Are you a potential terrorist?

                 Yes, only you can prevent suburban sprawl.

Down load this picture and message, share it with your friends and in the United States you might be labelled a domestic terrorist. After the horrific events of 9-11 the Bush Administration expanded the definition of foreign terrorism and began to expand the definition for domestic terrorism as well. One notable target was the Earth Liberation Front and several other more militant green activist organizations. They were given the label "eco-terrorists". Without going through several long play by play timelines you the reader can do the research and make up your own mind. Start with the SHAC-7.

The United States government has defined a problem and its chosen course of action is a heavy-handed increase in enforcement and surveillance. I might not have any sympathies for people that commit arson, deface SUVs or smash up laboratories that do animal testing but I am very fearful a government filled with self righteous vengeance.  

It strikes fear in me for two reasons because any one who even listens to the "terrorists" can be declared guilty by association; and reason two, surveillance promotes conformity. Conformity is the enemy of creativity and free thought. Not that everything in life should be a puzzle, a riddle or an conceptual art project because a little bit of conformity and organization makes civilization possible -but a little too much quickly becomes oppressive. Recalling a past lecture I sat in on, one economist pointed out the vast social resources that a nation like Japan has. Through the 1990s Japan slogged through a decade of economic and social stagnation partly because of it's lack creative talent. Creativity in Japan (and to a lesser degree in India and China) is discouraged, stigmatized and even criminalized.    

     

This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in America. It's a family holiday where even estranged people will tolerate each enough for one meal together just to re-create that perfect Norman Rockwell moment. For the last several years part of the price of the trip home has been the "Freedom Frisk" at the airport.

Air travel should be safe but is this really necessary? Is this for our own protection -or it to scare the average person into submission? When a TSA agent says "let me put my hand down your pants -or you don't love America and we have a room in the back for people like you" -what else are people going to do but obey. If you obey here then why not at the bus and train station? And that's okay why not during a traffic stop or on the street corner? The lose of freedom isn't always an on-off switch but often a dimmer switch where the reduction comes in smaller increments.  

It's easy to make anything into a conspiracy theory and yet I believe there is a clear erosion of person freedom. Recently there been Supreme Court Justices that question if there is specific right to privacy. On the surface this is an attack on the Roe v Wade, the decision that made abortion available across the country. The original legal logic was a woman should be able to make her own healthcare choices privately and without interference from the government. 

But what if we do only have limited rights to privacy? Not only could Roe v Wade be struck down but almost everything we do could be watched, recorded and questioned to prevent or ferret out any criminal activity. When I was a kid it was inconceivable that there could be a surveillance camera in almost every store and on almost every street corner. That soon overhead there will be thousands of police surveillance drones with the ability to trail our movements outdoors. For now we can say "that if you done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about -or that in the big crowds of people most individuals would slip by unnoticed. Is this really a world we want to live in? 

The internet is kind of that world without privacy. Personal information is not protected. Anything I do on a employer's computer is open for scrutiny, it gets more problematic if I do company work on my personal computer. Employers can still ask for Facebook passwords but they are more likely to friend you under another name. Whenever I phone or email my wife, we both assume somebody is listening.

Every artist to some degree is an outsider and is always a potential criminal when the social boundaries are too narrow. 

I think this picture was taken at Comic-con. If you don't recognize the costumes, it's from the movie They Live (1988). It's an over the top grade B classic of sci-fi schlock but it does leave you with the nagging feeling that maybe the movie has some true in it. That the average person is controlled and manipulated to live the kind of life that first and foremost benefits the powerful and rich.  

Think about it if you're at an airport and notice which people don't get intensively screened by TSA. Think about it when you recognize which 1% frights in Iraq and Afghanistan and which 1% owns 50% of all the assets in the United States. Think about it the next time somebody tells you the rich need more tax breaks because they don't have enough money to invest with. Think about it if you start sharing the picture of Smokey Bear with the anti-development message... some one will notice.

From the movie They Live  -a quote from a lone street preacher "Outside the limits of our sight, feeding off of us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us! They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!"    

Is it too late to say Happy Thanksgiving?