`The U.S. Is Going to the Closed Society`

Berry Reingold (60) who retired from Telephone Company criticized the U.S. war on Afghanistan at a Locker room of a health club and received a visit of the FBI after a few days.

He was pressed tenaciously by FBI members, who came to him saying that they received information relevant to his motive of speech and its contents.

And a computer engineer, who sometimes used to serve voluntarily of a progressive group so called independent media, was frightened by the demands of the FBI who came and requested the computer system of the group.

The U.S broadcasting network CBS accused the FBI of excessive investigation on the 14th stating, “recently Americans fear the possibility that FBI might return like the times of chief Edgar Hoover, when it thoroughly inspected Americans ignoring the law.”

The U.S. is not a free and open society any more.

In the “center of joint operation” that is installed in the Washington Police Station, organizations like the Police, FBI, Secret Service, etc watch citizens through videos of private companies and shopping malls, etc where they have installed cameras.

It is not all.

Inspection and check-up at airports after 9.11 attacks, is warlike.

Washington Dulles airport on the 14th.

One security person is closely investigating one male passenger who passed a metal detector.

He made the passenger take off his shoes and looked closely to see if there is explosives in his shoes or not.

He also told him to sit and investigated whether he concealed weapons in his socks, touching the passenger`s feet with his hand.

Next to him, another security person was fumbling in a female passenger’s handbag.

She was at a loss, being searched of her belongings amid people who were glancing at her.

One passenger who used the Los Angeles airport early this month was highly embarrassed as a female security person called him inside just before boarding the flight and made him loosen his belt, as well as touching his body with her hand.

Nowadays, large-scale intensive search operations is being carried out at the U.S airport normally.

Security makes passengers operate digital cameras and laptop computers in order to discover if it is explosive or not and demands passengers who hold water bottles to drink out of it.

With regard to “Bill for Reinforcement of Border Security and Reformation of Entry by Visa” that the U.S. president George.W. Bush signed, criticism is rising as it reflects a discriminatory perception of foreigners.

The U.S tour companies are strongly protesting that the number of foreign tourists will highly decrease due to this treatment.

The Vice-President of the U.S Travel Agent Association, Bill Malony said, “This treatment is lack of reality” and “complaint from domestic and abroad travel companies are bursting out before its progress.”

One of the reasons why Rome could be prosperous was due to an open attitude towards foreign people.

The U.S multi-racial society could become a superpower intending an “open society.”the

However, today U.S seems to be indifferent from the society under Big Brother who was in 1984, a novel by George Orwell.

Ki-Heung Han eligius@donga.com