[IP] "This Machine Kills Fascists"
*In Rights and Liberties: http://www.alternet.org/rights/
"This Machine Kills Fascists"
By Siva Vaidhyanathan,
<http://www.opendemocracy.net/home/index.jsp>openDemocracy.net
February 12, 2004
I am writing this on a plane to San Francisco. Until a few hours ago I had
a sign taped to the cover of the laptop on which I am typing:
"This Machine Kills Fascists"
As I approached security at Newark, I took the laptop out of my bag to
place it in the plastic tray. I froze when I saw the sign. What if this
security person reads the sign as a threat? Would he care about my
explanation? Would he be interested in the fact that it is only a quote, a
reference to the words that Woody Guthrie wrote on his guitar? Would he
care that I have no intention of killing anybody?
I quickly calculated the risks of proceeding with the sign taped to the
computer. If I were pulled aside, would the security staff see me as a
genial professor and frequent flyer?
Or would the staff see me as a man with a long, foreign name, olive skin, a
goatee, and an attitude?
Would it even matter? They are trained to take threats and jokes of threats
seriously. Some of them have probably been called fascists by less polite
passengers. And I pride myself, with my slip-on shoes and empty pants
pockets, as a deft, trouble-free traveler.
I decided to remove the sign. I started digging at the tape. "What are you
doing?" asked my wife. "They don't want to see this," I said, nodding in
the direction of the security guards. "But Woody Guthrie ..." she said. "I
don't want any complications," I said.
Maybe if I had been traveling alone, I would have been braver. Maybe I
would have been willing to jeopardize my flight, but not my wife's. Maybe I
would have felt like having a conversation, even an argument, with security.
But instead I kept thinking about civil libertarian John Gilmore and his
lapel button that read "suspected terrorist". British Airways attendants
demanded that he remove his button because it was making other passengers
uncomfortable, when that was clearly the point. When he refused, and he
questioned airline officials why a pro-Tony Blair button would be allowed,
but a "suspected terrorist" button would not, the crew returned the plane
to the gate and made Gilmore and his partner leave.
I respect Gilmore and his commitment to free speech and reason. But did I
really want to be a martyr for the cause? Did I really want to be a
troublemaker for the sake of the memory of Woody Guthrie? Could I get to
San Francisco in time to deliver my lecture if security pulled me aside?
Would I still get reimbursed for my ticket?
After I got through security, pangs of guilt hit me. I don't really want to
live this way. I don't want to censor myself from making harmless
statements during sensitive times. What will I do when I have to make
serious statements during difficult times?
I claim to understand the ways general fears can twist us into behaving in
inauthentic ways. I pretend to teach young people about the pernicious
effects of a total surveillance state.
But can I trust myself to stand up for my own professed values? Are they
even my values if I am not willing to act upon them?
The state of mind in the United States for the past two years is a strange
mix of arrogance and paranoia. We are confident that we can defeat
something as nebulous as "terrorism", yet we panic over the smallest hint
of risk. The fact is, neither of these attitudes is actually making us safer.
Airlines check identification of every passenger, as if fake identification
were not easily available in every city in the world (and despite the fact
that the 2001 hijackers used their Ids to no avail). Yet time and time
again we find how easy it is to evade prohibitions against bringing weapons
or explosives onto airplanes.
My students who come from Italy, Israel, and the United Kingdom don't
understand why the United States is filled with so many foolish security
measures, and why Americans can't seem to just deal with constant
surveillance. After all, they have dealt with threats of terrorism and
constant surveillance for decades.
I think that's the point, exactly. Americans do not have decades of
experiences, mistakes, and modifications on which to rely. This is all new
and odd to us. We all stop and cringe when we see large men in fatigues
bearing automatic weapons walking in public places. This is not the country
we grew so comfortable with.
As we head toward one of the most definitive elections in American history,
I wonder how this combination of arrogance and paranoia is corrupting the
political culture of this country and fraying its social fabric.
Can we trust ourselves to select leaders who would install reasonable yet
imperfect measures to make us safer? Or will we invite our leaders to
pander to our worst attributes: xenophobia, provincialism, and impatience?
Will we continue to reward leaders who insist on intrusive measures that
make the state more secure in its power over its subjects? Or will we
remember the value of and reinvest in our liberal traditions?
The potentially alarming statement itself, "this machine kills fascists,"
demonstrates a passion, a commitment, to speak loudly against the
technologies of oppression and conformity that fascists use to maintain
power, even without pointing guns at everyone. Eyes can be more effective
constraints than weapons.
I am sorry. I am not worthy of Woody Guthrie's legacy. I wonder how many of
us are.
When I get back to my office next week, I will put those words back on the
computer. This land is our land, and this machine must be free to do its
job. We must not be cowed out of speaking our minds.
Siva Vaidhyanathan is director of the Communication Studies program at New
York University. He is the author of Copyrights and Copywrongs (New York
University Press, 2001) and The Anarchist in the Library (forthcoming from
Basic Books, spring 2004). More of his work is at <http://
www.sivacracy.net>www.sivacracy.net.
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