"Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against
the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better,
but leave it either as it was, or sometimes perceptibly worse
than what it was, before the crusade began. By thinking
primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions,
to create occasions for evil to manifest itself."
-- Aldous Huxley
"The only war that matters is the war against the imagination.
All others are subsumed by it."
-- Diane DiPrima, "Rant", from Pieces of a Song.
"It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there"
-- William Carlos Williams, "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower"
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Thank you for posting this!
This video didn’t surprise me at all. There are also similar trends going on here.
There are quite a number of members of the Muslim community who have been phoned by ASIO (many more will be phoned as it’s an ongoing process) and asked to attend “interviews” at cafes, libraries, parks etc… and being questioned about their political beliefs regarding Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. After these “interview” sessions, they’re advised to keep the meeting secret.
Why would a Government agency want to keep tabs on its citizens political beliefs? People may argue in the name of national security – “so we know who they are” – (and there’s no doubt that our national security should be of paramount concern), but using such dodgey methods just doesn’t cut it with me.
Thanks for the ASIO acronym, LDU. They’re hiring, quite transparently. Junior Stasi, no experience necessary, training provided. Free binoculars, decoder ring.
Nice to know we’re not the only ones with a blooming “security” industry in the United States.
Misery loves company.
I watched this video over a year ago and found myself enthralled at our ignorance. At our recollection of even recent history not to mention the history of long ago.
It has been said that all good men need do is nothing…indeed.
Thanks, LDU. While security is important, I think interviewing people about their political beliefs crosses a line. All these interview officers must be what is in part behind the recruitment drive Ressentiment has pointed to … The ads are everywhere, in national press, television ads, I even saw them in MX, a free daily paper given out to commuters here. They’ve even reached Ressentiment across the globe! I’m guessing they’ll just love Arabic speakers and other languages such as Hindi etc.
I read yesterday that the bungle with vindicated terror suspect Dr. Haneef used up the resources of a whopping 475 police officers, including 249 Australian Federal Police who were involved in the investigation, and cost Australian taxpayers $7.5 million. Blooming security industry indeed.
Great to see you, Poetry Man. Something Susan Jacoby wrote in a piece yesterday struck me, that “the inability to concentrate for long periods of time — as distinct from brief reading hits for information on the Web — seems to me intimately related to the inability of the public to remember even recent news events.” This article might interest you if you haven’t already seen it, it has relevance to all of our societies, not just our friends in the US.
Maybe one of the best thing we can do for our minds is to simply read a book.
The technological ease with which people can be spied on is one of the biggest cultural changes in the past 50 years. It is being used routinely by individuals, corporations, and governments. Yet, it receives very little public discussion.
Myspace TV now says:
This video was deleted.
Go figure!
:mad:
Thanks for the heads up, BB2. I’ve replaced it with the same video hosted at Google vids.