It's funny, sad maybe, how often someone posts a link and how infrequently anyone responds to the content in it. The link may prove or disprove a point being made, or offer up something deep, shocking or just interesting. Yet they seldom get any notice. This one makes me very angry and sad, especially concerning the "I've got nothing to hide" mentality which takes over at one point.
"It seems to be making everyone behave much better", said one citizen...who perhaps (my words now) could not speak his mind without losing some of the meager rights he had left. He's already lost, or is in danger of losing: free speech, freedom of association, freedom of movement, and, a biggie, I think, the right to be foolish in the eyes of others!
If I don't retain the right to be foolish, I scarcely have rights. I don't mean foolish in the sense of driving with a blindfold, thereby endangering innocent people. I mean the right to spend my time in almost any non-violent way which does not harm others or their property or the environment. My 'foolishness' in your eyes may be the reason I get up in the morning, or vice versa. Who is either of us to judge what the other should be doing with their time until we reach a point where our activities damage others? If I don't hold out for your right to be an idiot in my view, then how can I expect it of you when my so-called foolish activities come up for review?
I certainly don't mean a useful idiot, like (maybe) the man I was quoting. I mean a regular idiot, 'wasting' valuable time and resources by boating, playing golf, playing video games, or posting on a philosophy forum.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me. Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), Lutheran Minister and early Nazi
supporter who was later imprisoned for opposing Hitler's regime."
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/mar ... 47gWeb.pdf
It doesn't seem to have the same power if you begin with:
They came for the gamers, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a gamer.
Then they came for the bloggers, and I did not speak out..."
Perhaps this is only because it has not yet played out. It may sound silly, but it is nevertheless frightening if you think it through.
"If determinism holds, then past events have conspired to cause me to hold this view--it is out of my control. Either I am right about free will, or it is not my fault that I am wrong."