal gleam in his eye.
I was in public school during the waning years of the Cold War. In some of our classes, we
were repeatedly told what was bad about the Soviet Union and its satellite countries, and why.
It was made clear that there was no freedom of speech or recognized right to dissent;
the leadership justified this denial of basic civil rights as necessary steps to protect
the citizenry from threats, both internal and external.
We're hearing a lot of the same rhetoric from our leaders these days, and the parallels
are striking.
It's a long way down that slippery slope, but you arrest the fall by being vigilant about
the statistically important risks, and holding our leaders' feet to the fire about
preserving our liberties and seeking out the terrorists at the source and rooting them
out.
Adam W.
White Plains
