Airline And Travel Industries example essay topic

Aftereffects of September 11 The impact of the attacks on the United States has been far reaching and has touched all Americans in some way. Life as we knew it prior to the attacks was changed forever on that morning in profound ways that mean losses for nearly everyone, with the exception of those standing to profit from "war". While the attack resulted in loss of life for some, others lost their jobs, incomes and homes. Travelers have lost the ease of travel that was once enjoyed in the United States. Many, it seems, have lost their rights to freedom of speech as established in the U.S. Constitution.

In short, America lost its sense of innocence and its identity on that day. While terrorist attacks are not entirely new in this country, in the past those directly affected by them were individuals, such as Robert Francis Kennedy was gunned down on June 5, 1968. He was the lone target on that day when Sirhan Bi shara Sirhan lifted a. 22-caliber Iver-Johnson Cadet revolver at 12: 15 a. m., and shot his target, Kennedy, three times (Heymann 497). While the country grieved over another senseless political assassination, the impact on the nation as a whole was not as far-reaching as the aftermath of September 11, when the targets were chosen at random, and thousands died. Among the hardest hit businesses in the aftermath of the September disaster were the airline and travel industries.

Due to a new "fear of flying" in the U.S., both United and American Airlines were forced to layoff as many as 20,000 employees, each. For United, this was equal to one-fifth of their work force. According to a statement in the Chicago Sun Times by Leo Mullin, the Delta Air Lines, Inc. CEO, "The airline industry now may lay off as many as 100,000 of the more than 1 million people employed in aviation" (Sun Times).

The impact of the layoffs then had a mushrooming effect that rippled through the nation. As the transportation companies reduced their personnel, all individuals attempting to use long-distance travel have experienced protracted inconvenience and delays, as well as what some feel to be burdensome and questionable new "security measures". In addition to the recoiling within the travel industries, cutbacks as well as new policies pertaining to heightened security have been implemented in nearly all areas of business, private enterprise or federal service. Of increasing concern to some are what they perceive as government encroachment against individual rights and liberty, rights to freely declare public opinion regarding the "war", and rights to a free press, all of which are outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

While many people object to the "war" which was declared by the President rather than by Congress as is required in the Constitution, it is no longer safe to voice that opinion in the country that was founded upon principles that embraced public opinion. On October 26 at 5 p. m., a freshman named at Durham Tech in NC received two unexpected visitors at her door. The visitors were government agents who stated, "We " re here because we have a report that you have un-American material in your apartment". The material was a poster hanging on her wall that was in protest of the 152 people put to death while George W. Bush was governor of Texas. On November 7, federal agents who were in search of "un-American" artwork that included anti-war statements commissioned prior to September 11, also visited the Art Car Museum in Houston. Other reports of "un-American activity" have resulted in professional writers, including Pulitzer prizewinner Steve Benson, losing their jobs for simply expressing an opinion that is not in complete support of the "war" of George W. Bush.

In a Bill signed into law in late October 2001, Bush gave the government rights to the records of all bookstores, so that the government can determine who is reading what. According to a report in The Progressive, the bill further removes the rights to even protest the government's heavy-handedness. "There is no opportunity for you or your lawyer to object in court. You cannot object publicly, either. The new law includes a gag order that prevents you from disclosing 'to any person' the fact that you have received an order to produce documents" (Rothschild). While the impact seems to have resulted in increasing losses to the American public at large, the loss of the right to express an opinion is perhaps the most frightening and threatening to this country.

Its loss rocks the foundation of Democracy. When the Founding Fathers framed the Constitution it was their intent that "public opinion" was a necessary tool with which the people for whom it is supposed to be working could govern the government. A democracy cannot exist unless it provides basic freedoms. It would be a terrible and devastating loss for this country to witness the loss of its democracy in addition to everything else we have lost since September 11, 2001.

Bibliography

Heymann, C. David. RFK: A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy. 1998.
A Dutton book, published by the Penguin Group. New York. (495-502.) Rothschild, Matthew. The Progressive. "The New McCarthyism". Undated. 2/21/02 Sun Times. "CEOs Calling Layoffs Critical". Tammy Williamson, Francine Knowles. September 20 2001.