Scanlyze

America, Land of the Un-brave, Home of the Un-free

America, Land of the Un-brave, Home of the Un-free

Yesterday I got on the 73 bus from Harvard Station. This bus goes toward Watertown where two of the “terrorist suspects” were picked up yesterday. Almost immediately the driver breathlessly got on the radio and reported a “suspicious person”. “He is watching all the buses and writing down something on a clipboard”.

I thought this interesting so I got off at the next stop (which the driver missed till I reminded him) and walked back. I sat down next to the “suspicious person” and observed him. Sure enough he had a printed form on a clipboard and was watching every bus and looking at everyone on board writing something down about it. He was mid 50ish, short greyish hair, light complexion, blue slacks and a green windbreaker.

I told him, “The driver on my bus called you in as a suspicious person so you might be getting a visit from the MBTA cops in a few minutes. I assume you work for the MBTA and are counting people on the buses to help them estimate usage?”

He sighed and said “Yes that happens a lot to me. I don’t mind the hassle personally, I can deal with it, but what bothers me is seeing my America turned into a police state. They keep announcing ‘if you see something, say something’, its like ‘1984’”.

I said, “This isn’t my America. My America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. And to the extent that we are no longer brave, we become no longer free. This is more like Communist China, where everyone is supposed to spy on everyone else.”

Previous Scanlyze stories on ‘terrorism’.

Copyright © 2010 Henry Edward Hardy

15 May, 2010 - Posted by scanlyze | Boston, bus, cowardice, fear, Massachusetts, MBTA, scanlyze, security | Boston, cowardice, fear, Massachusetts, MBTA, scanlyze, terrorism, Watertown