Want to peek at the City of the Future? Visit an airport.

[ixion]

I just got back from spending 16 hours in our lovely airport system. It was the first time I had flown in a couple years. I used to love to fly, but the joy has been removed entirely thanks to the Gestapo tactics deployed in our airports these days. This time, as I was moving through being treated like a felon rather than a paying customer, it occurred to me that what we have in our airport system is a glimpse of our cities if we allow the present trend to continue.

Think about it for a second... in an airport there is an ever-growing plethora of restaurants and stores. Note that these are all on the inside of the "security" checkpoints, which are templates for future city gateways. These "secure" areas have come to resemble vast shopping malls. They are over-priced (even more so than traditional shopping malls), with a generally crappy selection of goods and services. While you move through the mall, you are being watched constantly by video camera and on-the-ground staff. You can be 'disappeared' for anything considered even vaguely aggressive or furtive. Lose your temper, you disappear. It's that simple. Resist authority and you wind up "strangling yourself" with your own handcuffs.

This is the kind of hyper-surveillance state that awaits us if our congress continues to make laws that deny and disparage our Constitution and Bill of Rights (what's left of them). And if you think I'm being alarmist, you should take a trip to New York City, where they're already deploying these types of tactics, as are other cities around the nation. Hidden cameras, privacy violating checkpoints, random searches without cause, guard towers staffed with heavily-armed guards. More and more, We the People are treated like felons by the people whose salaries we provide. They don't like us expressing our unhappiness with them in any fashion. They simply want us to shut up, bust our ass to pay their salary, and be good and manageable automatons.

From my experience, they have used the airport system as a proving ground for implementation of authoritarian measures because of the scale. However, as they 'perfect' these stations and procedures, it's a very safe bet that you'll see them popping up all over the place. They're already in government office buildings, but look for them coming to a shopping mall or city gateway near you sometime soon.

No, you say, it'll never get that bad. And I may have been inclined to agree until I saw millions of people tolerate the humiliating and dehumanizing process of an average airport security checkpoint. I thought to myself: "Gee, maybe next time I'll just wear a bright orange jumpsuit and flip-flops".

Really, though, this is just macabre humor which simply mocks the unacceptable.

And, just to be clear, I have no compassion whatsoever for people who would seek to harm others on airplanes, or hijack them or use them for political purposes, or as weapons. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. However, these actions are criminal actions, and should be handled -- as they have been for decades -- by law enforcement and on a discretely individual basis, as opposed to casting a broad net that subjects free citizens to authoritarian measures.

This is the core of what "changed" after 911. Despite the fact that the system in place, in fact, worked, our governments (Fed/State/County/City) used this event as a springboard to launch a host of measures such as I describe above, and continue to extend these measures in the name of "protecting the Homeland".

From what I can see, our "homeland" (OH! how I loathe this word that smacks of Nazi Germany) is quickly becoming a vast industrial prison wasteland, with only the facade of glittering stores selling over-priced crap to veil its arrival.

The security people, for the most part, were very friendly and cordial as they ransacked my luggage and confiscated my mouthwash and toothpaste in the interest of national security. I guess that's a lesson the fascists learned from the Gestapo: smile, and say "have a nice day" as you deprive someone of Life, Liberty or the Pursuit of Happiness.

Some Freedom!

Mark my words: Airports are models for cities of the future. Your Freedom will be whittled down to the freedom to purchase cheaply manufactured garbage from the mega-conglomerate of your choice, and to be whisked away for the slightest dissent.

Bon Voyage...and happy shopping!

[ananda]

1. Actually..

.. it's already that bad.

[ixion]

4. well, I would say that there is a marginal difference

but yeah, the distance of that gap is closing day by day.

[cornermouse]

2. Too late.

They're installing traffic cameras around here that should enhance their ability to track people's movements around a city. They can attribute it to watching for speeders and eventually as an aid in tracking the criminal element, but for some reason, these powers always seem to get abused and misused.

[ixion]

6. yep, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Abuse is inherent in the system, yet

collectively speaking, we don't seem to get it, despite the fact that it has been repeated over and over and over again by our ancestors.

And people wonder why I don't think humans are very bright.

[RufusTFirefly]

27. Hey!!! What are you talking about???

"for some reason, these powers always seem to get abused and misused."

Look how wisely and responsibly the patient men and women in law enforcement have used Tasers!
:sarcasm: (for the sarcasm challenged)

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Gives new meaning to the expression "Miranda warning."

"O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beautious mankind is!
O brave new world
That has such people in't!"

(Miranda's little speech in Shakespeare's Tempest, for the literarily challenged.)

[ixion]

7. Shakespeare wrote everything

the rest is just a regurgitation. :hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Aw, I don't think Shakespeare was so great.

All he did was to string together a bunch of old sayings.

[ixion]

17. perhaps, but he did so with the most amazing meter

Whenever I hear Shakespearian dialog, the word "mellifluous" always comes to mind. His ability to turn a smoothly-metered sentence has never been duplicated, IMO.

[Jackpine Radical]

19. Hey, Ix--Out of character for you to miss one-liners

like my last one.

[ixion]

20. lol... yeah, you're right... my bad

not sure what the heck I was thinking. :rofl:

[0007]

30. Lord Buckley use to call Shakespeare, 'Willie the Shake'

I guess because he shook everyone when he wrote.

[NMMNG]

5. Kind of 1984 with a touch of Brave New World

Big Brother is certainly watching, and you'll be whisked away to the Ministry of Truth for any infraction (which is whatever Homeland Security decides it is at any given moment). History is re-written and revised continually by the RW. We're at war with Eastasia. No, we're at war with Eurasia.

But be sure to consume, consume, consume along the way. New is better than old. Must keep the economy booming no matter how poor you are. Use that plastic. Who cares? It's only going to take you 40 years to pay it off.

[ixion]

8. Indeed... I noted that the airline was selling credit cards on the flight

so people could get free miles and buy stuff from the Sky Mall catalog. :puke:

[NMMNG]

16. That's insane

CC companies are such vultures.

[0007]

9. I hate to fly these days. Airports bring an apprehensive and distressed state of mind

to most all travelers.
“Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors” (Albert Einstein)

[ixion]

10. yep...very unpleasant

take days to shake off that industrial-strength authoritarian feeling. And it sucks, because I really used to enjoy flying.

[reprobate]

23. Personally, I now refuse to fly. I figure if I can't drive there, I don't need to get there.

Oh how I wish that we had a decent hi-speed national train system. It's far more energy efficient and far more comfortable than the airliner that packs more and more sheeple into a tin can, packed like sardines.

Air travel today has become so stressful that it's no wonder that more and more passengers go bonkers while aloft. Watch for the next advance in air travel to be tranquilizers in the air system.

[YareweinIraq]

11. Airlines are Racist!

On a recent trip, I made a disturbing observation.

Most of the pasengers seated towards the rear of the plan were black. (I use that term since I cannot see their naionality). While towards the front of the plane sat mostly non-whites.

I have noticed this on many flights recently. Do you think that the gov't and airlines are gathering information on peoples race and assigning seats accordingly?

I fly several times a year and I see this happening on most flights that I board. When zone 1 is called, ther is almost NEVER a white passenger going thru the door.

[ixion]

13. Interesting observation...

I am white, and was in several different zones over the course of the trip, including zone 1, so I personally couldn't confirm this, but it wouldn't surprise me were it found to be true.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. Some airlines let passengers pick their own seats on line.

If that's the case, whoever buys their ticket first gets first dibs on the "good" seats, which usually include emergency exit rows (more legroom) and aisle seats. Airline employees get the leftovers, if any (the very back of the plane, which we call "Non-Rev Row"). So if what you have observed really is occurring and is intentional, it would have to be on an airline that doesn't allow passengers to select their own seating when they print their boarding passes.

[Turn CO Blue]

33. Bullshit! Customers pick their seats with either a live res agent

if they call in on the phone, or if booking online on the airline's site then they get to see a seatmap and pick their own seats. Sometimes during big fare sales, the reservation system will randomly assign seats based on the customer's preference of window or aisle.

There is NO WAY for the computer systems on all the travel agencies or for the live res agents to have ANY remote idea of skin color, weight, height, eye color creed, nationality or anything like that at all, except by using last name, which is entered AFTER you've selected your seat preference!

The only time seats are NOT given at most airlines so that customer have to get a seat assignment at check-in (excluding Southwest which does not ever give seat assignments but seats based on a first-come, first served basis at gate check-in), is when the customer books online with a "cash-only" consolidator like cheaptickets.com. If they use a major consolidator (like Orbitz or Travelocity) then they still get to pick their own seats.

I'm really sick of the irrational airline/airpot pile on.

[JohnyCanuck]

12. "We are waking up to a surveillance society all around us"

Looks like they're using the UK as the test bed for surveillance technologies. You can bet your bottom dollar this crap that is going on in the UK will spread to the others side of the pond as well.

Big Brother Britain 2006: 'We are waking up to a surveillance society all around us'

By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent
Published: 02 November 2006

Britain has sleepwalked into becoming a surveillance society that increasingly intrudes into our private lives and impacts on everyday activities, the head of the information watchdog warns.

New technology and "invisible" techniques are being used to gather a growing amount of information about UK citizens. The level of surveillance will grow even further in the next 10 years, which could result in a growing number of people being discriminated against and excluded from society, says a report by the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas.

Future developments could include microchip implants to identify and track individuals; facial recognition cameras fitted into lampposts; and unmanned surveillance aircraft, predict the report's authors.

Mr Thomas,who heads an independent body that promotes public access to official information, calls for a debate on what level of surveillance is acceptable.

He said: "Two years ago I warned that we were in danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance society. Today I fear that we are in fact waking up to a surveillance society that is already all around us.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article1948209.ece

Spy drones added to Britain's "surveillance society"

LONDON (Reuters) - It could be the 4 million closed-circuit television cameras, or maybe the spy drones hovering overhead, but one way or another Britons know they are being watched. All the time. Everywhere.

The latest gizmo to be employed in what civil liberty campaigners are calling Britain's "surveillance society" is a small, remote-controlled helicopter that can hover above inner city streets and monitor suspected criminals.

Unveiled in the north of Britain this week, it could be introduced across the country if deemed a success, fuelling an already intense debate over whether the "Big Brother" world George Orwell predicted is now truly upon us, or whether such scrutiny is merely essential for security in the modern era.

"For us, this is a cost-effective way of helping to catch criminals," said Simon Byrne, a senior police officer in the Merseyside district who launched the spy drone project.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL2169931620070523

[ixion]

15. which is remarkable, given that they've had more experience with tyranny

really... what the hell is wrong with our species? We have this seemingly hard-wired tendency to foster tyranny both directly and indirectly, while speaking about our "enlightened" humanity. :crazy:

[tbyg52]

21. Read The Space Merchants

for a look at the world of the future. The only difference is that in the book the corporations took over Congress instead of the Executive branch.

http://www.amazon.com/Space-Merchants-Sf-Masterworks/dp/0575075287/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4981640-1131327?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192992028&sr=1-1

[ixion]

22. thanks!

I'll check it out. :hi:

[tbyg52]

24. you're welcome!

You might like other Frederik Pohl also. He's one of the few Golden Age science fiction writers still alive. Hope he hangs in there for a good long time.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-5929568-8573635?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Frederik+Pohl&Go.x=&Go.y=&Go=Go

[RoccoR5955]

25. Haven't the corporations already taken over? n/t

[tbyg52]

35. True, but Polh and Kornbluth saw it coming in the early 50's

Plus it's a good book! ;)

Pohl's still writing. He has a lot of ideas about government and where the world is heading. I particularly like _The Years of the City_.

[truedelphi]

26. I too once enjoyed flying. But now like others before on this topic

IF I cannot drive there, do i need to go.

[truedelphi]

28. A relevant memory just surfaced - About six months ago,

I was on YouTube and there was a video done by a 9/11 Truth investigator.

In it,he was recounting to his audience that on his flight in, as he boarded, the air stewards and stewardesses were in a jokey and friendly mood. They asked him nicely where he was going and what he was up to and he said "I'm a former college professor and today I am going to Chicago to address an audience on the fact that 9/11 was not a terrorist-sponsored event but instead a government set-up."

The staff looked at him pleasantly, and then they sort of sniffed their response, "Well, most all of us know that it was a set-up -- if it was for real, the security procedures would be far more meaningful."

So he asked them "Do you think 9/11 was planned by the government?"

"Oh of course," the stewards and stewardesses answered. "Just how meaningful was any of what you did today as "security" measures? Those procedures are a bunch of nonsense. And a lot of the passengers who board our flights tell us just what you are saying, though maybe they don't have your credentials as a former college professor.""

[ixion]

29. a bunch of nonsense indeed...

meant only to harass and cajole the populace.

I think the comments from the flight crew are interesting. There is a great piece of news there (meaningless searches), but I doubt we'll ever see the MSM reporting it. :grr:

[JohnyCanuck]

31. That was Canadian media critic and former journalism Prof. Barrie Zwicker

Published on Sunday, May 11, 2003 by the Toronto Star

Conspiracy Crusader Doubts Official 9/11 Version
by Michele Landsberg

SNIP

As Vision TV's media critic for the past 15 years, and as a journalist with a long list of solid credentials (he's worked at The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, taught at Ryerson University, and was awarded a Southam Fellowship at the University of Toronto), Zwicker should be safely out of the line of fire. It's a measure of his determination to challenge conventional wisdom that he has willingly kept his head up, instead of down, and tried to look facts right in the eye.

"You know, the people who just shrug off these questions with the `conspiracy theorist' epithet should be asked what they stand for. Unquestioning acceptance of the official narrative? Sure, there are outlandish theories out there — aliens, Atlantis — but there have also been real and huge conspiracies," Zwicker told me in an interview in his home office.

I knew about some of those conspiracies. Last January, I wrote a column about American declassified documents that verify a long history of top-level conspiracies. The U.S. government, its military and its secret service have plotted to justify wars and impose their control on other countries through intricate secret schemes of drug-running, gun smuggling and assassination. They even considered rigging fake terrorist attacks that would cost American lives in order to stir the public to war-ready outrage.

Immediately, I was deluged with hundreds upon hundreds of approving e-mails from American citizens. Some of them praised the TV work of Barrie Zwicker — a Globe and Mail colleague of my youth.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0511-04.htm

[truedelphi]

34. thanks for putting a name to the comments. n/t

[ncs8585]

32. Written almost 40 years ago...

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

© Copyright MCA Music (BMI)


<http://www.steppenwolf.com/lyr/mnnster.html>