Titanic Post

by Ken Nicholson
First printed in the Alamogordo Daily News 4-26-08

This is a reply to various letters and comments about the sonic booms in the Tularosa Basin. Most of the opinions are in favor of the noise, equating this noise with freedom and security. Several writers, including myself, have expressed our annoyance and displeasure at this noise.Most pro-noise letters are worshipful and protective of the military, implying that they can do no harm and if they are harmful to us civilians, that’s OK, we should embrace this harm with religious fervor. We Alamogordians are to be grateful and blindly accept anything the military decides to do. Otherwise, the Air Force will get their feelings hurt and out of their pain caused by our rejection, disappear into the night. So say the pro-noise people.

I am a veteran who has great respect and gratitude for the military and the military people who show such dedication to their mission and to the volunteer work they donate to this community. I also know that the military will not and should not slack in its duty to the missions they have to carry out. Yet ,I am annoyed by the sonic boom noise. I speak out against it, knowing that it is an exercise of my civil rights and that the military will do what it has to do in spite of my protests. They may, if they can, make a few adjustments.

Sonic booms have been equated to the sound of freedom. Many citizens, including myself, have been invited to leave the country by the pro-noise faction, because we don’t like that noise and by inference, freedom. I am alarmed at those who blindly and without a trace of critical thought about our real freedom, try to deny our right to protest. History shows that if we don’t exercise our right to protest, we stand a real chance of losing our freedoms.

So, pro-noise people, if you really care about the military, stop voting for politicians who deceive us with false reasons for war. Speak out against war profiteering by huge corporations. Protest against our use of torture. Go to the streets about the lack of health care for returning war veterans who have been wounded in their service to this country. Bring them home. Then I will cease to be annoyed by sonic booms.