fear. us. world. individual citizen. star wars.

A friend of mine told me that my emails of late have been negative.

I had not realized that. With many things that happen in the world, many of us turn the other cheek and choose a blind eye. My emails are always intended to encourage new thoughts, discourse and debate. I wrote without fear.

A few recent world events have dimmed the lights even more.

The US now has access to passenger details before any flight gets into US airspace. It was debated in the news media that this could lead to profiling. So if you have ordered a Moslem meal, the question is, would you then be detained based on your religion, or culinary preference?

The Canadian, Maher Arar case shows that 'extraordinary' rendition flouts international law, and infringes on human rights and civil liberties. It also shows anyone can be held without trial and legal counsel and be sent anywhere to be tortured without any real just cause. But the US has decided it is in their national interest to continue this practice.

The US had secret detention camps in Europe.

The Bush government has been legally allowed to carry out taps on private communications.

The controversy over head scarfs in the UK is really not about head scarfs or segregation from society. It screams of a lack of understanding, respect and intolerance. As I wrote to CNN, does a woman wearing a veil diminish YOUR quality of life? No. (nb: a lot of these women are actually wearing Louis Vuitton under their garb babe!)

So this is it.

This is the new world.

One shrouded in fear, where smaller nations are bullied and compliance is mandatory. One where people can have their lives destroyed for nothing. Will I be picked up and sent to Syria over my email communications or my choice of inflight meal? If I had visited the Middle East in the last 12 months, am I automatically a terror suspect? Will my desire to encourage discourse be seen as a threat to national security just because it challenges the status quo? Will my own country have enough clout to fight for my extradition back to home soil if that happens?

I know it seems laughable. But what is more ridiculous? Worries over what could happen to you when you travel or how the US is basically able to do whatever it wants to anyone around the world, all in the name of national security? Where do you draw the line and what does persecution of the innocent result in the war on terror? When do you stop using national security as an excuse for bad behavior?

We teach our kids to believe that one should never be afraid if one has done nothing wrong.

Clearly times have changed. Because even if you have done nothing wrong, you can still be subjected to torture, persecution and separation from family, friends and country.

I now wonder if I do want to live my productive years in the US. I wonder if it is worth it when the values the US claims to stand for, civil liberties, freedom, free speech and everything good about democracy is manipulated, changed and trampled on by the very country that promotes those values internationally.

On my very first visit to the US, I went to the Statue of Liberty. In my mind I exclaimed, 'Wow'. And I thought of the hope that was in the hearts of every immigrant that passed by it on the way to Ellis Island. They were going to be part of a country that supported the weak, and upheld the strong. These days, it just seems that the American government stomps on anything that is different from their way of life. And the weak get weaker.

An Australian boss of an airline that I know laughed over the US-EU passenger deal. He said they had no choice because non compliance could mean losing rights to land in the US. He said the US lives by one standard, and the rest of the world another. But when I said the American people are essentially good, he said yes, but they voted their President in.

I have been accused of American bashing. The correct way to say it is, I am a critic of American foreign policy. I love the people, the cities, the landscape..oh and DSW, Target and Century 21. Let's not forget The View, Best Buy, Oprah, HBO (USA), Ellen, Costco, the Met, MoMA, and Manhattan, Manhattan, Manhattan. :-) But I do think that this bullying is unhealthy.

Admittedly, some Americans have not appreciated my comments, some say that they know what I am saying is true, but they should not have to hear it from an outsider.

I used to think that fear was a waste of emotional space. After all we teach kids that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. But we never teach kids that sometimes bullies can not only instill fears, they can even actualize them.

In closing, let me quote a line from a movie.

In Star Wars Episode 3, Padme Amidala watched in horror as Chancellor Palpatine declared himself Emperor of a new republic, in the name of bolstering security. To which she said,"So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause."

This is reality today.

I have learned fear.