TSIYON NEWS

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.."

So goes the famous phrase of a Shakespeare monologue from the comedy, "As You Like It."  While the observation of the world being a stage is profound, we cannot give Shakespeare the credit. We can find this idea popping up throughout much of history before Shakespeare, being observed at least as far back as the Greek philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras, some 500 years before Messiah was born.

Of course, back then the meaning of the phrase was centered on the changes in the lives of individuals, rather than on global events. For example, in the same Shakespeare monologue quoted above the speaker goes on to explain "one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages." That is clearly focused on the life of each person going through stages of life.

Now, in the modern era, "all the world is a stage" in a new and different way. It is a stage that we literally view on our television and computer screens. Through this means we all have some sense of what is going on, literally, in "all the world" as we watch events from the other side of the world pass before our eyes, often in real time. These events are stitched together in our minds in a global consciousness of the world we all share - like an audience watching a play - even if we don't all agree on what it all means.

In the 21st century the unfolding world play has gotten quite intense. We have all seen a parade of shocking spectacles unfolding before our eyes, each of which has changed the world. Let's look at a few big examples.

Perhaps the first stunning wake-up call of the 21st century was the September 11 attacks of 2001, at the World Trade Center in NYC. This was, without a doubt, the most shocking event viewers had ever seen live on TV. That was definitely true for me, and for everyone I knew at the time. It was as if some apocalyptic scene from the book of Revelation had jumped off the page and into the real world! No one could stop talking about it.

The aftermath of 9/11 gave us the War on Terror, and with that a steady stream of horror on the world stage. According to a report by Newsweek the War on Terror cost the U.S. $21 Trillion. Just imagine how much positive good that much money could have been used for if it could have been put to more productive uses. That's not the worst of it though. Consider the loss of human life. The 'War on Terror' has killed nearly a million known casualties, and only God knows how many deaths are unaccounted for beyond that.

9/11 also altered life in America for every citizen. The USA PATRIOT Act, enacted in October 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks, claimed to enhance national security and deter terrorism by broadening the government's surveillance and investigative powers to levels never before seen. 9/11, at the time, created a national sentiment of vulnerability and urgency to prevent further attacks, allowing a rapid legislative process that pushed through the Act while the population was suffering national trauma. It seemed strange to thinking people that a new law of so great and sweeping a scope, with so many controversial innovations written into the law, could be prepared and passed in only 1 month! It was as if the writers of the 'play' knew the 'plot', so had the PATRIOT Act already written and ready for the triggering events to occur. 

The Act significantly impacted banking and business and through that, the activities of ordinary Americans, by introducing measures like increased scrutiny of them and their financial transactions. This was said to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, requiring banks to maintain extensive records gathering and reporting of banking activities, and facilitating greater information sharing with and among government agencies, and similar measures. All this without a warrant or even evidence of any criminal activity on the part of the masses being surveilled.

While some provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act have been modified or allowed to expire, many changes have remained in place or been reinforced through subsequent legislation. Key surveillance powers have been extended or renewed multiple times, and new measures have been introduced in the context of national security. Thus, law-abiding Americans are burdened under scrutiny of the government and proxies, such as banks, while illegal aliens have streamed into America by the millions, with little or no concern by the government [until recently] about national secularity or terrorism from the millions of illegal immigrants.

At this point the overreaching measures brought into America via the PATRIOT Act have pretty much been woven into the national psyche of the general public. Nevertheless, privacy rights and civil liberties protections in America have suffered a great loss and will probably never be fully restored.

All the world is a stage