Land of the Free
Censorship, Phone taps and Opened mail.
The United States of today has some similarities with the South Africa of yesterday. Growing up in apartheid South Africa, everything we saw and heard ran through a board of censors before it ever reached the public. You couldn't read a newspaper or a magazine that hadn't been censored.
Everybody knew that the government was watching. Illegal phone taps and opening mail where all common practices in what was the archaic regime of the South African government. Does this sound familiar?
President Bush authorized the NSA to monitor any international calls. That might be a bit of an invasion of privacy but hey, what do I know? It turns out that mail was also being opened in this, the War on Terror (a war that cannot ever end)
When you see the FCC watching and censoring everything we see and hear, George listening and reading everything we send or say, does it really feel like the 'Land of the Free'? I think this mantra should be modified to be 'Land of the Free*'.
I love living in the USA and all the ideals that it was built on. I feel like we lose a little of what makes America great every time the powers that be encroach on our privacy.
* Freedom doesn't include:
Speech, international phone calls, medical aid, opinions, naked bums on TV, letters to Mom, choice or civil rights.
Does include:
Frivolous law suits, invading other countries, mass media hype and blatant lies.
The United States of today has some similarities with the South Africa of yesterday. Growing up in apartheid South Africa, everything we saw and heard ran through a board of censors before it ever reached the public. You couldn't read a newspaper or a magazine that hadn't been censored.
Everybody knew that the government was watching. Illegal phone taps and opening mail where all common practices in what was the archaic regime of the South African government. Does this sound familiar?
President Bush authorized the NSA to monitor any international calls. That might be a bit of an invasion of privacy but hey, what do I know? It turns out that mail was also being opened in this, the War on Terror (a war that cannot ever end)
When you see the FCC watching and censoring everything we see and hear, George listening and reading everything we send or say, does it really feel like the 'Land of the Free'? I think this mantra should be modified to be 'Land of the Free*'.
I love living in the USA and all the ideals that it was built on. I feel like we lose a little of what makes America great every time the powers that be encroach on our privacy.
* Freedom doesn't include:
Speech, international phone calls, medical aid, opinions, naked bums on TV, letters to Mom, choice or civil rights.
Does include:
Frivolous law suits, invading other countries, mass media hype and blatant lies.
posted by Alex Charalambides | 2:21 PM
1 Comments:
Oh Alex, sure you're gonna open a few letters with recipes or holiday snaps, but you're also gonna intercept evil plans for worldwide destruction.
Take the smooth with the rough i say.
Its like those witch burnings back in the day. Sure loads of innocent women got a raw deal, but every now and then they got a real witch!
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