Thomas Leavitt writes:

I'm tired of hearing my fellow Americans referred to as cowards, weaklings, sheep, ignorant, easily mislead - this is a profoundly undemocratic sentiment, the same kind of crap spewed by totalitarian and authoritarian types from the far left and the far right as justification for abandonment of the democratic process and the use of force to impose their ideology on the rest of us.

Well said. There was an article the other day about the terrorists, which made the point that capitalism and fundamentalism were much alike, in that both share a distrust of democracy. The same can be said for the cypherpunks. No wonder that so many here have expressed vitriolic criticism of the U.S. government response (which has been almost zero), while there has been little mention of the horrific evil of the terrorist acts themselves. Putting it starkly, who is more evil: John Ashcroft or Mohammed Atta? Is it possible that certain cypherpunks find themselves on the same side as bin Laden and his fundamentalist killers? Do they secretly support this murderous attacks on innocent civilians? We now face biological and chemical attacks, which are supposed to be even more "cruel and shocking" than the WTC attacks. Are these cypherpunks in favor of seeing more Americans killed by terrorist actions? The philosophical connection becomes even clearer with the frequent statements by cypherpunks that those who disagree "need killing", that blood must be shed by those of different political views. In effect this is a call for a Cypherpunk Jihad (the word is often translated as "holy war", but "justified struggle" is as valid a translation). It is no different for Tim May to call for the extinction of his enemies than for Usama bin Laden to do so. Cypherpunks need to take a hard look at themselves. Anyone who feels horror and disgust at the terrorist acts should recognize that the same sentiments are found here, just below the surface. The thinly veiled threats of bloodshed are based on the same philosophy of violent hatred and contempt for others which motivates the terrorists. Tim May and Usama bin Laden are now revealed as philosophical cousins. It is becoming harder and harder to tell them apart.