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A Changed Nation (1) There can be no doubts that, after attacks of 9 / 11, America has changed considerably. For the first time, since the end of WWII, American citizens had realized that they are being viewed as legitimate target, by those who strive to cause our nation as much harm as possible. It its turn, this resulted in American domestic and foreign policies being adjusted to correspond to the new threat of international terrorism. On October 29, 2002 U.
S. Senate has enacted a so-called Patriot Act, which severely limits the rights of new immigrants in America. It also reserves the right for federal institutions to conduct surveillance operations, within the country, without having a court approval. There is a strong anti-immigration sentiment among White Americans, which is why they thought of this Act as tool of fighting the illegal immigration, while in fact; native-born Americans are not the exemption from it. According to Patriot Act, anyone can be held in prison for as long, as there is a reason to think that he represents a threat to the National security. Immediately, after the attacks, the Police Departments in few American states have obliged citizens of Arab descent to report to police on weekly basis so much for universal equality.
On March 20, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft has announced that FBI was going to question 30. 000 men of Middle Eastern origin, who live in America legally and are not being suspected in any wrongdoing. The normal functioning of Court System has also been impacted by the events of 9 / 11. From now on, prosecutors can use illegally obtained information during hearings. In addition, they do not have to reveal the sources of such information, which creates a dangerous precedent. If before, it was up to the prosecutor to prove that person is guilty, now it is other way around an accused person needs to prove its alibi. These changes in American Judicial system apply mostly to immigrants, but this is only the matter of time before native-born Americans will become subjected to this as well.
Civil rights activists criticize American Immigration and Customs over the blatant negligence of basic human rights. For example, everyone who enters U. S. must be fingerprinted.
Also, in 2002 the Department of Justice has announced that about 10 million of U. S. permanent residents must report the change of residence within ten days or face the deportation. David Cole in his article Enemy Aliens and American Freedoms complains that: Administration has repeatedly insisted that it opposes racial or ethnic profiling, but it has simultaneously undertaken numerous measures predicated on little more than a foreign citizen's Arab country of origin. It plans to impose fingerprinting, registration and reporting requirements selectively on non citizens from a handful of Arab nations (Cole).
American transportation system has adopted new security policies as well, to increase the levels of safety. Making jokes about terrorism on the planes, for example, is qualified as terrorism. We now have a list of certain words that are forbidden from being mentioned aloud, such as bomb, handgun, etc. It is highly doubtful that such measures are going to insure traveling safety. They only add to the nation-wide hysteria over the issue of international terrorism. More and more Americans are being encouraged to think about keeping on the safe side as their existential priority.
In fact, the notion of public safety has turned into a social fetish. This leads to a situation when citizens think that it is absolutely normal to be only concerned about personal safety, while such issues as liberty or protection of social freedoms are being thought of as something rather abstract. One of Americas founding fathers Thomas Jefferson once said: Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety (Jefferson). This quotation serves the best, when it comes to describing the essence of post 9 / 11 America. Despite the assurances of our President that we need to continue with our lives in the manner we used to, before 9 / 11, the majority of Americans have a fear of becoming victims of terrorist activity, because of being in wrong place in wrong time. This coincides with more and more citizens actually losing their trust in elected officials.
In his 2006 article Is 9 / 11 Paranoia Bad for the Country? , Christopher Hayes points out to the fact that the percentage of Americans who are highly critical of how our government conducts foreign affairs, grows rapidly: According to a July poll conducted by Scripps News Service, one-third of Americans think the government either carried out the 9 / 11 attacks or intentionally allowed them to happen in order to provide a pretext for war in the Middle East (Hayes). (2) The biggest effect of 9 / 11 events on our nation is only becoming apparent now. More and more Americans are beginning to question of whether our current foreign policy, which has the main objective of making as many enemies throughout the world as possible, is beneficial to this country. George Bush has repeatedly told us that the reason we were attacked in the first place is that Islamic fundamentalists simply cannot stand a sight of American women wearing short skirts. However, the recent sociological surveys point out to the fact that majority of Americans simply do not buy it. Terrorism cannot be explained by the irrational hatred alone. It is not the fact that our government introduced new security measures that gives us a right to talk about America as changed nation, but peoples slow realization that, from now on, they cannot feel safe at their own homes.
They are beginning to understand that the fact that America is surrounded by the ocean cannot guarantee National security anymore. We are the part of globalized world, which means that abstract considerations of those who are in charge of designing our foreign policies, have very practical applications. In her article The Subtle Changes Since 9 / 11, Stephanie Mccrummen suggests that Americans had lost their geopolitical naivety, as result of 9 / 11: Questions have settled into a sober desire to understand the world. And even among those most supportive of U. S. policy after Sept. 11, there is skepticism now - what one woman calls a more cynical view of U.
S. power and its limits (Mccrummen). Almost every day we get to hear about false terrorist alarms taking place across the nation. People are beginning to suspect of terrorism just about anybody, especially if anybody has Middle Eastern origins. If person accidentally leaves his bag at railway station, for example, it represents a major challenge to National security, even though that nobody would even pay attention to anything like that, had it happened 10 - 15 years ago. Many Americans decided to move out of urbanized areas, because they rightfully concluded that these areas are most likely to be attacked the next time.
Thus, there are many indications that point out to Americans as being subjected to psychological hysteria, as result of 9 / 11. The phrase changed nation became Medias cliche in recent years. Our politicians apply this phrase at will, without understanding that it actually has negative connotation. We are being told that Americans became more vigilant and started to realize that some of our civil freedoms need to be surrendered for the time being, in order to enjoy them in the long run. However, no single terrorist has been caught by vigilant citizens so far, which is explainable.
It is not up to citizens to deal with the consequences of their governments wrongdoings on international arena. There is a growing discontent among people, in regards to how our government conducts foreign affairs, because they understand that this is the root of all problems. In its turn, it undermines the integrity of this nation to the degree when many citizens accuse current Administration of conspiring. America has declared war on one individual - Osama bin Laden, who is still at large and poses threat, while it only took 4 years for America to win war over Germany and Japan. Thus, there are good reasons for us to talk about America as changed nation.
Bibliography: Cole, D. Enemy Aliens and American Freedoms. September 5, 2002. The Nation.
Retrieved November 5, 2007 from web Hayes, C. Is 9 / 11 Paranoia Bad for the Country? . December 11, 2006. Alter Net. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from web Jefferson, T. Quotations by Author. 2007.
Quotations Page. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from web Mccrummen, S. The Subtle Changes Since 9 / 11. September 11, 2006. Washington Post. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from web Abstract: This paper discusses the effects of 9 / 11 on American society.
Outline: Effects of 9 / 11 America as changed nation.
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Research essay sample on Native Born Americans Foreign Affairs
