The tragedies of Spetember 11th, 2001 were horrible to say the least. America lost numerous thousand people. But, that tragedy has made the government of the most free country in the world, America, a little uptight. I might even say that the events of 9/11 could even be taking away the rights that made this country great in the first place.

The freedom of speech is one of the five freedoms expressed in the first amendment. It is arguably the most important right that we, the citizens, have to say what we want when we want without the risk of persecution. You might call me crazy, but 9/11 is gradually taking away the right to freedom of speech.

Recently, there was a group in some town (its not relevant to the arguement) that was arrested for speaking about Al Qaeda. Now, granted, I am not condoning the actions of Al Qaeda, but I think that it is wrong to arrest people based pn the fact that they were just talking about it. I mean, I can talk about planting a bomb somewhere, but does that make me guilty?

The men arrested in the "fiasco" were not guilty of actually doing anything. They just happened to be listened to by the government at the time they were talking. Now, this seems to me like a bit of an encroachment on the first amendment.

Where did the happy days of yesterday go? You know, I'm talking about the days where anyone (regardless of race) could talk about anything without being yelled at for it. The fact that our freedom of speech is thinning is saddening. You see, that one freedom is what makes our country different from all the rest.

So, my question is: where will this end? Will it continue to get worse until we have absolutely no right to say what we want at all? If this problem is not seriously looked at by the government, then it could escalate to a point where no one could speak out against the government.

Okay, maybe it hasn't gotten that bad yet. But, I don't think it is out the realm of possibility. I think that before the government acts on a situation, they need to think about the intent of our founding fathers.

In conslusion, I'm not trying to scare anyone with this. It's merely my opinion. Just remember, be careful the next time you talk about something because Big Brother may be listening.