Which America Do You Want to Live In?

In Fortress America, Matthew BRZEZINSKI writes up one scenario for the "war" on terrorism and its impact on our day to day lives.

For the better part of a generation now, Americans have gone to great lengths to protect their homes — living in gated communities, wiring their property with sophisticated alarms, arming themselves with deadly weapons. Now imagine this kind of intensity turned outward, into the public realm. As a culture, our tolerance for fear is low, and our capacity to do something about it is unrivaled. We could have the highest degree of public safety the world has ever seen. But what would that country look like, and what will it be like to live in it? Perhaps something like this.

It’s a long article, probably from the Sunday Magazine section. It is not an easy problem —who’s rights do you sacrifice? Do you focus on the few who match the "profile" or do you put choke points at all social interactions so as not to single out any one individual or ethnic group for "interest".

In Fortress America, Matthew BRZEZINSKI writes up one scenario for the "war" on terrorism and its impact on our day to day lives.

For the better part of a generation now, Americans have gone to great lengths to protect their homes — living in gated communities, wiring their property with sophisticated alarms, arming themselves with deadly weapons. Now imagine this kind of intensity turned outward, into the public realm. As a culture, our tolerance for fear is low, and our capacity to do something about it is unrivaled. We could have the highest degree of public safety the world has ever seen. But what would that country look like, and what will it be like to live in it? Perhaps something like this.

It’s a long article, probably from the Sunday Magazine section. It is not an easy problem —who’s rights do you sacrifice? Do you focus on the few who match the "profile" or do you put choke points at all social interactions so as not to single out any one individual or ethnic group for "interest".