You've Spoken Up, Now Will You Be Watched?

[ThomWV]

You are active on the Internet, you talk to your neighbors and coworkers, you speak your mind in these troubling times. Active and aware American's have always done this.

That was then, this is now.

People have disappeared, untold numbers of warrant-less wiretaps continue without pause, there are rumors of offshore secret prisons, Constitutional protections go unenforced.

In light of this do you think:

[nolabels]

1. Another other here

The Sex Pistols were so much ahead of the times (at the time)

[acmejack]

2. Of course we are being monitored.

How many organizations do you belong to that are on the lists of groups which they have admitted the watching? There was a list that was posted here once, I remember I was a member of three of the groups. Uneasy, no. So be it. They already have the information, you might as well continue in the same vein and refuse to be silenced!

Be careful, don't advocate violence, stay in touch. We know enough attorneys that we can fight any attempts loudly and publicly to do anything overt until any form of martial law is imposed. Martial Law is an extreme step. I only see that if they steal another election and we hit the streets. We have to be prepared to do that and we have to be prepared to suffer the consequences. If it ever were to come to that I propose we do it with senior citizens and make them beat up us old people.

[Aviation Pro]

3. The assumption....

...is that the scumbags doing the watching, who are small in number, are competent. After watching the miserable failures of the last 6 years, and being fairly confident that a dictatorship needs a majority in silent collusion with the watchers, I'd say the odds of being watched are fairly low.

[sweetheart]

4. profilers

Sure agent mike profiles each person as a potential bogey, but the very profile
of speaking up at all publically, is not one of a terrorist or even a subversive,
as a serious actor walks the talk, and here rather we talk the walk. This is our
political outlet and by speaking freely we are not a threat, spent of our outrage
in numerous rants about this and that, amounting to so many bytes of packets lost
and forgotten... but when you don't talk and only shoot, you won't ever have been
here.... but stupid people cannot distinguish between thought and acting on thoughts,
preferring to stifle debate as if it represents out collective demise to have freedom
of conscience... and the conformity culture has come to this, of course we are all
watched, we are expected to conform, and a million emails of thought are tossed at
you every day expecting behaviour and punishing unexpected behaviour messaged via
eyebrows, scents, scowls and smiles, watching you to conform.

[ikojo]

5. I don't care. I want my nieces and nephews to be able

to tell their kids that in the early part of the 21st century THEIR aunt spoke up against George W Bush.

[teryang]

6. I'm confident that certain political activities result in surveillance

What it happens, it does make you uneasy.

Not all speaking out results in surveillance, because much if not most of it is ineffective and a matter of indifference to the enforcers.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. Other...

They may kill me, but they can't eat me!

They are too skeerd to really fight. They always leave that for us poor folks to do!

[man4allcats]

8. I am not uneasy about it, but

I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that my name is on one or more "lists."

[mcscajun]

9. I assume my conversations are not private, I assume I'm on a list or two

yet I doubt I'm being watched; I'm just not that important, and there are only so many "watchers" to go around, ya' know? In any case, I'm not the least bit uneasy about any of it. I don't give a fuck!

Every so often, I'll wave hello to Agent Mike here, say something to the FBI types in my phone calls, but I ignore them in my e-mails. They'll get the hint. :)

I will continue to speak my mind until and unless I am "silenced".

[lpbk2713]

10. They've got a little over two more years to take their best shot.

As far as I'm concerned I hope they make the best of it because their time is coming.