Hats off to Sherwin Smith, deputy director of the Tennessee Division of Water Resources for warning his fellow citizens to watch what they say, especially when complaining about their water.
"We take water quality very seriously. Very, very seriously. But you need to make sure that when you make water quality complaints you have a basis, because federally, if there's no water quality issues, that can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism."
We're quickly dropping into the black hole of valid paranoia. Don't complain because then you're a terrorist! Now we're all worried because anything we say or post WILL be used against us! And anything you say or post is recorded, saved, and unless you have lots of $, will convict you into a private, for profit, prison. This has become really scary!
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ReplyDeleteThe Conjugation of Terrorism
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you terrorist
me terrorist
we terrorists
It makes me think of the book Howl with the Wolves. In one chapter a young German soldier was shot for complaining about the food in a letter home. The author was an 18 year old soldier himself at the time. His mother had him write his letters in a sort of code - "everything's fine" meant there were problems, "everything's going well" meant things were OK.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how America changed so much for the worse. When I did my undergrad there, threats like this would have drawn furious response. Any guy who threatened ordinary citizens this way would have been looking for a new job. Today they seem cowed.
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