[This was originally posted in 2008 on my LiveJournal]

For all the posturing and pontificating of the politicians in charge of things, you’d think the world was an infinitely safer place (thought not quite yet safe enough for us to actually feel safe, mind you–still have to keep spending all that money and adding new measures for our own safety, y’know).

The simple fact is: it isn’t.

If anything, we’re in more actual danger now than we were before. As economic times get tough–as that belt tightens and the challenge of putting food on the table spreads to more and more citizens who were used to being pretty OK gets added to all the other stresses of modern life–friction among the classes heats up. Add to that the still increasing rhetoric about unseen enemies and how our own political parties (whichever one the speaker isn’t part of) are just out for themselves and looking to screw you over and we’re potentially in a powder keg playing with matches.

Yes, I’m negative and cynical on this point. And days like today–especially during weeks like this week (where not only am I stressed out by work but also had to walk through a swarm of cops, some with automatic weapons, on my way to work yesterday)–bring that out in spades.

September 11, 2001… I was a reporter when it happened… it and what followed most certainly didn’t change most things for the better.

It’s an ongoing thing. (Read what I’ve written in years past with that link… I’ll come up with something more coherent when I’m done with work.)