Fortress America

I never thought I'd see this in America.

The first time I encountered civil / military authorities brandishing automatic weapons in a public environment was in the late 1970's at Leonardo DiCaprio DaVinci airport in Rome. Military and police wandering around the airport terminal, in battle cammo, casually sporting some serious weaponry. Those were the days of the Red Brigade terror organization in Italy. Certainly, Italians were indoctrinated to domestic terror violence way back before it was even a blip on our national radar.

I remember to this day being absolutely struck by very overt nature in which the Carabinari not only paraded their presence, but the sheer intimidation factor they brought to a public venue.

And I clearly recall thinking, "Whoa - geez, I'm glad I live in America. Don't have to deal with this crap there." Eight hours back into JFK never seemed so short.

Aren't these pictures surreal?? I've been to the statue quite a few times. Probably sat with my family on the very same wall where those families are sitting. When (or more importantly, why?) did we start accepting the guys with guns at a national monument as a good thing?

Welcome to Fortress America. Whether any of us likes it or not, (and I detest it) the guns are here to stay, because we've been "desensitized". We've made the Faustian bargain to relinquish a little bit (a lot?) of liberty for the illusion of security. The pisser is, it's not the terrorists that the men in black in the photos above are looking to keep in line.

It's you and me.

(Major tip o' the hat to Liz at Blondesense for kickstarting my muse this morning.)