DeusExMachina
08-02-2013, 13:54
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon
It's been several years, highschool I think, since I remember this term. A quote from the ACLU (not a fan due to their 2A stance) at the Senate hearings on NSA surveillance brought it all back to me:
"People who know the government could be monitoring their every move, their every phone call, or their every Google search will comport themselves differently. They'll hesitate before visiting controversial websites, they'll hesitate before joining controversial advocacy groups, and they'll hesitate before exercising rights that the Constitution guarantees. Now individually those hesitations may appear to be inconsequential, but the accumulation of those hesitations over time will alter the nature of our democracy, it will alter citizens relations to one another, and it will alter their relationship to their government. That much is clear from a history of many other countries." - Jameel Jaffer
This also applies to firearms laws. I have observed for a long time that when they take an inch, we take a mile due to fear of prosecution. Reality is, some laws are hardly enforced or have light sentences, but we make up monsters. Such as policing ourselves. Such as banning magazine extensions from sale, when the law does not prohibit sale of magazine extensions.
Just an observation.
It's been several years, highschool I think, since I remember this term. A quote from the ACLU (not a fan due to their 2A stance) at the Senate hearings on NSA surveillance brought it all back to me:
"People who know the government could be monitoring their every move, their every phone call, or their every Google search will comport themselves differently. They'll hesitate before visiting controversial websites, they'll hesitate before joining controversial advocacy groups, and they'll hesitate before exercising rights that the Constitution guarantees. Now individually those hesitations may appear to be inconsequential, but the accumulation of those hesitations over time will alter the nature of our democracy, it will alter citizens relations to one another, and it will alter their relationship to their government. That much is clear from a history of many other countries." - Jameel Jaffer
This also applies to firearms laws. I have observed for a long time that when they take an inch, we take a mile due to fear of prosecution. Reality is, some laws are hardly enforced or have light sentences, but we make up monsters. Such as policing ourselves. Such as banning magazine extensions from sale, when the law does not prohibit sale of magazine extensions.
Just an observation.