Does this bother you?

[leftyladyfrommo]

I hope I can explain this so it makes some sense.

It bothers me that our behavior is becoming so controlled by outside forces. Are we simply becoming a nation of people who are forced to comply with all the rules and regulations. There are cameras everywhere. Almost everyone communicates using a technology where there really is no privacy. I know that I am a lot more careful about what I say when I have conversations over my cell phone. My e-mail carries nothing but generic safe stuff.

I'm not an outlaw but I used to be a pretty good rebel. Now I conform for the most part. The penalties for noncomforming are becoming more and more stingent.

Some day I might want to take off my clothes and streak down the street - anonymously. It's become almost impossible to do anything anonymously. Fifteen minutes later I would be identified on camera and in another fifteen minutes the law would know my name and where I live and my whole history.

Life isn't nearly as much fun.

[GeorgeGist]

1. I guess we're all in for surprise ...

terror works.

[Puzzledtraveller]

2. It really does effect all of us if even it only seems to effect a few of us.

It is a matter of conscience to oppose these unwarranted excursions into our privacy. The power afforded here does not belong in anyones hands (D) or (R).

[Junkdrawer]

3. Big Brother is watching....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022973483

[southernyankeebelle]

4. Ever since Ronald Reagan became president is when I noticed changes starting with him

breaking unions with the Air Traffic Controls. Then and there I realized the unions all over would have to worry. What bothers me living here in the south I remember trying to tell co-workers even though I never was a member of any union we all need to thank the unions because without them we wouldn't have the things we have today. Plus when Reagan said government was the problem. I knew then we were in trouble. I couldn't understand why people thought so highly of Reagan. I still don't get it. Last night I saw Maher show and everything he said about Reagan was dead on. Everyday I try to think things will get better. But until republicans are voted out because they are the problem we will not solve a thing. It is imperative that we do our part and vote in 2014.

[annabanana]

10. That was also when I noticed that I finished watching the "news" with more

questions than when I started. That's ALSO when they stopped naming companies in news stories.....

[southernyankeebelle]

15. I think electing Reagan was the worst thing this country could have done.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. It's my own behavior in response to the terror threat

that has bothered me.

I'm afraid. I feel like I am being forced to be this very compliant person. And I don't like it at all. The cost of being noncompliant has gotten way too high.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Honesty....

How refreshing...

[BOG PERSON]

8. tbh i don't think i'd have as much of a problem w/ all the surveillance

if it wasnt being conducted to defend/expand the crappy american way of life

[annabanana]

9. Wear a mask

and use a tear-away outfit that you can sneak out of in a moment behind a tree. Trail a muu-muu behind you like a cape so you can re-robe in a flash.

You might get away with it.

[Agnosticsherbet]

11. The technology we use would have been made even if 9/11 never happened,

We live in a world where technology use touches every point of our lives. It has made privacy obsolete.Programs like Prism need to be put in perspective beside the intense spying done by every consumer outlet, even corporation,every media outlet.

Massive databases have been made of eery consumer of anything. It has become the way the world works. Makes me wonder if the same folk that operat PRISM have managed to tap into the vast databases that corporate entities have made on us?

The only way we can have real privacy is to drop of the map. Throw away the phones, turn off the computer, and move into the country and live without power or modern conveniences.

[olddots]

13. the things we can do to battle this sci fi movie scenerio won't be done

the world is addicted to being entertained .

[BOG PERSON]

14. one problem is sci-fi dystopias have better aesthetics

while the real world we live in is oppressively bland + cheerful

[Herlong]

12. Life is still fun for me

Because where there is will, there is a way.

[bvar22]

16. You can still sell everything,

cash out your IRA and pay the penalties,
Go On Strike,
move to the Woods,
and start growing your own food.

My Wife and I went On Strike in 2006,
and did that.
We have no mortgage or credit cards.
We buy nothing New if we can avoid it.
We buy 2nd Hand or Salvage, and make it work,
or do without.

We haven't regretted a single day.
The only real Stress of Fear we feel is when watching the News,
or Logging On to Du,
but a few minutes in the garden tending the Veggies or Berries dissolves all that,
and brings wonderful Peace and Enjoyment of LIFE.
We harvested Spring Honey from one of the Bee Hives this afternoon,
and it WAS fun and fulfilling.

But it is not for everybody.
We are strong and healthy with good backs,
have no dependents,
and have a complimentary Skill Set that makes this fun (most of the time).
We aren't completely Off the Grid yet,
but moving in that direction.


---bvar22 & Starkraven
living well on a low "taxable" income,
and stuff we learned in the 60s.

[Blanks]

17. When you say outside forces...

What my mind goes to immediately is: each other.

How many people are working in some kind of 'compliance' occupation? Not too long ago - I went out with a contractor on private property to evaluate the difficulty of excavation to see if he could realistically excavate the project with the equipment that he owned. We knocked a couple of trees down in order to make a path for the excavator. The city truck showed up and told us we needed a permit. It wasn't a big deal to get the permit, but it makes me wonder just how many people there are out there keeping other people from doing things that seem like they should just have 'the right' to do.

In a lot of neighborhoods you must mow your lawn -or be fined. You can't construct a structure without permission. To me the idea of having to get permission to behave in certain ways on your own property is something that we all should question, but for the most part - we seem to unquestionably comply... Even tell on each other if we are slip up, just a little.

I don't think that this was what you had in mind when you started this thread, but everyone goes nuts when there is the mention of restricting gun ownership, but it is against the law to walk along the highway - not a problem. It's public property, but you must behave in a certain way in order to utilize it.

I recognize that some restrictions are put on property owners to protect neighboring properties, but it seems to me that we accept these restrictions on our own freedoms, as long as other people are also forced to comply. That seems wrong to me.

We are all to blame for accepting this as progress.