Impromptus

‘Freedom from fear,’ &c.

By
With the U.S. Capitol in the background, police investigate a shooting outside Nationals Park, Washington, D.C., on July 17, 2021. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)
On crime, war, NATO, deepfakes, free speech, football, and more

In his famous State of the Union address of 1941, FDR spoke of four freedoms — freedoms that people “everywhere in the world” ought to enjoy. The fourth was “freedom from fear.” (Its predecessors were freedom of speech; freedom of worship; and freedom from want.) Since that time, many have mocked the idea of “freedom from fear” — too gauzy, too pie-in-the-sky. But I like the phrase, and the concept, particularly when it comes to the issue of crime.

For a September 2013 issue of National Review, I wrote a piece called “Freedom from Fear, for Now.” Its subtitle was “A personal reflection on living in New York.” The piece began,

Here is a stunning fact: In 15 years of living in New York, I’ve just about never looked over my shoulder. Never crossed the street out of apprehension, never feared crime at all.

A bit farther down, I wrote,

Why am I aware of not looking over my shoulder? How do I hear a dog not barking? Because from time to time, I visit other cities, and then I hear the dog bark, loudly. This happened to me in San Francisco about a week ago. I took an apparently wrong turn, somewhere near U.N. Plaza, and came upon a scene of drugs and menace. I got out of Dodge as quickly as I could, pulse racing. I’ve been to Philadelphia and St. Louis recently, too. I looked over my shoulder, crossed streets …

New York took a bad turn in the summer of 2020. This badness did not persist — but my impression is, the city has still not recovered its prior serenity (a relative serenity, I stress).

(Those interested in another piece of mine on this subject may consult “New York Stories,” published in September 2021.)

For years, I have regarded Washington, D.C., as a great success story, when it comes to the combating of crime. When I lived in Washington, in the 1990s, I was not crazy about going to the Capitol Hill neighborhood, especially at night. And Chinatown, which doubled as the theater district, somehow, as I recall? I was not crazy about going there during the day.


More in Crime

In subsequent years, however, those neighborhoods became absolutely delightful. I was astonished when I visited, remembering the old combat zones, remembering that feeling of fear.

Freedom from fear! What a great sensation.

At present, Washington is beset by crime. Terrible, constant, pervasive crime. A headline from USA Today reads, “As Washington crime spikes, DOJ vows to send more resources to reeling city.” Reeling city. That is an apt phrase.

The article begins,

The Justice Department will commit extra resources to assist law enforcement in Washington after the district saw a 40% increase in violent crime and a 35% increase in homicides last year.

In an announcement on Friday, the department said the new resources will also target carjacking, which increased 82% in Washington in 2023.

A congressman, Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.), issued an interesting tweet:

Freedom from fear — I suppose you never quite appreciate it until it’s gone. Ordered liberty is so very important (and so very blessed). You need both: the adjective and the noun. Liberty without order is no liberty at all.

And the first duty of government is the physical security of the citizenry. Not free false teeth (to borrow a phrase from William F. Buckley Jr.), but physical security. If you have to live life looking over your shoulder — if you have to live life in fear — that’s hardly living at all.

• “Three U.S. Army soldiers were killed and more than 30 service members were injured in a drone attack overnight on a small U.S. outpost in Jordan” — you know this news. I will continue quoting from the report:

The killing of three Americans at Tower 22 in Jordan near the border with Syria is a significant escalation of an already-precarious situation in the Middle East. Officials said the drone was fired by Iran-backed militants and appeared to come from Syria.

I would like to make two points. The first is just a simple reminder: Sometimes you don’t choose war; rather, the enemy chooses it for you.

And second: “Go to the source.” Why do I have those words in quotation marks? Al Haig used to say them: “Go to the source.” For instance, you don’t waste your time on Managua (Haig would say). You go to Havana or, better, Moscow. Go to the source.

The source here is Tehran — the head of the terrible and murderous and terroristic octopus.

• On the campaign trail, Donald Trump said, “We’re paying for NATO and we don’t get so much out of it.” He went on to say, “I hate to tell you this about NATO: If we ever needed their help — let’s say we were attacked — I don’t believe they’d be there. I don’t believe.”

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty says that an attack on one is an attack on all. It has been invoked only once: after the United States was attacked on 9/11. I remember Condoleezza Rice in an interview telling me about the phone call she received from Nick Burns, our ambassador to NATO — informing her that the members had decided to invoke Article 5. That was a big, big moment.

The Afghan War, for 20 years, was a NATO war.

You would expect a former president to know this. And a future president to know it. But when it comes to that one man — Donald Trump — all expectations are set aside. It’s the strangest thing.

• A report tells us,

Pornographic deepfake images of Taylor Swift are circulating online, making the singer the most famous victim of a scourge that tech platforms and anti-abuse groups have struggled to fix.

Sexually explicit and abusive fake images of Swift began circulating widely this week on the social media platform X.

This kind of thing is going to get much, much worse as technology advances. I love the name of the “deepfake-detecting group” cited in the article: “Reality Defender.”

• There are good arguments for the death penalty. (I can make ’em, and have.) There are good arguments against the death penalty. (Ditto.) But one thing cannot be avoided: It is a grim business, execution. The headline over this article says, “Alabama man shook violently on gurney during first-ever nitrogen gas execution.”

• Martina, sayin’ it plain:

• The University of Michigan adopted what it calls “principles on diversity of thought and freedom of expression.” The university’s president, Santa Ono, said this: “Open inquiry and spirited debate are critical for promoting discovery and creativity” and for “preparing our students to be informed and actively engaged in our democracy.”

Good.

Ono further said, “At this time of great division, it is more important than ever that we come together in a shared commitment to pluralism, to mutual respect, and to freedom of speech and diversity of thought at this great public university.”

Good.

The university’s regents are on the same page as the president, with one saying, “Every member of our academic community should expect to confront ideas that differ from their own, however uncomfortable these encounters may be. This can only occur when diversity of viewpoints exists and freedom of expression flourishes.”

Good, good. Now let it be so, in practice as well as theory.

• May I recommend an obituary? A superb one by Richard Sandomir: “Zvi Zamir, Israeli Spy Chief in a Critical Period, Dies at 98.” He lived a heroic life, Zamir did. Lots of Israelis do. Not because they want to — but because they have to. Their national circumstances have so dictated.

• Norm Snead, the quarterback, has died at 84. His obit in the New York Times is here. Check out the picture above the obit. A great, great football picture, snapped by Alvan Quinn for the Associated Press in 1968.

• A photo of mine is not at the level of Quinn’s — but here is a scene in New York, as evening settled in:

• In the new New Criterion, I have a “New York chronicle,” as usual: here. That’s about music. Composers, performers, issues. I will now say goodbye as my Detroit Lions get ready to play in their conference championship. The last time we got this far — 1957. Ike was in the first year of his second term.

Later on.

If you would like to receive Impromptus by e-mail — links to new columns — write to jnordlinger@nationalreview.com.

Exit mobile version