Aha - trying to bait me into politics again, eh? This had better not be a homework question, but OK, I'll bite this once. Allowed a little fun and leeway from time to time.
You are being controlled. As to when it happened, May 4th, 1970. The day fear took over from hope. That was the start of it. Some will disagree, but I stand by that date. Look it up, if you know not what happened on that day.
You ever heard of the theory of cyclical society? It is the sociological version of Newtons Third Law. A swing of society one way is balanced by a reaction the other way in the next generation. More personal liberty is followed by more control. A secular period is followed by one showing an upwelling of religious fervor. The Moral Majority of the Reagan years was followed by the LGBT rights surge of the 2000s. You will see that same principle act in your own life, relationships and concerns over and over again through the years.
We may say we hate change, but we also need it. "What was, is and always shall be" is a comfort for children. Adults know that things change. Don't exactly LIKE it, but accept it.
Add in the fact that Americans, as a people, do not respond at all well to being threatened or attacked, but instead with a mixture of rage and fear, and you get a potent mix of problems.
Ones that whoever is in charge when they crop up really doesn't know how to deal with, except by forbidding things. They make laws. That is what they do. They do say that when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
You don't like it. I don't like it. So, what are you doing to change it? You know you don't just have to sit and take it, right? You also know that things won't change on their own. You need to actively work to change them.
It is a long, slow and heartbreakingly dispiriting process.
I can see the Kent State shootings having an impact on America's psyche.
Also - 9/11/2001
Kent State was THE impact. The first time the government basically declared war on its own citizens.
9/11, well that was different. One of the two moments in the last century or so when America was attacked and responded with a mix of fear, hate and hysteria that is still with us today.
I had a family friend worked in the North Tower who never came home. I have another friend in London who cannot lift his arm above his shoulder thanks to a bomb blast. in a pub as he walked past on his way home.
Terror attacks happen. It is sad, infuriating and wrong. Yet it is war. Your own government attacking you is pure evil.
How quickly we forget. Kent State wasn't the first time American soldiers fired on citizens. Not even close. Union strikers have been fired on by police AND Army units through out the 1880s, all the way as late as 1921 when Army fired on unarmed coal miners merely protesting for safer workplace. We are talking about unarmed strikers, only exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully gather, being fired upon, not some armed gang causing destruction. Families too were often in the crowd, women and children, didn't matter, didn't stop neither the police nor army from shooting them as well. I'm guessing since they were "only" union workers, their lives are simply forfeit and don't count.
Our country only wishes it happened in 1970...
My old man - and a couple of history teachers I had - think it actually started with McCarthyism. During that period, it was generally accepted by the American public, it was perfectly OK to prosecute people for merely having, or even only suspected of having the wrong ideology. Despite that such beliefs were a Constitutionally protected - and highly cherished right. Unlike the Kent State Massacre, the American public actually cheered when public figures were arrested, tried, and convicted for holding communist views. Many people believed when that line was crossed, when Americans were willing to tolerate political persecution, was when the slow decline against liberty began. McCarthyism was stopped, when he felt so invincible he accused the Army of being communist and they stood up to them. Interestingly enough, McCarthy's decline actually paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement.
In many ways, the War on Terror is modern day McCarthyism in action.
The question of freedom. I think it all depends on what your perception of freedom is. Try spending time in a country where the people truly are not free. Where the gov't listens in on your conversations and will turn your phone off if you say anything bad about political leaders. Where the information stream is tightly controlled. That is not freedom. How free do you want to be? People want freedom and limited gov't, but the want the police to show up if someone does harm to them. Rules and laws have to be set in place otherwise this country would be controlled by outlaws, and actually be less free. Unfortunately, there is a lot of BS that we have to put up with to go along with it.
Kent State was before my time, but I agree with MM that a gov't attacking it's own citizens is a very scary thing. But, I think MM missed the connection between Kent State and 9/11. Kent State opened the door for the gov't to go after innocent citizens. When 9/11 happened, they took that fear and pushed through the Patriot Act, allowing the gov't to go after it's citizens again, without due process. A path that was already paved by Kent State. Seemingly less violent, but already paved.
As MM said, the pendulum always swings. But it swings because we do have more freedom than most and have the ability to make it swing. The pendulum has never swung in North Korea.
I have been registered to vote since I was 18. And I have voted at every major election. Maybe it doesnt mean much, but it is my right and duty. There was a great movie called "Iron Jawed Angels" If you havent seen it, watch it. It all about womens suffrage, and what those woman had to go through just so I could go to the polls and vote on election day. A lot of people feel their one vote doesnt mean much. I found this quote a long time ago and always keep it close:
"Never doubt that a small group of thought, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has" --Margret Mead
Well, with the defeat of SOPA & PIPA, and, AND the recent Supreme Court ruling that police GPS monitoring requires warrants, we can gladly and safely say Liberty has won some recent rounds.
Still, as the old cliche goes, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and we must always be on guard against both pedagogues wanting impose their narrow views and regulatory "creep", the slow build up of regulations that gets to the point where we wonder what the hell happened.
SOPA and PIPA weren't defeated.....they were never brought to vote. SOPA was shelved and the vote on PIPA postponed, apparently pending some revision. These bills or others like them *will* appear again.
But that's the point, before the mass online protests, they were very likely to have been quietly passed. The fact they have been "put on hold" is a victory.
I do of course agree with you, the fight is not over. It won't ever be "over". There's always someone or some group going to try to impose or curtail liberty.
SOPA and PIPA weren't defeated.....they were never brought to vote. SOPA was shelved and the vote on PIPA postponed, apparently pending some revision. These bills or others like them *will* appear again.
Visit to North Korea and then tell us about America's lack of freedom.
Hi-5! And you don't even have to go to North Korea. Just about anywhere outside of North American and Western Europe you'll see how free we truly still are.
There is no such thing as free will. We are always regulated by a system, even by our bodily functions to eat, wear clothes, have shelter, mate, etc.
If you want things to change, just remember that it is your civic duty to support your candidate, volunteer for your causes, and protest when you feel something is wrong.
I may not agree with the new regulations, but we are still so much luckier to be here than places like North Korea or even China or our neighbor Mexico. We can still do something about it here.