Both parts of the author's past--a concern with terrorism and with the education of future agents of the state who will be expected to curb, if not to eliminate, it--contribute to what he wants to say in this essay. He seeks to make six points: (1) Racial profiling is not a discrete issue but an instance of a more pervasive racism that is evident in the overzealousness of law enforcement, the discrimination inherent in the criminal justice system and the stratagems of the so-called "war on terror"; (2) The issue of racism is also connected to historical, legal and political events which cannot easily be isolated and which confound efforts to make it into an issue of clear ideological distinctions between right-wing and left-wing politics; (3) Much of the debate over racial profiling is compromised because it takes place within an ideological context of hegemonic liberalism which begets false and futile attempts to balance civil liberties with security; (4) To overcome this bogus debate, it is necessary to gain perspective by examining the situation from a different perspective and, since Marxism is at least temporarily disreputable, individuals must look elsewhere; (5) Above all, individuals must recognize the ubiquity of technology, not as a set of instruments or, worse, devices that are intended to achieve conscious human purposes, but as determinants of what those purposes are; and (6) At a time when Marxian social theories are in at least in temporary eclipse, there is much to be gained by paying provisional attention to the preoccupations of traditional conservatism as a means to begin the critical interrogation of the modern project and its implications for thought about technology and human rights. (Contains 1 endnote.)