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BRITAIN STILL THINKS '1984' WAS A MANUAL & NOT A WARNING
Wired - $668 million will be spend on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in the homes of [British] private citizens. Why? To make sure the kids are doing their homework, going to bed early and eating their vegetables. The scheme has, astonishingly, already been running in 2,000 family homes. The government's "children's secretary" Ed Balls is behind the plan, which is aimed at problem, antisocial families. The idea is that, if a child has a more stable home life, he or she will be less likely to stray into crime and drugs.
It gets worse. The government is also maintaining a private army. . . which will "be sent round to carry out home checks," according to the Sunday Express. And . . . the kids and their families will be forced to sign "behavior contracts" which will "set out parents' duties to ensure children behave and do their homework."
And remember, this is the left-wing government. The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, batting for the conservatives, thinks these plans are "too little, and too late," implying that even more obtrusive work needs to be done. Rumors that a new detention center, named Room 101, is being constructed inside the Ministry of Love are unconfirmed.
posted by TPR | 4:37 PM
5 Comments:
What happens in Britain today all too often happens in the US tomorrow.
M, you beat me to it as usual.
Ever since Reagan and Thatcher, we in the two countries have been whipsawed continuously.
1984-as-manual indeed.
One of the first things I did after September 11th was to check out 1984 from the library and try to reread it. I couldn't finish it, it looked like a manual for the direction the country was heading.
It's disturbing how many people have been unaffected by Orwell. Or possibly have not read him.
Another theory might be that people in modern society are more delighted simply in Revenge, and other principles are overshadowed. Pot: Go to prison. Go through red light: Install Red-Light camera (although this is suspected of merely being a money-maker).
The fact that Britian's CCTV cameras will be directed mainly toward the poor should not be overlooked. Sure you say, because that's where instability, drugs, and crime are more likely! But the poor are not, by nature, any better or worse than the rich... they're just poor. By luck, or design. And they are more likely to be viewed with a jaundiced eye, watched carefully, and more easily caught and prosecuted for relatively minor crimes. And... with laws that satiate our Vindictive nature, it's Three Strikes And You're Out!
But it's generally not the theft of a wallet that will make us all Poor. And it's not the neighborhood mugging or shooting that will kill many sons and daughters.
It's more likely to be a routine illness or trauma that drives your family into the poorhouse, or possibly just an extremely low salary combined with the rising “Cost Of Living”. (But it's the Repug millionaires that still lead the charge agains't workman's compensation, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.) Also, pollution and hazardous working conditions still affect many people, and the correlation of hourly wage vs. having good medical insurance / disability is probably a negative slope.
I would argue that, in the past, it's more likely to have been a war initiated by corporate greed or political foolishness, or both, that has been the cause of most problems.
Well... Here in the U.S., in the spirit of keeping the world safe and following on the heels of stories about Bush, Cheney, Blackwater, Halliburton, TYCO, Enron, Whitewater, Silverado (et al). I would propose public access to all Politician's computer records, and cameras and microphones be installed in all their offices. Public access to records of Any firm receiving government money. And all investors be given legal access to paper / telephone / and computer records of management and board members of publically traded firms.
Vindictive...? Me...?
-Da Theorist
Cameras in the bedroom: the next step.
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