We Must Never Surrender the Right of Open Discussion :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

We Must Never Surrender the Right of Open Discussion    As a nation, we need thoughtful discussion concerning the September 11 attacks.   In a time when open discussion is more necessary than ever, it is discouraging to see simple questions about our nations interests, posed in these forums, branded as anti-American, inappropriate, or as enemies within. Now more than ever, careful and respectful debate can grant us the informational dexterity needed to maintain an open and neutral perspective as events unfold. I am an American. This country's social infrastructure, built with tremendous difficulty on the backs of many who sacrificed their lives for their country as well as those who sometimes unwittingly found themselves in the path of the nation's maturation, is unique and valuable. It grants its citizens the opportunity for growth, unparalleled freedoms, and the means to remedy injustice. We are truly a great nation. Times of duress call to our minds the patriotic respect and admiration we have for our country, and bring us to realize just how fortunate we are to live in such a nation.    As an American, I refuse to surrender the ability and willingness to think openly, critically, and analytically about issues in our society and in our world. I will not allow the privileges of freedom and opportunity crafted so carefully in the course of the last two hundred-plus years to blind me to mistakes we've made and mistakes we continue to make. I will not surrender to the demands for unity and compliance in the pursuit of vengeance. We owe it both to ourselves and to those who have come before us to maintain a reasoned, simple honesty in assessing the state of the world. Those who bring nothing more to the public forum than reactionary and manipulative accusations of anti-Americanism do disservice to themselves, their country, and to reasonable thought.    It is hard, though, to keep thoughts clear-headed and words well-conceived during a storm as confusing as we face now. A sharp exchange of writings between Noam Chomsky and Christopher Hitchens, a columnist for The Nation, was a visible sign of the heightened tensions that try tempers and better judgment. David Talbot and Andrew Sullivan, both respected political writers, engaged in a similar exchange. There is reason for anxiety. The initial highly-visible strikes against our country have yielded to an anonymous, growing swarm of threats and attacks, currently in the form of anthrax-laced mailings, that lack the visibility and impact of traditional acts of war but nonetheless foster a sense of fear and vulnerability.