I don’t know if this story about planned executions at Guantanamo Bay, where suspected terrorists have been held for 18 months, can be taken seriously. It’s certainly making the rounds in UK and Australian media. Even if it is true, I would object to the term “death camp.” But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a scary prospect.
Scary because of the lack of outrage among the American people for the idea that prisoners (any prisoners) could be held for months without access to counsel, tried and executed in secret. As one Metafilter commenter said, apparently with a straight face:
“If they execute people at Guantanamo (if indeed this story is true) it sounds as though it will be based on a prisoner’s avowed terrorist ideology & palpable threat to the US.”
This is George W. Bush’s America. We just live here.
The majority of the American people are ready to be outraged about this as soon as the American media tell them to be so. In fact, they are prepared to feel any way about any thing as directed by the media. You belong to a minority of the American people who form their opinions through strong principles, awareness, skepticism, and deliberation. In contemporary terminology, this is called “unpatriotic”.
Thus are “the American people” safe and comfortable in their belief that our government only operates in our best interests.
“Right now…our government is doing things that we think only other countries’ governments do.”