03 April 2009

You Don't Professionalize

Until you nationalize!

This is what happens when you have an organization that has authority without accountability.

This is also what happens when technology gets to the tipping point where it is no longer controllable by such organizations. Hilarity often ensues when the would be subjects refuse to act like subjects. This, by the way, is what's known as A Good Thing.

On a side note, any time I hear variations on the theme "if you have nothing to hide" it sets my teeth on edge. I don't have anything to hide, no, but I still don't want you pawing through my underwear drawer without a warrant. It's all about the whole freedom thing, you see.

Freedom is a scary thing. It requires you to make decisions, and to live or die by those decisions. Slavery is decidedly safer, but I'd rather be free if it's all the same to you.

And even if it's not all the same to you.

HT to Six Meat Buffet.

For those of you who would take issue with the statement that slavery is decidedly safer, when you are a slave you are a commodity, an investment, and only idiots would intentionally abuse their investments. And idiots don't get to keep their investments very long.

4 comments:

none said...

They are setting up roadblocks in my town to check for sobriety.

When people objected to being stopped without probable coause the powers that be say "if you have nothing to hide....'

Slippery slope.

Larry said...

It is a slippery slope indeed Hammer. On the one hand, it's a public street; on the other hand it's been proven to not be as likely to catch drunks as it is to find other minor violations, and on the whole it's a waste of time for both the taxpayers and the police.
And then you get that whole "Do you mind if I search your car" thing, to which I always say "Yes, in fact I do mind, unless you have a warrant" and then I get the inevitable "Well if you have nothing to hide..."

Anniee451 said...

All VERY well said, Larry - and the video; holy crap! (Have I mentioned how much I love John Stossell?) The whole "If you have nothing to hide" thing makes my head explode.

It's the same excuse they use to break into people's houses, go on fishing expeditions, and take their children away from them - well, if they had nothing to hide they'd have NO PROBLEM letting federal agents in to search their house and strip search their children. Uh...actually yes, yes I would. A BIG problem.

This type of door-knocking is always part of any kind of child-help program - Goals 2000, Head Start-type deals, "Parents as Teachers" - all this "village" stuff Hillary's been pushing since the 70s. The idea is to gain regular access to the home from the time of birth - they send someone around in the hospitals to do risk assessments (you know, like thinking for yourself and such) on new parents, promise to visit within the first two weeks - why would anyone object to having their home snooped around in and being asked all sorts of personal questions and evaluated according to sheets that don't even HAVE a space for "normal" - only varying degrees of risk. There are checkmarks for too many toys, not enough toys, too much attention paid by mom, too little attention paid by mom, does mom seem tired, depressed or overly happy? Oh, I'm telling you, the inside poop is horrifying.

And it's why the English are USED to having knocks on their doors by federal agents ALL THE TIME. They don't think anything of it - there are people who come out to weigh your baby and see that you're caring for it the way they see fit, people to show you how to store and reuse leftovers, people to police your pantry if your children are "overweight" (and if they find 'junk food' in a house with a fat kid, the kids are being taken away.) Apparently Americans are supposed to get just as used to having cameras on the streets, having our persons, cars, and homes invaded and searched since we "have nothing to hide." It's when you complain and other citizens say "If you had nothing to hide you wouldn't have any PROBLEM with cameras on the streets, random searches, etc." What. the. HELL. I always retort "Then I guess you would have no problem with security cameras in every room of your house, since, you know, you have nothing to hide." Tragically, they seldom do.

Larry said...

Yeah, what you said ;-)