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Don't spook him. If you do he might disappear for 6 months.

If you look around it's not 1984 that we're heading toward it's a Brave New World.

Andybev01 wrote:Don't spook him. If you do he might disappear for 6 months.

Kinda like you.......maybe, Sssssssh be warry quite!!!

Andybev01 wrote:
If you look around it's not 1984 that we're heading toward it's a Brave New World.

I've forgotten now who I was reading, a number of years back, who made this very same observation. (Maybe Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death?)

It certainly seems that our whole culture is tending toward "bread & circuses," so I can readily understand the argument that we will be enslaved by a gentler tyranny than the one imagined in 1984. Then again, we do have lots of technology now that enables the government to spy on us all the time (who knows if even our internet usage isn't being monitored?), just as Orwell foresaw. I also think I see many examples of the perversion of our language, the inability to use certain frank words, for example, or the re-definition of terms, that smacks of New Speak.

I think both Orwell & Huxley were prescient.

Murfreesboro wrote: (who knows if even our internet usage isn't being monitored?)

Absolutely is. Put a dissenting view out on the net and you become a person of interest. It's a sure bet your email and personal messages are monitored also. Your phone calls have been for years.

This is why I go to so much pain to hide my real world ident. I'm not doing anything wrong (that I know of) but who's to say that what I'm doing now doesn't become restricted later? I saw a great picture the other day. Guy holding up a sign that says... "If voting made a difference, it would be illegal."

Murfreesboro wrote:It certainly seems that our whole culture is tending toward "bread & circuses,"

Didn't the Romans try this?

NeverMore wrote:

Murfreesboro wrote:It certainly seems that our whole culture is tending toward "bread & circuses,"

Didn't the Romans try this?

Sure did, with similar results, I believe. The phrase "panes et circenses" is from Juvenal's 3rd Satire, about life in the city of Rome, IIRC.

But in modern times it's food stamps and reality shows.

Right.

Murfreesboro wrote:(who knows if even our internet usage isn't being monitored?)

http://gizmodo.com/5907738/fbi-wants-to ... ance+ready

Scary. As if they aren't doing it already. They just want to make it easier.


Edit: Another one...

http://io9.com/5907341/judge-rules-that ... n-facebook

Really got to watch what you do online these days. Especially if you use your real persona.

I've never had a FaceBook page. Every day I am happier and happier about that.

I agree with all of you; there is a reason that the founding fathers went to great pains in order to secure our freedoms (or at least, write them down) and now people are just giving them away at random.

And I don't think that my life is so interesting that the masses want to know if I just had a doughnut, or if I will buy the black or brown shoes.

Andybev01 wrote:I agree with all of you; there is a reason that the founding fathers went to great pains in order to secure our freedoms (or at least, write them down) and now people are just giving them away at random.

And I don't think that my life is so interesting that the masses want to know if I just had a doughnut, or if I will buy the black or brown shoes.

Did it have sprinkles? Andy, you are absolutely correct. If voters knew exactly how it is being done and who is doing it, they would never vote for those politicians ever again. Cass Susstein is the most dangerous man in America right now.

Andybev01 wrote:But in modern times it's food stamps and reality shows.

court tv is up there to