What so the government will be able to see what the heck were doing at every moment? SICK! I mean I'm going to go and take a piss and I gotta worry about government shitheads watching me? No! Hell No!
Poll: Would you live in a Police State?
- Thread starter Tyranicus
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You know what they say about assumptions?AgentNein said:
Fact is, the U.S. is more of a police state than most would like to admit. We have two candidates chosen for us to act as figureheads of govt. Why only 2? Surely there are more ideas and idealogies than can be boiled down to Democrat or Republican.
Our Press is ranked 53rd most free by an independent Swiss media watch group. Why? Because it is influenced, controlled and owned by wealthy members of our society who have ties to govt. and a personal stake in which news stories are aired and how much time they are given. As such our decisions are made based on erroneous information provided to us by people in power.
Certainly we are free to work or not to work. For most of us that means we are free to work or free to starve and lose shelter. What we actually have in this country is an elaborate system of wage slavery, allowing us to buy our own chains. Think that isn't a police state? Try missing a few payments or refusing to pay your taxes. You'll meet up with the police eventually in that conflict between citizen and state.
Our decisions are made for us as to what we eat and drink or otherwise consume, based on what is made available in our area, what is commercialized and what is legal. Further what is legal isn't decided on a basis of what is healthy or good for us, it's decided by wealthy special interests with an interest in selling certain things and not allowing competition. Do you know why marijuana isn't legal in this country? Because back in the 1800s rope manufacturers petitioned the government to make the Hemp plant illegal because Hemp rope (higher quality rope I might add) was putting them out of business. Cigarettes are still legal despite having no positive benefits and many negative ones. And lest you think I'm some crazy, pot smoking conspiracy theorist, I don't use pot or any other illegal substance. I just see bullshit for what it is.
Our communications are routinely monitored by the government, both through wiretapping and digital means. Not everyone clearly, but quite a number of dissenting opinions. This is done under the guise of crime fighting or protecting us from remote or vague "terrorist threats".
Read the patriot act if you disagree.
Our civil liberties are curtailed by a sense of morality that is expressly forbidden by the very constitution we are supposed to uphold. Disagree? See Prop 8.
I realize you were only giving a flippant response to a flippant comment that you disagreed with, but try not to assume the level of education or awareness of another person based on one sentence, m'kay?
There is more than one form of a police state. I, for one, would not like to be under one under any form.
Then again, at least under a police state, you would think that you were in a paradise compared to the rest of the world, and really wouldn't know how bad you really would be off.
For example, let's take North Korea's state media claiming that:
They don't knwo that this is clearly false, and if you were put in a similar place, you wouldn't know anything OTHER than what they tell you. I really wouldn't want such a place to exist, let alone be my place of residence.
Then again, at least under a police state, you would think that you were in a paradise compared to the rest of the world, and really wouldn't know how bad you really would be off.
For example, let's take North Korea's state media claiming that:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7949785.stm
They don't knwo that this is clearly false, and if you were put in a similar place, you wouldn't know anything OTHER than what they tell you. I really wouldn't want such a place to exist, let alone be my place of residence.
If by "those people were rioting to begin with" you mean that the Solidarity movement was posting workers' strikes to induce economic reform, and the State Council responded by unconstitutionally declaring martial law for over a year, during which opposing viewpoints were completely removed from the media, then yes. We can certainly see who was really at fault when Solidarity won with a landslide against the Communist Party in 1989, when free elections were allowed again.Ozu08865 said:
I see the world around me, and I see how close I am to some sort of police state. Slowly, but surely, something is happeneing, the police can arrest you under 'terroism' as a vauge offense. How long before that title extends to 'enemy of the state'. Luckily, though, our PC mad society will not allow 'minorities' to be suppressed to any considerable extent, or, at least, that is my hope. I hope, that as people actually start to realise the amount of civil liberites being infringed upon, they will act. I hear of some acts. Yet I also fear the places that remian under the radar for so long, such as hooribly maintained hospitals in which the patients are forced to drink vase water, there is no-one to care for them. These remain active for years. How long until someone seizes the opputunity to exploit these hidden horrors. How many of you will actaully notice the slow degradation of your basic rights. You're not one of them. You don't care. But when they come for you, no-one is left. I would like to quote Martin Niemoeller:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat. Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.
Makes you think. How many people, really, with your pent up action movie ideals will go, molotov in hand, and protest. Fear will keep you at bay. For all my ideas that I would, I doubt I would. I am, by nature, a coward. I like to think that I would go up, all petrol bombs and placards, and bring down the evil empire. But it's never that clear cut. Not yet, at least. I know many of you share my ideals, and I respect it. But dig deep, really deep. Are you the one who gets shot by police, sparking a wave of protest, a tragedy. Or are you the one who is taken away, one of thousands, carted into prison, fot the crime of simply existing. A statistic. Think. All I ask of you is to think.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat. Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.
Makes you think. How many people, really, with your pent up action movie ideals will go, molotov in hand, and protest. Fear will keep you at bay. For all my ideas that I would, I doubt I would. I am, by nature, a coward. I like to think that I would go up, all petrol bombs and placards, and bring down the evil empire. But it's never that clear cut. Not yet, at least. I know many of you share my ideals, and I respect it. But dig deep, really deep. Are you the one who gets shot by police, sparking a wave of protest, a tragedy. Or are you the one who is taken away, one of thousands, carted into prison, fot the crime of simply existing. A statistic. Think. All I ask of you is to think.
