Let’s all spy on our neighbours shall we?
Top marks to a mate of mine who spotted the following “advertisement” on a billboard along Elstow Road in Bedford… and drew my attention to it:
Well, I say “advertisement” but I’m more inclined to think “propaganda” or, without putting too fine a point on it, “con”. Maybe “bullshit” would be a better word.
To start with, the “ad” is sponsored by the cops. According to the logos down the bottom anyway. The British Transport Police and ACPO in fact.
Ah yes, ACPO. The Association of Chief Police Officers. And we all know about them, don’t we?
Now I don’t really have any issues with the Transport Police. Not yet, anyway. But ACPO? Ah, different matter entirely. A right dodgy bunch of characters. The toerags ultimately responsible for our once-respected Police Force being turned into a paramilitary-style bunch of thugs who, on an almost daily basis, are alienating ever more members of the public they’re supposed to serve.
Bet you don’t have a clue what I’m going on about, do you? Well, for starters, you could do worse than read this blog.
So, back to that advertisecon…
What we have here then is the implication that folk studying CCTV cameras (y’know, those damned intrusive things that have sprouted up like weeds all over our country) are likely to be terrorist bombers.
Hmph!
So there’s me, busying studying and taking pics of one of those big brother snooping devices (as is my wont) when some nosey-parker shopper reports me to the anti-terrorist squad and next thing I know I’m flat on me back with a dozen gun-toting cops piled on top of me.
And for what? Because I happen to have made it a bit of a pet project to photographically document these privacy-invading tools of the State.
And why should I have been stupid enough to make it a pet project? Because I happen to have the temerity to question the wisdom of having all these cameras on our streets; because I happen to object to having my every movement monitored when I’m out and about; and because I definitely don’t trust the State (you can read more about that here).
Realistically though, I ask you… how many genuine potential bombers d’you really think there are in this country? And of those, how many do you think are going to be stupid enough to openly and blatantly wander around studying CCTV cameras? (And if they are that stupid then I don’t rate their chances of being a successful bomber anyway!)
And of those, just how many are likely to be spotted by some random shopper? And of this whittled-down miniscule number, just how many are likely to be hanging around long enough for the boys in blue to arrive? A sufficient number to justify the expense (an expense probably paid for out of our taxes I might add) of having all those lovely whacking great advertisecons printed and pasted up?
Hmm. I thought not. Not unless we’re getting to be truly paranoid, and afraid of our own shadows even. And if we’re that afraid then the terrorists have already won and have no need to bomb us anyway.
So what other likely reason could there be for these fear-inspiring advertisecons?
Couldn’t possibly be anything to do with the CCTV itself could it? Like a sort of crafty psychological/subliminal trick whereby we’re conditioned into believing those bloody cameras are there for our protection rather than just a manifestation of the State’s overarching and totalitarian desire to control?
An attempt perhaps to make them seem more acceptable?
No. That’d just be silly. Wouldn’t it?
But I can’t help having noticed that a lot of these cameras are being redesigned… or their housings replaced at least.
At one time they all used to look pretty much like this…
No hiding the purpose of that, is there?
But more and more frequently it seems those quite obvious surveillance devices are being replaced by these…
which some might argue are a lot “friendlier” looking and less obtrusive. Hmm. To my mind they’re just a damn sight more sinister. And a bit alien-looking to boot.
Then we come on to the other aspect of those advertisecons… the fact that they’re encouraging us to snoop on people! This is even nastier, and more insidious, than the bloody CCTV. Not contenting itself with prying into our lives at every possible opportunity, the State now wants us to embrace a culture of nosiness on its behalf. Bloody hell! East Germany before the Wall came down or what?
Think I’m kidding? Well, the best is yet to come.
Not too many days after my mate spotted that and shared his find with me, what should we discover lurking along Kempston Road in Bedford?
Yep. A clear and open invitation for us all to go snooping through each other’s rubbish bins!
Well, I dunno about you lot but I have not the least inclination to go rooting through my neighbour’s rubbish. And if I find anyone rooting through mine likely as not I’ll do something nasty to them. Or at the very least have a few strong words with them. Then do something nasty to them.
And I ask you, what terrorist worthy of the name is gonna be that stupid as to leave evidence of his nefarious activities just laying around in his wheelie bin for any nosey busybody to find?
No. Clearly this whole advertisecon campaign is designed simply to breed paranoia and soften us up for yet more intrusions into our privacy… as though there weren’t enough already.
And of course, the real answer to this terrorism rubbish lies in another direction entirely. If our government, in cahoots with their partners in crime the US, didn’t go stomping all around the world as though we owned it, and if we didn’t give our support to dodgy regimes that think nothing of pulverising their neighbours… in other words, if we (as in the State) didn’t go around pissing people off then there wouldn’t be a terrorist threat!
Obvious, innit?
Addendum 15 April ‘09:
Hmm… seems I’m not the only one to have picked up on these nasty advertisecons. Here’s another take on it from, would you believe, Ian Parker-Joseph’s blog (the leader of the Libertarian Party UK). Not that I have much truck with politicians… of whatever flavour!
Addendum 16 April ‘09:
And here’s another one!
-- fotdmike
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