Month: October 2013

Here’s a fun activity for those of us who want to do something, can’t quite figure out what to do, and are pretty sure that they’re not quite at the point where, as Mencken so eloquently put it, “Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.”

Object.

That’s all there is to it. Publicly object.

Make a list of the things that are going on with government that affect you and others adversely. Be specific. Order them, starting with the worst. Then announce, through the medium of your choosing, your objection to the top one on your list.

Encourage those who agree with you to add their objection to said issue. Also, encourage them to form their own list, and object in their own way.

I do not encourage law-breaking — not because I don’t believe in civil disobedience, but because I think we are in a condition where we need to ‘rouse the sleeping giant’ first, before we take more assertive action.

I believe that everyone has a list in the back of their mind. Put it down, make it right, and act on it.

Object.

Loud and long.

Form groups of like-minded objectors. Ride your issue until it gets attention. Follow through.

Do whatever seems to work, and share the secrets of your success.

I’ll start:

I object. I object to the feeling that there’s nothing we can do, that no one listens to us. I believe that the reason no one listens is that we’re not speaking out often or loudly enough. I object to our complacency. I say that the reason things are the way they are is because we let them get that way. And I object to the assumption by the “powerful” that they can control us so easily. I am going to object to complacency until I’m proven wrong!

To what do you object?

Speak out!

Object!

My list is not complete, but it may provoke some thought.

1. Intersections that have no traffic signals have surveillance cameras
2. Law enforcement budget line items for surveillance electronics exceed those for administrative/office electronics
3. Photo ID is required for transactions, in a branch office whose employees know you on sight, of a bank of which you’ve been a customer for years
4. Medical information is not only no longer jealously guarded, but is not protected at all from various commercial entities
5. Your right to privacy is protected only if you totally isolate yourself from any kind of social interaction — anything less protected is free game for monitoring
6. Photo ID is old tech — the avant-garde are moving to thumbprint or retina scanning
7. More and more “professionals”, with whom you deal every day, need to know more and more about your personal life — especially certain habits deemed to be “incorrect”
8. Your preferences are known, collected, databased, and shared among all interested parties with whom you interact
9. The federal government assumes the authority to observe, collect data on, and manage more and more aspects of your daily life (for your own good, of course)
10. The federal government also assumes the authority to observe, collect data on, and act upon more and more aspects of the public domain (in the interest of national security, of course)

As I say, this list is not complete. Feel free to add to it, as suits your own level of discomfort.

And remember, “if you have nothing to hide, you have no reason to object”.