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The End of America

The “The end of America” is a 2008 documentary adapted from Naomi Wolf’s book “The end of America: Letter or warning to a young patriot”. Primarily, the documentary focuses on the eroding civil rights in America especially after the September 11, 2001 terror attack in America. Further, it explores the federal laws enacted since the terror attack that remain in effect. Consequently, it compares the President Bush’s endeavors to discourage dissent and to exercise an increasingly unchecked power to the events that preceded the 20th Century dictatorial governments in some countries like Germany, Chile, and Italy. Without openly stating it, the documentary implies that since the terror attack, America has slowly shifted to fascism in the name of combating terror. According to the documentary, the first tool for power acquisition is the creating of fear. Ms. Wolf claims this was achieved after the terror attack with the passing of the patriotic act that allows for expanded surveillance and an acceptance of whatever measures seen to be keeping Americans safe. Additionally, the use of color-coded alerts that have kept Americas on the edge are being used to create fear. The documentary goes further to outline the steps towards creating an authoritarian rule that include the creation of secret prisons where torment take place. Other steps are the development of paramilitary forces, development of internal surveillance systems, harassment of citizen’s groups, and the unwarranted arrest and release of civilians. To support the claims, the documentary shows accounts of an American Army chaplain held in Guantanamo for 76 days. He was accused of spying as well as that of a Canadian engineer imprisoned for a year and later cleared of terrorism charges. In addition to this, the documentary also delves into the case of a journalist detained for 226 days for refusing to surrender recordings of police cruelty during a protest in 2005. Finally, the documentary cites the suspension of the rule of law as another step towards changing the rule of law. Here she cites a case in which top government officials summoned to appear in court refused to do so. Ultimately, the documentary insinuates that the administration is keen on curtailing the freedoms and rights of the American people. Moreover, it is evident from the film that it targets people who feel oppressed by the changing policies adopted by the government.

Within the documentary, The End of America, the assertion is made that to an emerging closing society creates secret prisons where torture takes place. According to Joachim Hagopian, a writer for global research, there are CIA-like locations where people are held without being booked to be beaten with reported scenarios of death (Hagopian). Further, the center for constitutional rights in its website says that America has constructed a confinement structure for those it designates as terrorists where they hold people giving an example of Guantanamo Bay (Center for Constitutional Rights). Finally, David Hicks in his book describes his time in a secret American person where he was held for five years (Hicks). Based on these accounts, there is evidence that indeed America has created secret prisons where people are tortured.

Additionally, the documentary asserts that another sign that a nation is shifting towards a closed society is the setting up of internal surveillance systems. Naomi Wolf in her book claims that the government is closely monitoring e-mails of Americans especially activists (Wolf). Next, according to The New York Times, the American postal service reportedly approved numerous requests from law enforcing agencies to monitor secretly citizens’ mail (Nixon). Moreover, The Guardian in a report stated that America has paid at least 100m Pounds to a UK spy agency to gain access to Britain’s intelligence gathering systems (Borger and Hopkins). Based on these claims and evidence, the assertion that America is secretly monitoring its citizens is correct.

Next, a nation keen on imposing a closed system of administration controls the press by restricting access to information and what the media reports as asserted by the documentary. As the Constitutional Rights Foundation explains in their website, the American government continues to control what the press releases especially in Iraq where the press is not allowed to interview the soldiers without special permissions (Costly). Moreover, the Committee to Protect Journalists asserts this claim on their website saying that the White House often controls information disclosure by positioning its media to avoid press scrutiny (Cpj.org). Next, America’s press freedom is on the decline at 49 out of 180 in 2015 down three places from 2014 (Resnikoff). Based on these statements, it is clear that America is curtailing press freedom. This goes to show that America does not want its citizens to know all that is happening thus creating an opportunity for imposing the closed system of governance.

While America continues to refute the existence of secret holding facilities, in recent times, President Obama has renewed his 2008 campaign promise to close one such facility, Guantanamo Bay despite opposition from Congress. Meanwhile, the American government continues to spy secretly on its citizens in the name of protecting them against terror. Still, the government quietly listens to phone conversations claiming it is one way of intercepting possible communication from potential threats to the nation’s security. Finally, the government’s agenda to control media freedom seems to be advancing as shown in the declining press freedom index. Nonetheless, Americans are determined to fight for their rights in the seemingly declining democracy.

Works Cited

Hagopian, Joachim. ‘Totalitarian Rule In America: False Flags, Secret Prisons, Extrajudicial Assassinations, Media Censorship, The Rounding Up Of Alleged “Terrorists” …’. Global Research. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

Center for Constitutional Rights,. ‘Faqs: What Are Ghost Detentions And Black Sites | Center For Constitutional Rights’. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

Hicks, David. Guantanamo. North Sydney, N.S.W.: Random House Australia, 2010. Print.

Wolf, Naomi. The End Of America. White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green Pub., 2007. Print.

Nixon, Ron. ‘Report Reveals Wider Tracking Of Mail In U.S.’. Nytimes.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

Borger, Julian, and Nick Hopkins. ‘Exclusive: NSA Pays £100M In Secret Funding For GCHQ’. the Guardian. N.p., 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

Costly, Andrew. ‘Press Freedom – Constitutional Rights Foundation’. Crf-usa.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

Cpj.org,. ‘The Obama Administration And The Press – Committee To Protect Journalists’. N.p., 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

Resnikoff, Ned. ‘Report: Press Freedom Experienced ‘Drastic Decline’ In 2014 | Al Jazeera America’. America.aljazeera.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.