Comments on: Dispatches - stealing your freedom.

By: Jax

Jax — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 21:40:36 +0000

I will not excuse your pontificating, I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

By: elderfairy

elderfairy — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:51:24 +0000

Oh crikey. I have to admit that one of the reasons I am still hiding out here is because the last place I lived in England was so criminal and frightening I just needed an easy life for a bit. I actually marched up to the burgling gang of (very scarey) kids one day and said to them: “Please don’t rob my house.” How pathetic eh? I just felt that the fact that I had unsuccessful crowbar marks on my windows and that my alarm system was always being triggered at night while I slept alone with my kids in one barricaded room was a dangerous sign it was not safe. Have been harrasssed by the police myself too, at times, but found the phrase “Do you know who I am?” (Innocent) totally useless. Shall rant in my spleen blog later about my experience of crime and punishment in England. What I am trying to say is that there seem to be a lot of bullying wa***rs about. Violent bullying people who commit crimes against others or make laws up. It’s all over the place. The only answer seems to be to stand up for ourselves and keep the strong love vibes going in our hearts so we are not destroyed by the fear of it all. Protest is good, but I personally think that we all need to get very, very clever. Friends in high places stuff, infiltrating groups. No violence, just cunning. I’ve noticed the same cold gleam in the eyes of a police man telling me to move on as I have in the eyes of a mugger telling me to open my purse. Children should not be taught there are good and bad people, but that they should learn to trust their instincts more. Lets be honest: how many times a day do we ignore our gut instincts? Scuze my pontificatin’ Jax! x

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 11:14:05 +0000

Well I disagree about the end justifying the means. Removing the civil liberties of the majority to deal with the crimes of a minority is wrong and not the type of society I want to live in.

Don’t you worry at all about the freedoms that your children won’t have as adults?

By: Merry

Merry — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:51:28 +0000

And i have very cold fingers and my spelling is even worse than normal!

By: Merry

Merry — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:50:30 +0000

No, i don’t think those things are acceptable, but then i don’t think that crowds of hooligans wrecking an event that should be family fodder was acceptable either.

You could, in that particular circumstance, say that the end justified the means in a sense, if you leave out the fact that the main reason it died out was probably that they hiked up ticket prices. Or if you leave out the slim possibility that people dying behind cages erected to pen them in eventually actually woke them up to themselves.

Obviously it is in my fairly distant memory, but certianly that particular incidence of violence and lawlessness in this countries past changed things for MY family. We eventually lost an income over it, though i did get my dad back for Saturday afternoons!

Not usre whether it comes down to not giving a shit either; mostly i find the people who are most rampantly vocal about it see a conspiracy in everything, the UKHE list being a prime example and i don’t really trust them much more than the government! And if i spent every hour trying to absorb the relaities of it i’d a) wreck my childrens lives by becoming even more paranoid than i already am, b) never have time for my children anyway and c) probably wouldn’t be all that much better off!

By: Tech

Tech — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:27:17 +0000

I keep hoping (eternally optimistic twit that I am) that there will come a point of critical mass where by people will just rebel and break these stupid laws. At the back of my mind though is this niggling doubt, especially when it seems the vast majority of people don’t give a shit, or perhaps (if I’m feeling charitable)are just plain scared, which ultimately is the aim; control through fear.

Perhaps Jax, you could use your writing skills to pen this novel that Neil T thinks could break through to the masses….

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 21:58:57 +0000

Merry, depends whether you think treating the majority as criminals is a price worth paying. I’ve had my photograph taken (individually) with no justification, I have day-to-day items confiscated with no justification or return of items, I have not been allowed access to where my car is etc etc etc, I have been threatened with arrest for asking for a police officers ID number (the officers having illegally removed them from their shoulders). Personally I don’t think that is justifiable…..

By: Jax

Jax — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 20:35:27 +0000

Elderfairy, I have written to my MP. I blogged her response. It really isn’t worth the electrons to try it again I don’t think, though I might consider it.

I’m thinking that it’s time for something a little more um, active? Although I’ve no idea what. I thought this was impressive though.

By: elderfairy

elderfairy — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:52:32 +0000

In Denmark you have to give your national identity code out for everything: library books, when you hire a video etc. I know that’s a silly comment, but I’m just climbing back in the saddle and I’m a bit rusty. I think what I mean to say is that, I think that the problem with some countries is that people just seem to accept the power of the police: all the police here carry guns. Okay, where are the stirrups..What I REALLY mean to say is: Don’t put up with it. Write to your mp, speak to people, join groups, get stuff printed in local newspapers. Tell your kids, involve everyone, call a meeting..I always brag about how English people like to put their foot down when the authorities go too far. I think the world’s gone a bit mad right now….who is behind all these silly rules?

By: Merry

Merry — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:16:11 +0000

Hmmmm.. re the footballs fans though; my dad was a football journalist in those days, from when i was about 5 to when i was about 10. He regularly came home severely shaken by what he had seen and got caught up in, people throwing half melted chairs down into the press box being one incident i particularly remember. He gave up in the end because he didn’t think it was a safe place for a father to be going. There were ordinary people and there were hooligans; it was the hooligans he was scared by of course, but something had to be done to change how it was. Surely it is better now for what was changed, even if it was a very hard line they initially took?

Not that that detracts from the main thrust of the post, i’m sure it is all true. Not that i’d know, i’ve got my fingers in my ears and i’m going lalalalalalala