1) Video Cameras everywhere ie. the neighborhood where I live, the places where I shop, the park where I stroll, and the office where I work...
2)Where I work every keystroke of the computer is monitored...<but not this keyboard
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3)Years ago when I graduated...I was told basically that I was entering a field that had some creativity and diversity...but now my field has become regimented by 'managed care' and new,strict 'licensure boards.' I HATE LICENSURE BOARDS ie. my experience has been that they often cause more problems ...and they are constantly 'supervising' and 'monitoring' to the point one can't breath. I often wonder who is monitoring the monitors.
I can be reported for anything and everything to some board that frankly isn't really even competent, but is concerned about anything and everything I might ever do...and the 'appearances of things.' They do background checks, and employment checks and reference checks ... to the point where it is absurd. I would like the freedom to have an imperfect life without having to answer to some arbitray state authority about some stranger's misperception of my life. It's not that I want to lie on my resume or applications - but please don't ask too many intrusive questions and then accuse me of being a liar for not telling every detail. No polygraphs please!
4)When I turn on the TV, there's all these 'Reality Shows' and shows about Police and Arrests... At a certain point, I'm sorta wondering if it's healthy for folks to be watching people arrested - as if it's entertainment. People laugh about the 'highway chase' or the DUI...but in reality these things aren't funny, and the shows seem to desensitize and dehumanize people. I don't like it. The poor fellow getting tazered isn't funny. The car flying through someone's living room isn't a stunt. I also don't like watching shows about people competing to date someone, win a job or survive some outrageous human conflict-situation. It's as if these shows are in the realm of 'social engineering' and what used to go on at the Roman Colloseum.
5)The agency where I work is constantly audited and inspected by the state to make sure every 'i' is dotted and every 't' is crossed, to the point that 90% of our work is now devoted to dotting and crossing 'i's' and 't's'... Again I wonder who is inspecting the inspectors? We work under the constant threat of being accused of fraud - not because our house is not in order - but because in 1000's of 30 page detailed reports with 100 redundant checkmarks...somebody might have left off an initial or put a single page out of order...and the state will treat us like criminals for it.
6) Metal Detectors everywhere. I like having a nice little pocketknife. I don't like having to worry about it when I enter a building...
7)POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND DOUBLE STANDARDS.
OUTRAGEOUS DOUBLE STANDARDS.
8) I would like to own an unregistered firearm and be able to carry it concealed. I have no evil agenda or intent. I think Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin would completely understand.
9)The media/News - well, there's a lot of it, but not much depth and very little educational information. I think that Russert fellow seemed okay, but why is it there's 24hrs of round the clock daily news about his life and death? Was he a member of our family? Was he our Patriarch? NOT FAIR AND GROSSLY IMBALANCED.
10) Put all this crap together ie. totalitarian superficial news. regimented work environments, strict licensure/regulatory cultures with an entertainment industry that deliberatly desensitizes and dehumanizes everyone...and it just doesn't add up to anything that makes one want to honestly smile into the eye of a surveillance camera. Coupled with 2 undeclared nation-building oil wars and flags everywhere - I get the feeling that I'd rather hand off something much better and different to the next generation... I'm told over and over again how free we are...but sometimes I wonder why it's repeated over and over again like a mantra, especially when it's something questioned.
11) The world did not collapse as a result of my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents...never having to submit to random drug tests. Somehow things worked out! I don't abuse drugs; I would just like a less monitored lifestyle. Call me old-fashioned.