[lit-ideas] Re: Stasi on our Minds

From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
I enjoyed the review and appreciate Ash generally, but in his last paragraph he writes, "The Germany in which this film was produced, in the early years of the twenty-first century, is one of the most free and civilized countries on earth. In this Germany, human rights and civil liberties are today more jealously and effectively protected than (it pains me to say) in traditional homelands of liberty such as Britain and the United States."
Ash doesn’t elaborate on what he means. Is he referring to the American and British restrictions of the "human rights and civil liberties" of avowed enemies of these nations, i.e., terrorists? I can’t think what else he could mean. 

I also read the same article and noticed that concluding paragraph.
Ash isn't talking about the "restriction of terrorists' liberties." He's writing about ordinary US citizens.
I lived in Germany for seven years. I was often in East Berlin to visit friends. That meant I went through the Soviet checkpoints and walked around in East Berlin, which was a communist police state.
And I've had the same experience as Timothy Garton Ash: there was more personal freedom in the USSR then than in the USA today.
The Soviets barely cared what you had in your bags. Totally bored, they waved me through. In the USA: when I fly on an airplane, I must go through a total security check. My photo IDs and baggage are examined. I've had so many things confiscated at airports.
In East Germany, I always had my Swiss pocket knife. In the USA when I travel, I can't even carry a tiny penknife. Not even my nail clippers. Not even a bottle of shampoo or a tube of toothpaste.
In East Germany, we sat and drank beer and complained about the government. Nobody cared. In the USA, you'd better consider what you say about Mr. Bush in your emails, on your phone, or cell phone. All of those are monitored. Your bank records, your credit card transactions, and your web activity are all monitored. All of it. Everything you do. Yes, Lawrence, we live in a total surveillance state. The Soviets didn't have that.
I went through many Soviet and East German checkpoints. And believe me, Lawrence, the US checkpoints are far more restrictive and threatening. One wrong word and you not only lose your flight (and get a 36-hour detention), you lose the right to fly anywhere forever.
That's what Ash meant in his article. But you simply don't see that. In your eagerness to find enemies, your Bush has stripped away our liberty. 

yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com

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