You Think You Are Free?

By Linda S. Heard

Watching old movies makes me sad. I'm inevitably
reminded of a kindlier, gentler world without cameras
that spy on populations, where overseas travelling
was pleasurable and privacy was an individual's right.

Nowadays, states are usurping responsibilities that
are rightfully those of their citizens. Western
so-called democracies, in particular, are supposed
to have governments that are servants of the people,
whereas, in fact, the opposite is true. Under the guise
of doing what's best for us or ensuring our security,
governments are exercising more and more control
over our lives. And, tragically, we are facilitating this
erosion of our own freedoms, mostly because we're
not even aware it's happening.

The US and Britain are leading the pack in this
encroaching Orwellian nightmare. "War is peace;
Freedom is slavery; Ignorance is strength,"
wrote George Orwell in his book 1984. In recent
years, they have waged wars in the name of peace,
put entire populations under their thumb in the name
of freedom while government spin and a compliant
media serve to keep people ignorant about their
leaders' true motives.

If we only knew we are being indoctrinated to offer
up our personal freedoms to save ourselves from a
horrible fate at the hands of nicotine, calories and
Al Qaida. We are being taught to fear asylum seekers,
climate change, crazed terrorists and even each other.
Western governments are perfecting the politics of
fear because fearful populaces will do their bidding
without question and willingly subject
themselves to control.

Britain has become a master of this technique.
It currently holds a database containing the DNA
of 4.5 million people, arrested for both serious
crimes and minor infractions. The police have found
this tool so useful they are pushing to expand it to
cover everyone in the country although the Home
Office has rejected the idea for the moment.

By 2012 Britons over 16 will be required to hold biometric
ID cards checkable by police, immigration and customs
officials, as well as public and private bodies such as
travel agencies, airlines, banks and even retailers.

By 2010, Britain is also expected to incorporate Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) chips in passports
designed to carry a wealth of personal data on travellers.

Embedded

Further, there is a plan to embed RFID chips in vehicle number
plates allowing authorities the capability of identifying any
vehicle anywhere in all weather. RFID chips have been
embedded on every packet of cigarettes manufactured in
the UK since October last year, while others have been
fitted to trash cans officially to boost the rate of garbage
recycling. Pets entering Britain from abroad are also chipped.

Apparently, the government is also considering injecting
prisoners with RFID tags. If that goes ahead it's surely
the slippery slope to babies being chipped at birth.

The US has forced European airlines to hand over
19 pieces of information on travellers prior to their
departure and wants to extend this one-way data
flow to passengers over-flying the US en route to
Central America and the Caribbean. The UK wants
the system to be used throughout Europe and
domestically.

Not only do authorities want to control Britons'
movements, they are also after their thoughts.
Remember the Orwellian Thought Police, who
used surveillance methods and psychological
profiles to interpret the future goals of potential
dissenters and deviants? This is already happening
in the UK where people can expect to be caught on
camera up to 300 times per day and where their
phone calls and Internet browsing is
routinely monitored.

Earlier this month, three British appellate judges had
the good sense to quash the convictions of five young
Muslims prosecuted for simply downloading
"extremist propaganda" from the Internet. There
was no other evidence against them and no proof they
intended to act on any message contained in such material.
In other words, their initial conviction was purely based on
thought crime. The judgment read: "Literature may be
stored in a book or on a bookshelf, or on a computer drive,
without any intention on the part of the possessor to
make any future use of it all."

Big Brother Britain isn't working. Indeed, the prisons
are overflowing and violent crime is on the up-and-up,
much of it fuelled by drugs and alcohol. You've surely
heard the expression "give a dog a bad name . . ."
Could it be that when law-abiding citizens are prejudged
as criminals some of them might conclude, "
What the heck"?

But Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four isn't exactly
where Britain is headed. The reality is a combination
of Orwell's theories and those set-out in Aldous
Huxley's Brave New World.

As the American author Neil Postman wrote in his
book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, whereas "
Orwell feared the truth would be concealed from us,
Huxley feared the truth would be droned in a sea of
irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture.
Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture" consumed by
"an almost infinite appetite for distractions".

In a way they were both right. Unless we tear ourselves
away from our pretty toys and distractions just long
enough to remove our rose-coloured specs, freedom
will be obsolete except as a slogan above the gate of
the Ministry of Truth.

Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on
Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback
and can be contacted by email
at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.