How China may end up perfecting the sort of surveillance state the British have been working on:
Acts of civil disobedience like shooting out security cameras would only go so far if the government truly invests itself into becoming a surveillance state. You can only destroy so many sensors before someone or something discovers you and punishes you quite severely for stepping out of line.
None of this is really a threat to American "democracy," as the majority of the people will quietly acquiesce to the changes being proposed in order to keep their homes and wealth secure. As always, what we will lose is not democracy, but rather liberty. The one quality about this sort of tyranny that will make it tolerable is that it will prove to be short lived because a tyranny that relies on consumerist decadence relies on people who value consumer goods over transcendental values such as liberty and family. Demographics will, over a few generations, tend to bring such a society to its knees one way or another.
As China prepares to showcase its economic advances during the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, Shenzhen, Klein continues, "is once again serving as a laboratory, a testing ground for the next phase of a vast social experiment. Over the past two years, some 200,000 surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the city. Many are in public spaces, disguised as lampposts. The closed-circuit TV cameras will soon be connected to a single, nationwide network, an all-seeing system that will be capable of tracking and identifying anyone who comes within its range - a project driven in part by U.S. technology and investment. Over the next three years, Chinese security executives predict they will install as many as 2 million CCTVs in Shenzhen, which would make it the most watched city in the world."A while ago I realized that the reason that so few people are really willing to play hardball in American politics for their liberty is that consumerism has made many of the attacks on our liberty tolerable. As long as the people have their consumer goods, and relative comfort, human nature is quite resiliant to government abuse. Not only that, but the fear of losing one's comfort and wealth in a fairly wealthy society is ample motivation for most people to just toe the line without much complaint.
Security cameras are part of a much broader high-tech surveillance and censorship program known as the "Golden Shield" adopting the latest people-tracking technology - generously supplied with the latest American "homeland security" technologies from giants like IBM, Honeywell and General Electric - to create Klein observes: an "airtight consumer cocoon: a place where Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cellphones, McDonald's Happy Meals, Tsingtao beer and UPS delivery (to name just a few of the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics) can be enjoyed under the unblinking eye of the state, without the threat of democracy breaking out."
In Shenzhen one night, Klein has dinner with a U.S. business consultant named Stephen Herrington. Before he started lecturing at Chinese business schools, Klein writes Herrington taught students concepts like brand management. Herrington was a military-intelligence officer, ascending to the rank of lieutenant colonel. What he is seeing in the Pearl River Delta, Klein relates, "is scaring the hell out of him - and not for what it means to China."
Acts of civil disobedience like shooting out security cameras would only go so far if the government truly invests itself into becoming a surveillance state. You can only destroy so many sensors before someone or something discovers you and punishes you quite severely for stepping out of line.
None of this is really a threat to American "democracy," as the majority of the people will quietly acquiesce to the changes being proposed in order to keep their homes and wealth secure. As always, what we will lose is not democracy, but rather liberty. The one quality about this sort of tyranny that will make it tolerable is that it will prove to be short lived because a tyranny that relies on consumerist decadence relies on people who value consumer goods over transcendental values such as liberty and family. Demographics will, over a few generations, tend to bring such a society to its knees one way or another.
Russia seems to have done precisely what you discuss, but without consumerism ever having entered the picture. As has most of Europe. Russia is in the lead for a complete social melt down, and Europe is 15 years from them. Though I suspect when Russia becomes muslim, we will see a hastened fall of Europe (if nothing changes). We seem to be chasing after that lot as if there was something laudable about social deconstructionism and less than zero population generation (how much of our population generation is legal, however, is debatable, particularly since hospitals record babies of illegals as US citizens). If I did not believe in God, that there is a price for not obeying Him, that there are blessings for His people, and His will both provides and survives anything man can do, I would find a way to nuke the place.
Is consumerism the ticket to a dread future? Very possibly, but that is only possible when a population is mal-educated, stripped of God and family, and morally debased to animals. If or when the latter actually becomes the truth (and not just a Hollywood wish), then people might truly sell their God given birthrights. Of course, with women in the voting mix, it is just a matter of time. I think they were kept out of birthrights, governance, and religious leadership historically, by a vast predominance, for a reason. There is time for change. And, if not absolutely, I do see signs of change (not, by the way, Obomber's signs :) ). If they are oddities, seeming externalities, and vaguely there. Enough change, I cannot say.
Italy is showing remarkable signs of coming back around now with the crackdowns. If those continue, it's entirely possible that while it would be a shadow of its former self, that it will end up preserving its ethnic identity(ies)
Are you just trying to depress me?
Does it depress you to think that the Italians might actually survive as a nation-state without being substantially changed culturally and religiously?
Of course not! It was a tease, truly. It was sort of as if, in an odd way, you were sun shining on my rainy day. I just laughed on the inside and commented without much background or fill explaining that. I have some hope Europe, as a region, will figure somethings out and get back on track. I even hope Russia has a revitalization, though I have many doubts about that. I have hope for all people, but even God suggests only some, perhaps only few, will make it. And, though I need to care for my own concerns, I should also reach out as I am able, if nothing more than in spirit. And, I do, with hope.
Well, it's good to know that you weren't rooting for the destruction of civilization in Italy...