Recent revelations of wholesale, systemic phone tapping by the USA and by police and spook agencies in Australia could be the camel that broke the elephant in the room’s back. Graham Macafee warns that self-censorship in these surveilled times is one of our greatest threats.
Beware: we’re on track to lose liberty
By Graham Macafee, CLA member
With the CIA and other US spy agencies vetting Facebook and other social media and e-mail networks (around the globe) for anti American sentiments, it may be good idea to tone down your comments or Big Brother may do it for you.
Welcome to the wonderful world of terrified self-censorship: Tyranny of the people, by the people, for the people.
As Benjamin Franklin said: “Those who would sacrifice a little liberty for a little security deserve neither and will lose both.”
Fleeing to Australia won’t help. Our spies are part of America’s global conspiracy.
Future historians may refer to this era as: “Several centuries of self determination with an eternity of autocracy before and after the Western democracy interlude.”
What to do? Buy a torch and lots of batteries. Print this post so you can read it under the bed (by torch-light) then securely trash this e-mail.
Why? The next step after self-censorship is Big Brother censors posts like this. Your rare paper copy of defiance may be worth big bucks on E-Bay in years to come.
Capitalism and tyranny are not incompatible. China is making a huge success of both.
If you have a problem with that, it’s possibly because you really are just a crook yourself – and/or a terrorist. Either way, you are part of the problem. I’m a firm believer in heaps of snooping as I’ve nothing to hide. Have you?
If whistle blowing is driven by a desire to reinforce/establish/protect human rights and freedoms, and if this desire is innate and evolutionarily advantageous (ie increasing societal fitness), then whistle blowers will continue to appear and act irrespective of the law. If this is the case, then the rule of law, when enforcing compliance (the prosecution of whistle blowers), is inhibiting this progression, and will ultimately degraded societal order, ie survival of the species.
The question is; is the upholding of human rights, freedom, and for that matter ethics and justice, evolutionary advantageous? Is it reasonable to argue that the individual being equal in value to the whole of the community (and vice versa) is a more stable framework for societal prosperity, or is a disparity between state/nation and individual/group rights the true order of things. If human rights foster self determination, thus increasing the diversity amongst all members, that consequently enriches society by increasing the adaptive possibilities for a future of unknown variability, and if inclusiveness by virtue of accepting equity in value (rights) between all individuals and groups promotes prosperity, then any action that fails to promote such a state, inhibits the survival of life.