I don’t want to be conspiratorial, but it’s worth considering how the bureaucratic mind works as regards Normal Citizens as we try to live in creative and DIY ways.
A sustainable culture functions to support those who contribute.
But our world is dysfunctional. Many haven’t gotten the memo. And there are other forces that trump function. Like MONEY. A gov’t dept will do anything to get funding, including preying on those it represents.
Take law enforcement…
And consider privacy and how data-mining works…
Bad guys are hard to bust. At least that’s the case with those who are most relevant, who do the most harm. They work at not getting caught.
Who would be easy to bust? A normal citizen who is doing something sensible but which for some reason is also illegal in some respect. Say, tearing the label off of a mattress, or the equivalent. They wouldn’t know it’s illegal and wouldn’t hide such behavior.
Since gov’t depts DO need funding, they will assign law enforcement to bust and fine those who are easiest to attack and get money from. This will be the erstwhile law-abiding citizen.
Sure, if it was a relevant point of law that was easy to overlook the agency could instead have an official educate the citizen which would correct the behavior and foster good relations. But that wouldn’t get money.
In short, if you DO things as a normal person you’re at risk from gov’t attack and seizure of funds. You are their easiest prey.
So surveillance won’t be used much to catch or stop terrorists. The bad guys are WAY ahead of all that in any meaningful way. No, it will be used to catch and fleece Regular People who aren’t trying to hide what they’re doing. (Ruining you would kill the goose. Skinning you to the just the point where you can still bounce back to make more money that can then be fleeced again: that’s the “sweet spot.”)
Yeah, I suppose this can be hard to believe. But if you’re trying to live in a DIY way, I just say “heads up.” You’ll be busted and it won’t be because you’re bad.
Here’s one tiny example that instantly came to mind. Say you had a little sailboat. Now anyone can enjoy sailing. But if you add more of a creative DIY twist to it and go for a daysail picnic on a big lake then anchor in a little cove somewhere and camp out for the night you might find searchlights waking you up midnight for infringing some rule about overnighting on the lake not being allowed. And you’re fined $200. And you’re searched and you only have one fire extinguisher instead of two and you’re fined another $200. And your kids are with you, shocked and stunned. Indeed, they suffer PTSD as a result. Their world is twisted.
If it’s hard for adults to deal with being extorted and treated as a criminal for being Good People, it’s even harder on kids, throwing them that much more over to depression and needing meds and binge drinking as their little souls try to handle the pain of the reality of smiling enemies, a world that’s trying to train THEM into becoming the smiling enemies of each other. In a true class or caste system kids are less damaged because each sector grows up knowing what to expect. There is no pretense of freedom or justice.
