Do you think echolon knows what books you have?

Scary stuff huh? It's only going to get worse.

reply to post by timidgal


Sounds like your reading interests are pretty normal to me. Of course I'm from California and that's what all the girls out here read.

The reality is there just isn't enough time to watch people based on reading innocuous over the counter books.

You will get checked based upon who you associate with and physical purchases not based on what you buy.

Assume they keep all these records it would work something like this:

You buy a ton of fertilizer and fuel on the same credit card. You info gets flagged for some fat bored analyst sitting in a Federal building to look at. They look and see you also own a copy of "Billy Bobs how to blow stuff up" and read a lot of anti american literature. Flagged for a check. FBI field operatives are given your name as a suspicious person to check out. They follow you for a couple of days and see what you're up to.

Or when the analyst looks up your info and sees you own a farm and go to the local Baptist church and kicks you through as no big deal.

It is the purchase or action event of immediate potential danger that triggers the remaining information to be looked at. You can own every explosive making book on earth along with every anti-American book and it isn't likely you would be checked until you started picking up supplies.

Not that I actually know... this is just how it has to work knowing how stuff like this functions.

reply to post by Jinglelord


Point well presented and, of course, I was being totally facetious.

With that said, I do believe that public libraries already have warning systems in place and whose to say there shouldn't be an appropriate concern should someone simultaneously check out "Bomb Making 101" and "Blueprints of the NYC Subway System". Could be coincidental but then again...

Being a strong proponent of the Bill of Rights (in spite of its innocuousness in this day and age of The Patriot Act), I would think this would be a violation of the 1st Amendment, no?

Timidgal

reply to post by timidgal


I knew you were being facetious and even had a good wise crack about Twilight ready to go and really wanted more details on the porn but figured for the sake of everyone else reading to just stick to my point. That's the problem with ATS is so often good humor is lost!

Either way I'm not entirely certain watching how a person expresses their first amendment rights is a violation of it. If I had to trade more oversight for more freedoms I would make that trade, but unfortunately it never works that way. More oversight is often used to enforce stupid laws designed to give stupid people a false sense of security in their sad and otherwise useless lives.

I've read 1984 many times. It is where the oversight ultimately leads to in my opinion. I suppose the question is how does one convince a cowardly populace that being watched at all times by a nanny state is a bad thing when it keeps their 52" TV fed with the latest reality drama?

Originally posted by SurrealEzen
reply to post by syrinx high priest

 

Yes but what its PDF? I dont want "them" following me because the pdf books I have, along with my majic will.

But this is still America and they can (exuse me.) shove it. Probaly some backwoods Christian extremists up there.

edit on 22-7-2011 by SurrealEzen because: (no reason given)

just go get some paperbacks.

either way, you won't get a visit from the feds until you start posting about "doing something about it" or other such nonsense

reply to post by Jinglelord


Winston and I have been compatriots for many years and my copy of 1984 is dog-eared; I keep it from the thought police by staying juiced on my hidden supply of victory gin. George Orwell either facilitated the most successful self-fulfilling prophecy in the history of mankind or was able to see the future. I totally agree with you but were the telescreens really only 52" or are we not quite there yet?? Either way, we're well past the point of no return and we grabbed for the carrot dangled in front of our noses many years ago (personal technology devices were the catalyst IMHO).

BTW, "The Way of a Man With His Maid", totally tame by today's standards (title sounds chauvinistic but I'm a woman so I can afford to sound that way where the PC police are concerned). Your turn on the Twilight joke. For those who can't appreciate it, skip to the next thread please...

Timidgal

EDIT: Reality TV = 30 minutes hate. Great comparison!

reply to post by timidgal



It is my sincere belief that were it not for Orwell's prophetic vision, or should I say knowledge of how power hungry people work, to serve as a warning we would be much further along in the dystopian reality.

The tool used by those in power to justify watching us and ultimately attempting to control us is the promise of security. The promise that if we starve they will feed us, that if become injured they will cure us, if we are threatened they will protect us. People want this. They beg for it and accept whatever comes along with it. There a very few of us who would rather starve, fester, and fight. Yet the job of the government is to do the will of the people. I think it has done that.

The will of the people is guided by the media, guided by the ideas and thoughts we are persuaded with. So if the powers can control the media they can control the will of the people and the government. I don't think Big Brother is the government. I think he is someone else. Someone behind the scenes pulling strings and playing the people and the governments of the world like marionettes to express his ultimate interests.

This is why I come to my original thought of it being no big deal to read whatever you want. They will not "do" anything unless you begin to take action, and it is the action they are watching for, not the knowledge. They already have control over the masses and have allowed for the stray "Crackpot" thinkers in their plan and as soon as a crackpot thinker takes actions they can easily stop them with full public support.

The reality of it is as long as the majority get what they want for now they can slowly strip the freedoms of the minorities and quietly take away personal freedoms for the greater good until your life is nothing more than to serve a machine that has no purpose except to grow and consume and feed the insatiable hunger of those who can only feed upon power.

Wow I just ranted...

By the way most good porn will have chauvinistic tones to it. That is part of the human sex drive and the drive for "PC" doesn't account for what really gets people's animal hungry and going. Starve the animal, put out the fire, and again a starved animal is easy to control...

reply to post by Jinglelord


Yes, you did dust off the ole soap box for a little while there but you made good use of it and did so to the right audience; one who knows that a good rant is oftentimes the only outlet for voicing our observations and/or frustrations. Such contemplated ideas help to keep the fire lit when shared with like-minded individuals. By the way, a very affective rant it proved to be as I'm typically a fairly harsh critic but could find no differences of opinion between us. I particularly like your thoughts relative to George Orwell's temporary mitigation of BB's agenda and had not considered that perspective before. With that said, it's unfortunate that the generation(s) who were the primary benefactors of his warnings are slowly fading away, either by natural circumstances or by falling victim to the pervasive feeling of collective apathy generated by the masses. As you point out, BB's agenda is, in fact, brilliantly affective in its insidiousness and remains hidden to all but the few who choose to scratch beneath the surface. The dilemma is how to snap the masses out of their well-entrenched daze...

As for the porn analysis, I applaud you again for being right on target but there’s something to be said for the vicarious thrill that can only be realized with the absence of analysis.

Timidgal

reply to post by timidgal


I'm glad you liked the rant. You're on the money with your thoughts and I had hoped it wouldn't fall on deaf ears as is often the case.

Did you know that Animal Farm and 1984 have sold more copies than any other 2 novels written in the 20th century? That tells me there is more influence there than anyone suspects.

I believe that people will eventually be shocked from their complacency. Should the people become aware before it is too late they will rise and deny their lives to be handed over no matter the payment in security.

Mark my words, and Orwellian future can never happen exactly because Orwell existed. It is my firm belief we are even able to have this conversation because he existed and wrote.

I am free to read anything I want and learn and grow as I please. My child will have the same freedoms and should she choose to have children they will have the same. This I will instill and fight for in the future.

reply to post by SurrealEzen


This would be beyond the alleged capabilities of Echelon unless you order the books through the computer like Amazon and even if they did they use computers to do all the sorting. Unless they've singled someone out and are looking real close this is unlikely. when it comes to the sheer volume of protest due to the massive incompetence of the government and the media I don't see how they can keep track of it all.