Where Did Common Sense Go in the Fight against Terrorism?

The response to the recent attacks in Boston shows how quickly basic civil liberties are put under pressure because of security measurements, states American expert Willem Post.

The first reflex of governments after an attack or terrorist threat often is to shield civilians as hermetically as possible from danger. A school in Chicago has meanwhile been transformed into an almost impregnable fortress to the naked eye. Whoever sets foot in the schoolyard will be filmed. Whoever knocks on the door needs to say something immediately and will or will not be recognized by means of speech technology.

Watchtowers at the Schoolyard

There is a double entrance of armored steel, school passes are checked twice and everyone walks around with a “security pass.” Classroom doors can only be opened from the inside, and there is, of course, bulletproof glass behind the window grills. This school is not a school anymore, but a well-guarded barracks. The teachers are not quite yet wearing uniforms. Students are contractually obligated to report language that only in the slightest hints at violence to their teachers. The only thing missing here are watchtowers at the schoolyard. Such measurements are proposed by frightened parents, but also by politicians who are looking to score with this.

I had to think of Chicago during the days of “bomb fear” in Boston. When it became apparent that the two suspected brothers came from “terrorist hotbed” Dagestan, the first Republican members of parliament already suggested reviewing the entire immigrant policy. And of course came the cry for even more cameras (in most large American cities there are at least 10,000 already).

Big Brother Is Watching You

Of course, attackers need to be tracked down as quickly as possible, but in a democracy, the balance between safety and the rule of law should never be broken. More and more safety measurements? Once implemented, they stay implemented, then the state gradually becomes a safety monster with a “Big Brother is watching you” government that uses violence. “Sept. 11” has led to, among other things, torture (Abu Ghraib) and many years of extrajudicial imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay.

The first attack on a large public event in America in Boston, thus can easily give the constitutional state an extra push toward the abyss of the non-constitutional state.

There is a great symbolism in the fact that the city that once stood at the cradle of the American Revolutionary War could in no time be transformed into an FBI city. All public life in Boston and surroundings were shut down — an area the size of our complete Randstad! Even when it became clear that the culprits should be sought in a relatively small part of this area, those measurements were not focused accordingly. Something like that creates an overall feeling of fear, even panic.

Flourishing Security Industry

It is significant that far away in southern Washington, and even as far as San Francisco, hotels implemented tightened security measures. Reasoning from fear, there is always a reason for that. For example, you never know whether “copycat” behavior will occur elsewhere.

The flourishing security industry cheerfully takes advantage of this. When the younger suspected brother was arrested, the security army retreated amid cheering people. I understand all that. But on CNN, I watched a never-ending army of the most advanced tanks and other armored vehicles glide through the streets. There was no end to it. It looked like the Pentagon having an open house.

Freedom is vulnerable and the biggest success that terrorists can accomplish is to take that away from us. The response to the recent attacks in Boston shows how quickly such a basic civil liberty like attending normal public life can be put under pressure — or can even completely disappear until “evil” has been banned.

Bad Advisors

The United States already paid a high price in terms of many more security measures after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. No less in America, mecca of individual freedom. Detection gates, security uniforms and detection dogs never belonged in “the land of the free.”

Often only a false sense of security is accomplished. When evil becomes elusive because it is often inflicted by a group of unrecognizable civilian offenders, possibly entrenched in sleeper cells, basically every security measurement falls short. In extremis, terrorists can always deploy new, literally elusive weapons.

Let’s use our common sense. Harsh, legitimized and especially also focused security measures opposite estimable threats are obviously defendable. But we have to stay objective and take into consideration the correct proportions. The fact is that in the United States more people die in their bathtub than in terrorist attacks. That will undoubtedly be the same in the Netherlands. Fear and panic are the worst advisers.