Stop the formation of stazi rule in Canada, stop: Harper’s E-cavity search Bill C-30
This patch coming to a shoulder near you soon. Most who read this have lived a fairly unrestricted life. With the exception of border crossings and air-travel the fact that you have basic principles of freedom of mobility and speech go virtually unnoticed. They're your rights, this is a democracy, heck this is Canada land of the free and the home of the brave... Then 911 happened and changed the world. What really changed was not the threat of terror, and steps to improve security. What really happened was the re-birth of the police state. The agencies that for decades since the cold war had slowly and archaically fell into disrepair and semi-retirement suddenly were catapulted into the lime light, and answers were needed, but all they had was a volley of finger pointing and partisan arrogance to draw on. Arrogance, complacency and stagnant ideology caused 911, and the game of catch-up that ensued? well that it what we are paying for right now. I could write volumes on the real elements that culminated in the infamous tag line 911 and every one would end with the suffix, "partly so". What requires our actions today, is not wanderings down the corridors of recent past events, but more distant actual full cycle events, those same events we are doomed to repeat if we continue on our current path.
Why do I reference the Stasi in relation to this/ The pernicious nature of such legislation is not so much in its intended reach, but in its abuse. The bureaucracy that was built up around the stasi, that is documented as around one secret policeman per 166 East Germans. When the regular informers are added, these ratios become much higher: In the Stasi's case, there would have been at least one spy watching every 66 citizens! When one adds in the estimated numbers of part-time snoops, the result is nothing short of monstrous: one informer per 6.5 citizens. It would not have been unreasonable to assume that at least one Stasi informer was present in any party of ten or twelve dinner guests. And what is never factored into this is the economic motive that was utilized and capitalized on by sometimes desperate and sometimes calculated individuals. And that culture is very present in our society today, and this is of great concern when you present opportunities for abuse like this.
Could this be the reality in Canada? not to the extent it was in east germany, again not my intention to infer. It is the culture of spying that is so insidious, that even the notion of entertaining it by a purportedly free and open society against it citizens, this is what I find so appalling.
Incrementally over the last decade privacy has been carelessly whittled and weaned away. And it would appear by the reaction of most, not to be an issue at all. And when calculated this way it is easy for industrious overseers to keep chipping away. And if you intend to build a compliant society built on this model then this type of legislation fits the bill. Call it what you want, and if it is what you want, then stay silent. But don't call it democracy, don't call it a free and open society, and most certainly don't call it liberty.
Narrow focused individuals like Vic Toews like to draw obtuse parallels.They marginalize the significance of privacy by advocating you should have nothing to hide. They opine that if you disagree with an approach, then you support its antithesis. Both are simplistic and defensive assumptions that work well in the compliance trade, when you can strong arm them into action, but they don't grow value in a society.
Privacy does matter, it builds character, it gives shelter to the poet, a canvas to the artist, a meadow to nourish the mind. Privacy is not secretive, it is the womb where dreams are nurtured and become realities. It where thoughts are given the opportunity to reach their full potential. Today many of those thoughts and dreams, poetry and song are stored online, in places that have become in essence extensions of ourselves and are as equaling both entitled and protected as our homes and persons. The law as it stands now amply gives the police the power, when proven justified to monitor activities that are criminal in nature. We are indeed fortunate that in Canada The good in society far outweighs the small fracture in that society that requires attention. We should not be victimized as a collective by the denizens of compliance that are sheltered from the tyranny they would force on others.
If you value freedom please do your part, how ever small, post a link make a comment to friend, write a blog or forward someone else's. Your actions how ever small do help, we've proved that already.
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