Jessica, being from Fredericton and knowing only living in the Maritime provinces I guess I have a rather limited view on the rest of North America and the world. I see only freedom and friendly friendly people on a daily basis so it is sometimes hard for me to grasp the overall picture of what something like this fence represents. I merely see the paranoia that is becoming synonomous with the U.S. I live in a place where there is no need to lock my doors even when I leave for the weekend BECAUSE I trust my neighbors to look out for things. If I were to put up a 10m fence around my yard and install cameras my neighbours would no longer check on my house and question any activity surrounding it. Why? I decided to go next door and run the question by them to see what the possible answer would be. I was not at all surprised to find out from them this:

“Dont you trust us? What did we do wrong that you would feel the need to put up such a monstrosity? You wouldnt need us to CARE about what happens with your house. You have it covered yourself. You just excluded us.”

Now was that answer a surprise? No.

Even if the U.S. had good intentions with an idea like this, it still alienates people. It still envokes emotions. It still makes people feel unwelcome.

Thats ok though. I live an hour away from a border and I wont be making the trip anytime soon. Not that I dont like the neighbours, I just dont like the things my neighbours do.

The next question to be raised is:

Is the fence to keep people out or keep people in?

I love it when people bitch about something (like a blog) yet keep coming back.

I’ve never seen The Blog Herald as being anti or pro anything – but I guess it’s what you want to see.

Fences, even virtual, aren’t the good solution, whatever are the suspected problems.
The best solution for anything (drug, terrorism, custom, …) is secret services efficiency, police collaboration and so.

Fear is not animosity. Fear is an instinctual emotion.

Instinct – An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species and is often a response to specific environmental stimuli…

When I watch mainstream news I feel fear. The stuff they broadcast is fearful to me. Perhaps others could feel joy? Emotion is not wrong or right, it just is. And mainstream media has learned to edit, just right, perfecting both visuals and sound to get the most reaction out of the viewer rather than a response. On the internet we all have the ability to respond.

I responded to this news by writing a post. I don’t feel so scared anymore. We are all citizens of the world. The only thing separating us all is physical location.

Lesson to me – don’t watch the news on TV ;)

No feeling is final.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
20th century German Poet

And that my friends is hopeful.

I didn’t realize The Blog Herald had such animosity toward America. I saw a hint of it in another post awhile back. I thought it was just an aberration, I guess not.

And, as a fellow Canadian I feel the strange need to say “Yea! Go Canada!”

Great post Jessica. ;)

Cheers
t @ dji

80 meter high towers? 10 meter high fences? The axis must be shifting.

If the US and the rest of the world had responded rather than reacted perhaps it could be different now. We are all watched soooooo much now that pretty soon there won’t be enough people to watch all the footage/video. I guess that is when robots will watch all the collected data and decide what to do. I just hope LOL, that whoever programs these robots has a decent sense of humour and a love for humanity. :)

Sometimes you have to wonder if the terrorists are winning? I mean, they play on the fear factor and they’ve made the world a more fearful place since 911.

You wonder where will it all end? Will life be the same as before?