To start off, my dad’s name is Muhammad, my brother's name is Muhammad, even my middle name is Muhammad. So as you kind of figured, I am a Muslim in some shape or form, and I can guarantee you that my phone or any of my email accounts have been tapped or hacked numerous times in the past, and I will even go as far as saying it might even be a weekly thing. Even this past August when me and my family were coming back to America after a flight from Qatar, the TSA pulled over my dad for the second time in less than a five year span (the first time being in 2009 when he was coming back from the Hajj) in order to conduct a “random screening”. This caused a two hour delay, making us miss our flight back to Atlanta, so instead we had to wait at Chicago’s O’Hare for another five hours to catch a later flight. Inconvenience? Yeah. Stereotyping? Just a little. Were we mad? Far from it. We actually had a great laugh about this whole situation. My dad even asked if he was being pulled over because they thought he was a terrorist. The TSA officer had no comment.
Situations like this often define organizations such as the NSA and TSA. Spying, wiretapping, or various other methods are often frowned upon and criticized as being extreme ways of national security. But the most important thing that people forget about is that these are SECURITY AGENCIES. They were designed to protect us and eliminate any underlying threat for the welfare of this country. And to those people who have just recently expressed their dislike for the NSA, TSA, as well as any other security agencies, please take the following picture under strong consideration.
Although I strongly disapprove, I don’t blame people for their sudden dislike in the NSA. I blame this guy.
For those who may have forgotten or having been living under a rock for the past year, that face is of the now well known whistle-blower and self proclaimed “patriot” Edward Snowden. Although my definition of a patriot is someone who fights for their country, not someone who rats out his own country, plays an international game of cat and mouse, and rides horses in the Siberian Tundra with a Soviet Dictator. Just saying.
Just as Professor Xavier was hinting at, this sudden outrage of the NSA and its policies is very sudden and unnecessary, as that they have been spying on people for years without any backlash up until now. Although the NSA existed long before the Patriot Act, it wasn't until its approval did the modern day tactics come into play. The Patriot Act is an act passed by Congress and later signed into law by Bush in 2001, that was a direct result of the 9/11 tragedy. Just as the ten-letter acronym says, the Patriot Act was established in order for Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT).
When proposed/passed back in 2001, this act had overwhelming support backed by both a majority of the Democrats as well as Republicans. Not to mention a vast outpour of support from the the public. I know, our nation was still reeling in the aftermath of 9/11, so things passed might have been out of anger or fear or both, but even after all this new layer of security, ask yourself, do you feel safer? If you answered yes, then the NSA,TSA, even the USA are doing its job. It’s sad that we live in a world where some groups of people hate other groups of people, and as a result, events like 9/11 happen. But it’s our job, specifically our government's job to protect its citizens and to make sure they take every measure and use every tool necessary in order to intercept and obstruct terrorism. See what I did there? For those who say that the NSA has gone from the necessary to the unnecessary, I say to those people, if you give up freedom for security, you deserve neither.
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