Friday, February 14, 2003

As far as we know, he made no threats

The Shorthorn (which, by the way, is the student newspaper at the University of Texas at Arlington) ran an editorial today related to the topic of the UTA student who was deported:
As far as we know, he made no threats, he conspired in no plots and he built no bombs. But in post-9/11 America, just admitting to certain thoughts can be enough to change your world forever.

A week ago, U.S. Immigration Judge D. Anthony Rogers ordered Aletewi deported (within five days) based on an FBI interview in which he allegedly said that possible U.S. military action in Iraq had revived thoughts of being a martyr, The Shorthorn reported Tuesday. You can be deported for what you think, even if you never do a single thing wrong.

Also in today's Shorthorn there was an article reporting on a memo we all got on Wednesday telling us what to do if the FBI comes calling looking for information.

If they come without a court order, we don't have to say anything. We can defer all responsibility to the campus. But with a court order, not only do we have to provide whatever information is asked, we are forbidden to say anything to anyone else ... we can't tell anyone what they were asking about, we can't even tell anyone that the FBI was there. Not a friend, not a family member, not a workplace supervisor. Presumably, not even our own attorney.

Boy, if that doesn't encourage someone to keep a low profile, I don't know what does.

Hmmm... so ... if an FBI agent comes with a warrant and asks me questions ... and then later a different agent comes asking me questions about the time when the first agent talked to me ... heh.

But the point is, where does it stop? How many steps does it take for it all to have gone too far, and we find ourselves living in a country under unsupportable conditions?

Is this why reality shows are so popular, when they're barely reality? Is it because real reality is getting too freaky?

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