And The Nazi-ism Continues In The Name of Protecting Children

[TripleB]

Florida just passed a law making mandatory reporting of "suspected" child abuse mandatory for everyone. It used to just be people in authority such as teachers or police officers. Now, it's everyone. Criminal Charges and $1M+ in fines for failure to report suspected child abuse.

Seems great on the surface, right? Who likes child abuse?

Pandora's box is open and it will extend to terrorism. Mandatory reporting of suspected terrorism. Failure to report is a felony and $1M in fines (Which is essentially 99% of people's life savings).

Of course, terrorism becomes anyone who speaks out against the establishment.

Eventually we have a system where neighbors report on neighbors for fear of getting a jackboot stuck up their ass.

I was recently in NYC and in the subway system there's PA systems warning people "if you see something, say something," which I thought was a Orwellian joke. Apparently this has been going on there for years since 9/11. PA speakers telling people to report anything suspicious while camouflaged-dressed soldiers walk through the train station.

And soon it will be illegal not to "say something."

Your neighbor make a disparaging remark against the president? Better report him. If you don't, you will be held criminally liable for any action he may take.

Or maybe I am just paranoid?

[Ad Orientem]

In general I am not a fan of compulsion when it comes to reporting suspicious activity.  I have doubts as to whether it is constitutional.  But having traveled in some countries with a serious terrorism problem I take the public service announcements seriously. If bombs start going off on our buses or subways people will wake up.  I hope it doesn't come to that.

[hoost]

Wow.  It's surprising to hear something like that coming out of Florida.  It's rather frightening to think of the implications of a law like that in the hands of the wrong people.

I was recently in NYC and in the subway system there's PA systems warning people "if you see something, say something," which I thought was a Orwellian joke. Apparently this has been going on there for years since 9/11. PA speakers telling people to report anything suspicious while camouflaged-dressed soldiers walk through the train station.

I hear a lot of references to Orwell these days, but I don't know much about him or his writings.  Can you recommend some of his works to read so I can get up to speed?

[MachineGhost]

1984 and animal farm are his two best known books... either one is a great place to start. animal farm is a pretty quick read and 1984 is a classic, both are almost an obligatory reference when talking about oppressive tyranny..

Just so you know, 1984 was an allegory of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union (Orwell was British).

One you've done with those two, I recommend reading Brave New World and then This Perfect Day, in that order.  I'm still waiting for the latter to be made into an epic movie.  I suspect if the Logan's Run reboot doesn't turn out to be a joke, it'll become feasible.

MG

[Mountaineer]

And, don't forget Atlas Shrugged.

[smurff]

I remember when the Iron Curtain fell.  Various political pundits bragged that the USA was then the only remaining superpower, with no where to go but up, up, up, in terms of progress. 

But the whole situation reminded me of something my grandmother used to say:  If you are an honest person but you hang around bank robbers, it's just a matter of time before you're driving the get-away car.  It was her way of saying that when you engage with someone intensely, you both become, in subtle ways, like each other.

So just like the USSR collapsed, it's not out of the question to me that the USA might collapse as well.  (It almost happened in 2008.)  And the two nations were engaged intensely with each other, so I can see how both have taken on some of the defining characteristics of the other.  The only thing to debate might be which one started out as the honest country and which one was the bank robbers.

That said, Russia and many of the former Soviet republics, satellites, and former communist bloc countries (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, East Germany, etc.)  have gradually become as capitalist as the Americans.  Unfortunately, however, the Americans are gradually moving toward totalitarianism as a form of social control, and the example TripleB posted is in that league. 

Other examples:  Airport x-rays and mandatory pat downs at the airport--now coming to a train or bus station near you, solitary confinement of convicts with life sentences, solitary confinement of people being held before trial, sleep deprivation and other "suicide watch" tactics that practically drive the prisoner to want to commit suicide, executive orders signed under cover of holidays, weekends (or media circuses, like the deaths, arrests, or trials of major celebrities) that permit the President to kill anywhere in the world people they claim to be terrorists (without any semblance of due process), the use of drones to spy on people and kill them, strip searches of people arrested over relatively minor things,  torture--renamed "enhanced interrogation," the list seems to grow longer every week, and all of these things are contrary to the USA Constitution, various state constitutions, and international treaties we signed.  Even with those laws/rules/executive orders that are not yet being carried out (at least against us or someone we know), the overall net effect of their existence on the books is fear, which is the major component of how totalitarian societies are run.  And fear is paralyzing, so few people have the psychic wherewithal to actually do anything about it.

It's not a left-right thing, either, as both Democrats and Republicans (and disaffected parties within their orbits, like Greens and Tea Partiers) encourage it.  This stuff is depressing, but the thing that gives me hope is that just like in the Soviet Union, these systems eventually get so unwieldy that they crash under their own weight.  Unfortunately it can take a long time for the crash (it took the USSR about 70 years); a lot of destruction to individuals, institutions, and the environment can take place before that crash happens, and not all of this destruction can be repaired. 

[hoost]

1984 and animal farm are his two best known books... either one is a great place to start. animal farm is a pretty quick read and 1984 is a classic, both are almost an obligatory reference when talking about oppressive tyranny..

Just so you know, 1984 was an allegory of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union (Orwell was British).

One you've done with those two, I recommend reading Brave New World and then This Perfect Day, in that order.  I'm still waiting for the latter to be made into an epic movie.  I suspect if the Logan's Run reboot doesn't turn out to be a joke, it'll become feasible.

MG

Sounds good. I just downloaded 1984 so I'll start there.  Thanks for the recommendations.

And, don't forget Atlas Shrugged.

I am more familiar with Atlas Shrugged, but haven't read the book.  I'll add that to my list as well.

Thanks everyone.