New World Order

I awoke groggily this morning after a late night watching the cricket to hear the Channel 7 newsreader dutifully inform me that John Howard is considering introducing legislation to have criminal charges available to prosecute people for “being sympathetic to terrorism”.  Now I for one find the act of terrorism abhorrent but I do sympathise with the fact that the Middle East has been a US/British back disaster ever since the ending of World War II when they created the Jewish State of Israel.  History books will show that the US and British strong armed this state into existence and in turn displaced Muslims in what was then called Palestine but is now Israel.  Ever since then, things have been escalating and the use of guerrilla tactics and now terrorism has been the mode of resistance for the Muslims.

So I have said it.  I think we, the West, have made many many mistakes in dealing with the Middle East and we have shown huge amounts of intolerance for the people and their religion.

So in John Howard’s “New World Order” does that make me sympathetic?  Does that leave me open for prosecution because I dared have independent thought?

If we entertain these sorts of laws to limit people’s ability to speak out, then the whole game is lost.  Democracy will be dead and you have effectively created a Police State by proxy.  Recently a certain Iraqi Dictator was ousted by military invasion for leading such a state.  The people of Iraq were forbidden from speaking out against the views of the government and its leader.  Well guess what Australia, if this bill passes the parliament, we have taken a small but irrevocable step down that same path…