4 ms·

Yes, obviously. We interned Japanese-Americans during WWII. During the Civil War, habeas corpus was suspended. There's the PATRIOT Act for GWOT, but a lot of p

Yes, obviously. We interned Japanese-Americans during WWII. During the Civil War, habeas corpus was suspended. There's the PATRIOT Act for GWOT, but a lot of people don't seem to realize it didn't actually give law enforcement new powers. It extended powers they already had for drug and organized crime cases and let them apply to terrorism cases. We had already accepted an erosion of due process and civil liberties in order to defeat the Mafia and fight the War on Drugs. This absolutely happens as a response to the perception of threat. In fairness, it's not always clear this is universally wrong. The only reason the US has a federal government and a permanent standing military at all, which were not always givens, is in response to the threat that European colonial powers would have retaken all the land if we didn't, and this was probably a correct assessment.

mc32 5y ago
I think it's one thing to have these measures during an actual hot war with the destiny of the world in the balance or during a declaration of martial law. But WTF, when we're otherwise enjoying peace as never before?
- courtf 5y ago
  It is tragic how we seem to be unable to enjoy peace and prosperity. Blame it on politics, or the media, or perhaps just the national character, but Americans are a restless bunch. Prone to paranoia and rebellion, our reflex is to respond aggressively to perceived threats, and we can be tricked into rattling our sabres over any old thing these days. Maybe rising authoritarianism is simply the natural outgrowth of overusing this impulse. The population, exhausted by the constant blaring of sirens over increasingly esoteric threats, would rather hand over the task of vigilance to some authority so they can finally catch some shut-eye.
  - thrashh 5y ago
    I don’t think it’s just Americans. I think it’s a natural human reaction. We always need high level stress in my opinion. We need to always have a little bit of “it’s bad” in our life to set our priorities. Being comfortable for more than a few months is the absolute worst thing that you can ever do to yourself. People who have time on their hands at home watch their neighbors and become Karens because they don’t have anything important to deal with. People who don’t have an existential threat of world wars and a small country taking over the world don’t think it’s worthwhile to guard against that. (Not that I want a world war.) They say you don’t know good until you’ve had it’s bad and I think that’s so true.
adamrezich 5y ago
technically, "we" (as in, the US as a whole) didn't intern Japanese-Americans, only the specific states of California, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas. this is a distinction that I was not taught in school and only learned relatively recently.

mc32 5y ago

I think it's one thing to have these measures during an actual hot war with the destiny of the world in the balance or during a declaration of martial law. But WTF, when we're otherwise enjoying peace as never before?

courtf 5y ago
It is tragic how we seem to be unable to enjoy peace and prosperity. Blame it on politics, or the media, or perhaps just the national character, but Americans are a restless bunch. Prone to paranoia and rebellion, our reflex is to respond aggressively to perceived threats, and we can be tricked into rattling our sabres over any old thing these days. Maybe rising authoritarianism is simply the natural outgrowth of overusing this impulse. The population, exhausted by the constant blaring of sirens over increasingly esoteric threats, would rather hand over the task of vigilance to some authority so they can finally catch some shut-eye.
- thrashh 5y ago
  I don’t think it’s just Americans. I think it’s a natural human reaction. We always need high level stress in my opinion. We need to always have a little bit of “it’s bad” in our life to set our priorities. Being comfortable for more than a few months is the absolute worst thing that you can ever do to yourself. People who have time on their hands at home watch their neighbors and become Karens because they don’t have anything important to deal with. People who don’t have an existential threat of world wars and a small country taking over the world don’t think it’s worthwhile to guard against that. (Not that I want a world war.) They say you don’t know good until you’ve had it’s bad and I think that’s so true.

adamrezich 5y ago

technically, "we" (as in, the US as a whole) didn't intern Japanese-Americans, only the specific states of California, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas. this is a distinction that I was not taught in school and only learned relatively recently.